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THE SCREEN WRITER
For a century other laborers, having no Jovian complexes, have found the means, through strikes, lobbies, litigation, etc., to make vast gains in their status. Represented by big, strong, able men, they deal with corporate oppression and better their lot. Writers, however, have yet to develop anything describable as force. They call no strikes, hold no parades, intimidate no legislators. The four Guilds maintain cor¬ respondence, but there is no central body to steer their activities. They are still under the delusion that some over-worked “executive secretary” can attend to everything that needs attention, and that an unpaid president, elected on the basis of personal popularity, is all that is needed in the way of direction at the top.
The total score, after years of meeting, palavering, passing resolu¬ tions, and having the annual fight, is about as small as it would be pos¬ sible to imagine. If, in the various guilds, the returning veteran has raised a noisy clamor, denouncing inaction, and demanding something be done, the conditions he complains of are typical of our trade. We lack force, we lack power, we lack results. Where we are at is pre¬ cisely nowhere. Our gay, gaudy frigate sails on a literary Salton Sea, whose elevation is — 249' 6".
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What is the remedy, if there is one? It is hereby submitted that the key to the whole question is the copyright, correctly described by Judge Chase as a monopoly for a period of years, under which the holder, for a consideration, permits this, that, or the other kind of exploitation, these restricted assignments having acquired the name of “rights.” Now it shouldn’t be true, but it is true, that the writer knows almost nothing about copyright, and is probably incapable of learning anything about it; if, in the 3,000 years since Homer, he still is ignorant, as a rule, even of HOW to copyright, it would seem indicated that he should admit he’s not the type and flunk the test. But is there anything to prevent him from letting one central authority, under control of his guilds, take over this whole matter, become the repository of his copyright, lease the various “rights” arising from it for his benefit, and never let one right get away from him for permanent possession, during the whole life of the copyright?
What is advocated here is an American Authors’ Authority, an
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