This episode begins at the WGA's “It's All Written: Reality & Game Show Rally" that took place in front of FremantleMedia in Burbank. For the next several days this podcast will feature speeches and interviews conducted on-site but for now, since it’s Saturday, I thought it would be kinda nice to take a break and listen to the set performed by Tenacious D that kicked off the rally. Recorded Friday, 8 December 2007.
Credits Producer/Host: Tanja Barnes Music: "Ay Mambo" by Falik available on Magnatune.com
Note: if you want to hear a better quality copy of this episode, visit Archive.org.
ROFLMAO on this one, which was produced a wee whiley back. Kinda hearkens to this vid that came out a few weeks after the strike: A World Without Writers
Another post to announce that the embedded .mp3 player used on this site is down again. It's offered for free by Odeo, so like I really can't bitch about it because you get what you pay for.
Another workaround is to click on the files where they are hosted at the Internet Archive another free service. BTW, the IA is an official library according to the State of California!
Refresh this post for updates as to when the Odeo player is back in service.
Calling out around the world, are you ready for a brand new contract? Apparently writers world-wide are and they are showing solidarity in the WGA struggle as witnessed in the following videos:
Hulu recently launched an HD Gallery featuring a selection of High Definition video clips at 1280 x 720 resolution.
You'll need a fast connection and a fast machine to watch HD Hulu. Check out their system requirement here. In a nutshell: a connection of 2,400 Kbps or higher (not your average home user speed) and the latest Adobe Flash Player 9 to stream these High Definition bandwidth clogging clips. Needless to say, this leaves out those who will be using this service on a Wii , aPS3 or an Xbox not to mention an iPhone.
Flash Player 9 is free to download here. It's the secret weapon that Hulu claims will make them the YouTube killer. No more crappy YouTube flash videos, baby. It's HD, baby...HD.
In this short recording, a strike supporter literally came out of nowhere to give me this sound bite and then disappeared. I was told by a bystander that the man was an author now living in France, but who knows? Thanks for the quote though, dude.
Credits
Producer/Host: Tanja Barnes
Music: "Ay Mambo" by Falik
available on Magnatune.com
Today I visit with Dee LaDuke at the picket lines at CBS Radford Studios. Dee is the author of the book “Making Great Television: Four Essential Ingredients”. As a Bay Area resident, Dee commutes at least once a week to Los Angeles for work. Because of her proximity to Silicon Valley, I wanted to know her take on the impact of new media and its affect on the digitization of the entertainment industry. Recorded Tuesday, 4 December 2007.
Credits
Producer/Host: Tanja Barnes
Music: "Ay Mambo" by Falik
available on Magnatune.com
I'm such a nerd, this is one of the first picketing events since the strike began that's got me all twitterpated:
The WGA will hold "A Day to Honor Star Trek Writers" at the picket lines from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday, Dec. 10 outside Paramount Studios' Windsor Gate in Hollywood. This stint is intended to celebrate former Trek scribes and on-screen stars to support the WGA strike.
Beam me down for this one, Scotty.
But John Scott Lewinski makes a point: "There's no word if the Borg will attempt to assimilate Paramount CEO Brad Grey in hope of increasing digital sell-through rights."
So maybe the WGA should recruit some Klingons to help facilitate the negotiations. I'm just sayin'.
Yes, Harlan, I'm one of those fucking amateurs that are giving content away for free. And guess what? I want to make money at this game, too.
I wanna be a new media whore so badly, Harlan. So in anticipation of when I finally make money doing it, I'll be the first to post it on my website because I own the domain name NewMediaWhore.TV. But I won't do it until I get a fat check. Then I'll invite you to be my guest and I'll pay you an MBA. How about that?
Hey writers! Will Ferrell is hip to owning and distributing his own content. So can you!
Within six days of launching Funny or Die, Ferrell's first video offering "The Landlord" garnered 24 million hits. And he didn't need the networks to do it. He used the Internet.
