Writers Are Important

And I’m not just saying that because I am one

Photo by Thom Milkovic on Unsplash

I’m glad to see Hollywood actors joining in on the writer’s strike, and I’ve been somewhat dismayed, but not surprised, to hear so many people debating whether or not writers should be paid more.

Actually, that’s not true. It pisses me off to hear people pooh-pooh writers getting paid more, because 1) writing is a skill that takes years to hone, and 2) there literally is no Hollywood without writers.

Don’t believe me?

A script is the bones of any television show or movie. Without a script, there is no television show — even reality television requires writers. Without screenplays, there are no movies.

You can gather together all the big stars you want, and hire all the best effects people, but without a good story, you have nothing. It’s like a house without a frame or a body without a skeleton. Words are the bones of the visual entertainment industry — everything else is window dressing.

There seems to be a prevailing attitude that creative people don’t deserve to make a living because what we do is easy or worthless. But those big studio executives don’t make millions or billions of dollars only because they know how to make business deals. If the movie Titanic hadn’t been a story that appealed to…