Why Writers Are Prickly

WE ARE. No sense denying it. We get shirty sometimes, and rise to take offence. Why, you may ask?

This, from Emmy Award nominee & HOUSE writer Doris Egan's fine blog:

If you watch the Emmys, you've seen what happens when the "Best Series" prize is awarded; a ridiculously large group of people go up on stage, where they shift uncomfortably but happily from one foot to another while their boss makes a speech. These are the faces behind the show: the writer-producers, mainly, usually along with a few director-producers and line producers. They are the people who create and round out the characters, design the story arcs, write the words the actors speak. As it turns out, however, these tasks are considered unimportant by an Academy whose raison d'etre is supposed to be acknowledging and rewarding quality of effort. The Academy has determined two things:

1) Only a producer should receive an award for "Best Series."
2) Only a producer who spends a greater portion of their time producing other people's episodes than writing their own should receive an award for "Best Series."

Directing producers, in. Line producers, in. Writing producers... well, the Academy's letter reads:

"A priority of the Acadmy is preserving the value of the Emmy Award thus insuring that those who are most deserving and actively involved are the ones honored with nomination."

That would not include writers, apparently. Though it would include people who do the scheduling and handle the budgets, and it would include producer-directors.

Before I go any further, I'm sure you're asking yourself, "Why should I care?" Indeed, you may be asking, "Why should youcare?" It's just another stupid awards ceremony, you're thinking.

If you think that, you're correct. But if you think that status in this foolish town does not translate into power, money, and the opportunity to do the work you love, then God bless your naivete. I could write a treatise listing all the ways this is so. And here's the trouble with the way writers fit into this picture: they're low-key. They're pathetically grateful to be making a living writing. Whenever discussions of money take place, within two minutes or less a writer will point out to other writers that we make a comfortable salary in a world where people are starving. This is true, but it's not an attitude that gets you very far in Hollywood. This is a town full of loud-talking narcissists, who walk in laying claim to everything. You may recall the island of Laputa in Gulliver's Travels, where no one could have a conversation without a person designated as an "ear flapper," who would strike the person who was supposed to be listening and make them pay attention. In Hollywood, there are entire companies whose sole reason for existing is to attach themselves to a writer with the promise that they can get somebody to listen to them. (And I'm not talking about agents.) There are directors who direct a pilot, leave, and retain executive producer status for the rest of the series run. A great many people, all along the way, puff up their status and take a huge chunk of power and budget from the studio. Writers, however, come from a long tradition of holing up in their caves and working. They are rarely political. Frankly, they are often political idiots.

They do work, however. Let's talk about that. Writers come up with the ideas that become episodes of the show. On many shows, every writer works on building every single episode, and then one person goes off and writes it. On other shows, every writer contributes to other episodes when asked, and spends the bulk of their time building their own episodes. All writers join in brainstorming general ideas and creating the overall series arcs. None of this counts with the Academy however, and I'll tell you why: it's writing.

At a certain point, when you continue to take abuse, you cease to garner sympathy and garner a touch of contempt instead. To the credit of writers I've spoken with, they're not just depressed and resigned (their normal state). They're angry.