Will Work For On-Line Show!
(Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)
As reported in today’s LA Times,
Striking writers in talks to launch Web start-ups some striking writers plan to by-pass the studio system and produce content directly for the web.
At least seven groups, composed of members of the striking Writers Guild of America, are planning to form Internet-based businesses that, if successful, could create an alternative economic model to the one at the heart of the walkout, now in its seventh week.
This brings up all sorts of interesting questions: Will the WGA sanction writers setting up companies sidestepping not only the studios but also potentially the union? If the strike is settled, will writers be able to play in both sand boxes? Will writers be will to work with people, well like us outside the system?
Under the Hollywood system, writers, in most cases, is employed by the studios to create and manage TV shows and movies. The studios own the copyrights and pay writers for the initial use of the material and a small percentage of the licensing fees they collect when the work is rerun or sold on DVD.
