Posts Tagged ‘WGA’

Rundown

Thursday, December 20th, 2007

With the advent of the Networked World in the past 10 or 15 years, the business of writing, like most businesses, has changed dramatically. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has dallied along in some respects, and today finds itself in a pickle of a strike, a rundown between second and third base, with Technology coming at it from one direction and Big Media from the other. Right now home plate — and the New Media Pie — ain’t nothing but a theory. The WGA has to figure out a way to get to third base, or even safely back to second, before too many of its members get tagged out, shipped to Pawtucket, or run out of the game entirely.

WGAStrike2

Here’s why the game they’re currently playing has the Writers in a pickle. (more…)

Portrait of a Writer in the Networked World

Wednesday, December 19th, 2007

For more than 20 years I have made at least part of my annual income from writing. During that time I have written books, press releases, feature film screenplays, TV scripts, documentary narration, web site text, magazine pieces, brochure copy, contest rules, infomercials, reality TV segments, song lyrics, speeches, jokes for my own stand-up routine, packaging copy, RFPs, proposals, business plans, brand strategies, TV spots, radio spots, ad copy…and blogs, let’s not forget that.

Along my journey, however, the status I felt the craft deserved — me and Tolstoy and Hunter S. Thompson being in the same line of work and all — began to wane.

TolstoyThompson

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Writers Guild Strike – Grades Are Posted

Thursday, November 8th, 2007

A GameChanger sees every business scenario as an opportunity for improvisation, and improvisation as the key to a successful outcome for the scenario. The current Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) has gotten lots of media play — it’s a media story, after all. It has already been sliced, chopped and processed like fois gras in Ratatouille’s kitchen. But this, right here, is the only place where players in a business story like this one get graded on their ability to improvise. It’s still early in the scene, but let’s analyze it to this point in terms of some fundamentals…sort of like scoring Kristi Yamaguchi for her compulsories…

WGA Strike

SUGGESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE

In business, a ‘Suggestion From the Audience’ consists of data from the marketplace. The big suggestion in this scene is clear: the audience is migrating from a couple of entertainment formats to many — or to one ubiquitous web-enabled metaverse, depending on how you look at it. Either way, it ain’t just about your TV and your motion pictures any more. Money is being made elsewhere, lots of it, and both sides are angling for their slice of the new pie. (more…)