Former Disney CEO blames Jobs, Apple for writers' woes
The problem, Eisner said, is that the Writer's Guild is lobbying for a bigger cut of the profits from digital distribution -- and according to the former Disney chief, those profits simply aren't there. At the moment, digital media is too new to be profitable, he said.
Eisner said it would take about three years for web video and other forms of digital distribution to gain enough of a foothold to be profitable -- and that's when the Writer's Guild would have a case to make, CNET reports.
"What I'm saying is for a current writer, for six thousand people to give up today's money for a nonexistent piece today is stupid," he said. "They can do it in three years. They shouldn't be doing it now." Right now, the profit from digital content is "a piece of a nonexistent flow, which won't be nonexistent, but it will be nonexistent for the next three years."
When it comes to Apple, Eisner said the studios "make deals with Steve Jobs, who takes them to the cleaners. They make all these kinds of things, and who's making money? Apple! They should get a piece of Apple. If I was a union, I'd be striking up wherever he is."