Striking WGA Writers End-run the Studios
- added December 17, 2007
- 8 responses
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- DavidNeuman
- added this
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- related topics
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- Entertainment (20732)
- TV & Film (7614)
- Tech (7220)
- Internet (2472)
- Hollywood (1695)
- Web 2.0 (458)
- Writers' Guild Strike 2007 (135)
- WGA Strike (74)
- Big Media (24)
Here we go...the Web allows the first opportuniy in history for writers and creators to end-run the major distributors, and sure enough that's what's happening now with the strike moving into a multi-month drama...
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- DavidNeuman
- 9 months ago
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Wow! That is truly an amazing turn of events. The writers are starting their own production companies to release their work on the web. This is brilliant since most of us watch more "Web" than TV around here. A great example of how technology can be used to fight the big guy; ideas and creativity will win out over money and conglomerate power! Down with reality TV AhaAhaAhaHA! -
Here's some Pods on the writer's strike...
http://current.com/items/87996911_the_wga_s_charade
http://current.com/items/88490881_wga_in_da_hizzie -
Are the webmasters going to pay them? I hope so because I get nervous every time I need to pay for something by myself.
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- ActorDrewBlanton
- 9 months ago
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Advertising my man. Eventually we may see fees for sites that are developing a lot of their own content (like HBO on TV), or you may see groups of sites that you can order together (a la cable). Either way you'd have more control of what you are watching and type of content you want delivered right?
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i'd say crawling back to the studios and begging for their jobs without pay cuts/huge layoffs would be wiser...
the major networks still have yet to generate any big revenues online...how would this be accomplished by noobs?
would be nice to have new creative enterprises rise out of the conflict.....but i don't see these rogue writerpreneurs creating anything significant to rival the major content distribution players..
I hope they prove me wrong. -
I read this a few weeks ago. I'd love to see some of the business models. I'm assuming there would be a range of shows offered -- shorts, TV-length shows and feature-length shows -- presumably on a pay-per-view basis. The trick is getting the financing and distributing a break-out hit that can actually make money. Funny how this parallels the original idea of United Artists, back in 1919. It was begun by D.W. Griffith, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin, who wanted more control over the business end of their work. Check out the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Artists
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re:jsburman
generous biz models
...doubt the pay-per-view structure will hold up..
esp. competing with so much great free content like current, gootube, hulu.com, etcet.
i tink embedded adverts / cross promotion is the only way to generate interweb money in the futr.
viral:
http://nalts.wordpress.com/2006/11/09/is-there-such-thi...
old school:
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/006013.html#more
gravity:
http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/H/HOLLYWOOD_LABOR...
legislation:
http://www.nwuboston.org/issues/index.html
good for gaming:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22410325/ -
I looked at a few of the links you provided. Very interesting. Lots going on. Maybe you're right about the advertising model over the pay-per-view model. Here's an interesting quote:
"Forrester Research expects revenue from ad-supported, online streaming to grow from $250 million this year to $1.7 billion by 2010. But with far fewer viewers, the Internet rakes in just a fraction of the $70 billion in advertising collected by broadcast television, according to Forrester.
"Longtime Web producers and writers Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf, who run the Web site Epic-FU, said Hollywood writers shouldn't wait until Internet ad dollars start rolling in to make deals with Web sites.
"'We really feel this is a time if enough writers were to get together and create content for the Web, there would be a huge tipping point,' Woolf said."
I still think that feature-length films are going to have similar problems with their business models, whether they're distributed in theaters or through the "ethers." Production and promotion costs are going to be high. This is one of the reasons the studios and the networks give for being so stingy with the writers Guild in the first place. Unfortunately, their argument is undermined by the lack of transparency in their accounting. Just ask director Peter Jackson, who had to wait years for a proper audit from New Line on his "Lord of the Rings" cycle. Hopefully the WGA strike will be over by the end of February. Then the various players in the Hollywood community can develop their Internet distribution models together, hopefully sharing profits in a slightly more enlightened way.
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