AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

What’s making writers and studios so nervous - The Los Angeles Times

The union says it won’t be shortchanged on new media as it was with DVDs. But no one’s sure of future dollars.

Damon Lindelof got a sobering glimpse of his future as a television writer two years ago as he strolled through the Grove shopping plaza in Los Angeles.

Hanging in the window of the Apple store was a gigantic poster for “Lost,” the hit ABC show on which he serves as executive producer. Just days before, ABC’s owner, Walt Disney Co., had announced that “Lost” and other TV programs would be sold through Apple’s iTunes store.

Though Lindelof was thrilled that his show was at technology’s vanguard, he was dismayed that Disney had not consulted him about either the program’s digital debut or the pay he and his fellow writers would receive.

“I felt like somebody was trying to pull the wool over my eyes,” Lindelof said Friday, as he picketed outside Disney’s gates.