Month: November 2007

  • Another day, another rollback.

    Well, the first round of the restarted talks has finished. Reportage at Deadline Hollywood, The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety. It’s another joke offer. Let’s crunch the numbers: The studios are offering a fee of $250 to put a TV show on the Internet for a year. And that’s after six weeks “promotional” use, during which […]

  • New blogger on the scene

    Now, Faustus, must thou needs be damned?And canst thou not be saved?

  • Strike no-news.

    Well, the AMPTP and the WGA are sat back at the table now, and beginning their talks. (That’s if I’ve calculated the time differential between here and LA correctly.)(Said time differential is, of course, why I can’t do the buttons up on my jacket properly any more.) There’s a news blackout at the moment to […]

  • So, Piers, what can I do to ensure the writers get a fair deal?

    Well, funny you should mention that. To those of us not in LA at the moment, it’s a bit difficult to get up and join a picket line. We need another way of bringing our sympathy with the writers to the studios’ attention. So: send the moguls a box of pencils. I’m serious. It costs […]

  • The Internet. It’s too new!

    So, according to the Studios, the use of any content on the Internet is promotional. Even if the entirety of the work is shown and they make money from it.source, point 2(a) and (b) Mm. Interesting. I wonder how much those moguls think these new media streams might impact their bottom line? I mean, can’t […]

  • Why We Fight

    I’ve already put this in the sidebar… but I think it would be good to have it in the main section. It’s a three-and-a-half minute video stating what the issues are behind the current strike. If you haven’t seen it already, please spend a few minutes to find out what the writers are actually asking […]

  • I’m It

    Tagged by Helen. So here are five things about me which other people might think lame, but which make me who I am. 1) I cry at sad stories. Including but not limited to Casualty last Saturday, and the sad song that Jessie sings in Toy Story 2 about how people grow up and grow […]

  • Put the pencil down, and move away from the keyboard

    Well, iacta alea est, as Julius Caesar reportedly said before entering a big fight that he really didn’t want to have. No deal was reached yesterday, so as of 12:01am today, the Writers’ Guild of America is on strike. Here’s what we’re asking for.  It’s not much. But as you can see here, the studios don’t […]

  • Won’t get fooled again.

    Well, there you have it. The negotiations between the Writers’ Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers finished on All Hallows Eve, and the WGA Contract has expired. So what the hell does that actually mean? It’s like this. The WGA is the union for screenplay writers in the United […]