AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

There is tons of “ink” (digital, too) on the WGA strike against studios and networks. This overview, published on p. 1 of today’s LA Times, seems to include good reporting and a useful timeline.
Living-room meetings cut through animosity in writers walkout.
By Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller, Los Angeles Times

Studio executives and leaders [...]

[Read more →]

This is the first of what will likely be much news as the writers strike moves into a new phase:
From Variety

Talks between WGA leaders and top studio execs on Friday and Saturday have been productive enough to generate cautious optimism that a settlement to the three-month-old strike may soon be at hand.
WGA negotiating committee head [...]

[Read more →]

From the DGA Website…

[Read more →]

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Talk of the writers strike buzzed around a Four Seasons ballroom Friday as George Clooney, Javier Bardem and other stars gathered for a no-pressure awards lunch hosted by the American Film Institute.
The AFI Awards honored 10 films and 10 television programs of 2007, as selected by juries that include critics, academics [...]

[Read more →]

LA Times
Few online entertainment ventures today make money. Yet that has not deterred striking Hollywood writers, eager to bypass the studio system, from forming start-ups to distribute their work on the Web.
At least three start-ups, each with a different business approach, are unveiling their corporate monikers and the names of their founders as they [...]

[Read more →]

Kara Swisher’s Boomtown blog carries her post reacting to the LA Times story about the marriage of striking writers and venture capital. She is, to say the least, skeptical….starting out by saying:
Why does the idea of a marriage between Hollywood writers and VCs make me slightly queasy?
…read on…

[Read more →]

Dozens are turning to venture capitalists, seeking to bypass Hollywood and reach viewers directly online.
Los Angeles Times
Dozens of striking film and TV writers are negotiating with venture capitalists to set up companies that would bypass the Hollywood studio system and reach consumers with video entertainment on the Web.
At least seven groups, composed of members of [...]

[Read more →]

LA Times reports a domain name saga which will bring a smile to anyone in the internet world, and heartburn to some others
When the Hollywood studios say they don’t know enough about the Internet to pay writers what they seek for the streaming and downloading of their shows, they might not be kidding.
That was made [...]

[Read more →]

Director George Hickenlooper (”Factory Girl”) has produced and the WGA has posted a series of videos under the title “Speechless without Writers”, posted on a WGA blog that also includes info on the strike, lotsa links, etc. You can see it all here.

[Read more →]

Back Channels Drive New Talks for Writers - The Wall Street Journal
The planned post-Thanksgiving resumption of contract talks between striking screenwriters and Hollywood studios offers a moment of hope in what has been a nasty work stoppage. But people in the industry caution that the prospects of quickly making a deal, and returning the entertainment [...]

[Read more →]