Being from LA, I have a variety of friends in the entertainment industry. No doubt, my talent agent friends are sweating. What will the writers' strike mean?
Well, at first, probably not much. Hollywood studios have anticipated things -- and have stockpiled content. But this can only last for a couple months. After that, things can certainly get dicey (hey, entertainment is the #3 employer in LA county).
After all, look what technology did to the music industry. Might the same happen with network television and movies – especially in a world of Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube And what about the popularity of multi-player gaming? Or social networks?
I had a chance to interview Chase Norlin, who operates Pixsy (an online video search engine). According to him:
"The strike likely doesn't impact the online video industry. Today, online video generally falls into two large categories: customer generated content (CGM) on the low end and professionally produced video content on the high end, typically originating from existing video assets (e.g. TV production, movie trailers, etc). The semipro content production market, which falls in the middle, will likely become the next new market for online video production on the web. When this happens, a strike could significantly impact the online video industry in a negative way."
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-05-2007 @ 6:05PM
Jim Algood said...
Stupid, stupid, stupid. These guys will do just like the unions did to the steel and auto industry in our country. People have so many entertainment options today that they are not dependent on these guys.
Unions are a throw back to last century. They cannot change with the times. The writers need to look for ways to use the new technology that is going to be developed over the next decade.
By striking, they are just allowing the producers to move on without them. Look and see how many steel and auto workers there are in this country there are comparied to 50 years ago.
11-05-2007 @ 7:28PM
Andrew said...
On the contrary, the WGA is the most forward-looking and techno-savvy unions around. You won't find 12,000 smarter people anywhere... and the world doesn't have too many "other options" for entertainment except for video games and reading books... since all movies, TV, reality shows, game shows, animation, soaps, talk shows, variety, are written by WGA members, credited or not.
This strike is precisely about changing with the times -- times that the union's members see coming (with internet downloads and streaming of the work we write and produce) but which the companies deny will ever be profitable... as they denied in '85 and '88 that video and DVDs would ever be profitable. "No television series will ever be released on home video. Nobody will pay for something that have already seen for free." -- AMPTP, 1988.
I've written 300 eps in the last 10 years, a quarter of which are on DVD and have earned the companies an estimated _additional_ $1 billion in sales and rentals BEYOND their broadcast profits. My take = zero. I have never once even been sent a copy of a show or film I wrote when it came out on tape or DVD. I lost my health coverage two years ago while writing full-time for Disney because they didn't "cover" animation.
This is what the union is rightly protesting, particularly when all of the producers' offers (so far) have involved rollbacks, despite clear proof from their stockholder statements and SEC filings that they're enjoying unprecedented profits.
11-06-2007 @ 10:34AM
lana swatek said...
'Quarterlife' is a new series; written, produced and directed by Marshall Herskovitz (last Samari and Blood Diamond, just a few of his credits), that is being launched on My Space Nov. 11. It has gotten huge publicity in the NYTimes and LATimes, as well as Variety,etc. Go to A NEW LEASE ON QUARTERLIFE and read about it.