fandomhigh | Lawyering Up, Week 5: Wed, Period 2 (2/6)

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Lawyering Up, Week 5: Wed, Period 2 (2/6)

"Entertainment law," Nathan said as he passed that week's handouts around, "focuses on law as it applies to movies, television, music - if it entertains you, there's a lawyer involved somewhere in it. If said lawyer is lucky enough to be with the right performer or studio, there's a nice chunk of change to be made here. If that's the sort of thing you're into."

Nathan leaned against the front of his desk. "Entertainment Law is big news at the moment thanks to a little thing you may have heard of called the WGA strike. This is contract law at its most nitty-gritty, with both sides bringing out their biggest guns to try to get the best agreement.

"That's where you come in," Nathan said. "Pair up. One of you gets to represent the studios. The other the writers. Try to figure out a deal that both of you can live with so the strike can be brought to a close. Who knows? Come up with a good enough idea and maybe we'll send it on to Hollywood. Wouldn't be the first time a bunch of school kids were smarter than the networks."

[ooc: OCD ~~a-coming~~ is up!]

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Pair up and negotiate an end to the strike! ~~Because we need more new canon OMG!!!!!~~

It probably wasn't going to help negotiations, but Isabel made a small picket sign and stuck it on the end of her pen.

The Studio Heads Are Greedy Bastards!!!

Lana grinned at Isabel. "Damn writers think they deserve everything."

"You greedy bastards think we're going to work for peanuts," Isabel replied, waving her pen in the air. "See if America really wants a steady diet of bad reality TV."

"Oh please," Lana said. "Like the majority of the American public has the IQ to want more than that. Give them some bad auditions, the chnace to win ton of money - or see someone else have the chance to - a few cat fights... They're happy. We. Don't. Need. You. Sure' you're nice to have around, but... In 2 years people will forget there was ever anything more than reality TV."

"Sorry, no, I think the legions of rabid fangirls for Spooky Things, will still be looking for resolution," she told her. "And they get crazy just during the regular summer hiatus. Can you imagine what they'll be like in two years? And it's gonna be All. Your. Fault."

"Are you kidding?" Lana asked. "Haven't you seen how fickle all those fans are? We drop some rumors that the 'occasional guest star' female characters are going to become regular love interests for the brothers and they'll be so busy fighting among themselves that half of them will cheer when we say it's never coming back."

Dropping character, Isabel laughed. "What's scary is you're probably right."

Lana laughed too. "I know, isn't it ridiculous? Honestly, though, I don't understand why everyone just can't come to a reasonable compromise."

"Because the studios are greedy," she said, waving her flag once more.

"By the way, I never did get a chance to say thanks last week. I appreciate it."

"Hey, no problem," Lana said. "I'm just glad I could help."

"You did. Trust me. Wyatt was ready to come flying in there in a panic," Isabel said, smiling fondly. "I think having you and and Dr. Wilson there kept him calm."

Re: Classwork (2/6/08)

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Re: Classwork (2/6/08)

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Re: Classwork (2/6/08)

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Chris looked for a partner ~~and was grateful for the joys of being a closed canon character!~~.

As usual, Turtle was taking another moment before actively looking for a partner (or, perhaps, to let a partner actively find her) so that she could help think of both cases, but she was looking at the scenario like she'd just taken too much of the really, really bad tasting cough syrup her mother always made her take. Writers. She knew writers. Well, she knew two, but Charlie was awesome. Theo, on the other hand...

"Hey, Turtle," Ronan said, smiling a bit. "Still looking for a partner, then?"

Turtle's head bobbed, but she was slow to look up from her notes. "Yup," she said. "Sure am, Ronan. Shall we, then?"

Rather than responding directly, Ronan shifted his posture slightly, and then his cadences. "All we're asking for," he began, "is a fair and reasonable deal. Something that will allow us to correct mistakes that were made previously, as well as properly account for changes in the media industry."

So he wanted to just jump right in. Good enough. Turtle nodded. "Explain to me again," she said, eying Ronan steadily, "is why there were mistakes in the first place." She definitely had to make sure she had a good idea of where Ronan was coming from before working up to blowing him out of the water on why he was wrong.

"Well," Ronan said. "Neither of us judged correctly how an... unproven market... would take off, and so we the writers feel that adjustments should be made to the current residual policy to reflect that. At the same time, we don't wish to make the same mistakes with the newest... unproven market."

Turtle listened carefully, nodding thoughtfully. Finally, she spoke again, "Were you, or were you not, aware of the conditions that you would be entering into when you entered into them? I suppose I can see where you might be coming from if an overview of the conditions were not readily available at your disposal for consideration, but I could be mistaken in my belief that they were, in fact, available."

"We were well aware of the conditions at the time," Ronan replied, a soft smile on his face. "However, the times have changed, and history has shown that the decisions made at the time have not, in fact, been the best decisions for all parties involved. While it might be bad form to ask that reparations be made for what could be viewed as offences against the writers by the production companies, that's not what we're asking: we're asking that, in our current negotiations, the policies regarding the payments of residuals be changed to better reflect the reality of the markets that they represent."

Turtle nodded. "And what, exactly, might you feel would be an acceptable negotiation to reflect those changes?"

"I believe we made that quite clear in our proposal," Ronan said. "0.6% of the residuals from DVD and other home video sales. A similar system of residuals from internet markets."

Re: Classwork (2/6/08)

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Re: Classwork (2/6/08)

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Eve sat there, still half dead ~~just like her mun, woe~~ but tired of not being in class. She managed to look attentive, though. Because scaring off prospective partners would be bad.

Jack stuck a blank sign on the end of a stick.

Serious Writer's Strike.

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