In this article "Funny or Die — and the challenge to the Long Tail" tech analyst Bernard Moons discusses Will Ferrell's creating, owning and distributing his own content. With distribution channels disrupted by new technologies, user-generated content is on the rise and the AMPTP are looking over their shoulders to stay on top of it. One way to do this is to make you guys think you need them.
But you don't.
As for the video below, the one scene that I feel could have made this piece better is a shot from the picket lines with writers putting down their signs to "high-five".
The Internet is all about D.I.Y. Man your laptops, WGA! Rally to the call "D.I.Y. or die!"
"Ask A Ninja" creators Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, have parlayed their Web video entertainment program into about $100,000 a month in ad revenue and income from merchandising and licensing.
Read how they and others are generating income directly from the Internet here.
Until then, you could probably ask a ninja live tonight!
Oh, and in case you missed Ask A Ninja's Special Delivery piece last month about the writers' strike, stream this!
In today’s episode I meet up with strike captain and multi-hyphenate Bill Froehlich at the picket lines at the CBS Radford lot in Studio City. Here we discuss the importance of a free press for a healthy democracy despite media consolidation. Recorded Tuesday, 4 December 2007.
Credits
Producer/Host: Tanja Barnes
Music: "Ay Mambo" by Falik
available on Magnatune.com
Media Predict is an online game that is running a play-money strike duration prediction market. By registering, you receive a faux balance of $5,000 which you can use to participate in the game "When Will the Writers’ Strike End?". The market currently predicts a January 8 end to the strike. Costs per share at the time of this posting is $54.40 (down -$2.00).
Another on-line game is from InTrade, which uses real money. But at the time of this posting, nobody is participating in this hedge fund.
Kevin Martin, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has been keeping a secret from the American people. He wants to push through plans to remove decades-old media ownership protections. And he's trying to do it without public scrutiny.
Senators Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.) have introduced groundbreaking bipartisan legislation that would hold the FCC accountable and put the people ahead of Big Media.
Petitions from the public — millions of them — stopped media consolidation in 2003. Sign the petition and tell everyone you know: http://stopbigmedia.com
In today’s episode, we talk to B. Mark Seabrooks. The last time he came on the show was at the Labor Solidarity March and Rally that took place just before Thanksgiving. Today we discuss how important the writers' strike is to the American labor movement. Recorded Monday, 3 December 2007.
Just a note: in this discussion we touch upon the outsourcing of American jobs. This practice has affected such business sectors such as manufacturing, technical support, airline reservations and tax preparation. Most recently, even local city news reporting was been outsourced to two journalists in India. Last spring, John Macpherson of the on-line newspaper PasadenaNow.com posted a help wanted ad on Craigslist that said, “We seek a newspaper journalist based in India to report on the city government and political scene of Pasadena, California, USA.” The upshot was that he hired two Indian reporters, one a graduate of the journalism school at the University of California at Berkeley. For more information about this, click here.
Credits
Producer/Host: Tanja Barnes
Music: "Ay Mambo" by Falik
available on Magnatune.com
Last week I read in the blogosphere about the AMPTP’s proposed "New Economic Partnership" that was heralded as a groundbreaking new deal for the writers. However, the offer seemed pretty much rejected by the WGA across the board and the writers had to take a time out.
Tomorrow, both sides will return to the table to resume negotiations. To get an understanding of where the writers were at, I revisit strike captain Joe Medeiros, the head writer of the Jay Leno show down at NBC studios. Recorded Monday, 3 December 2007.
Credits
Producer/Host: Tanja Barnes
Music: "Ay Mambo" by Falik
available on Magnatune.com
Though I agree with some of this guy's points, he needs to expand his channel from just YouTube to like...the entire Internet. Here's just 50 of the top video websites now offering content.
Like I said: in 5 freaking minutes I'm joining Chris Spangle on Fox News radio (insert Scooby's "grooo?" sound here). More precisely, I'll be on WXNT (that's 1430 on the AM dial) in Indianapolis where I'll be talking about the writers strike, how it will effect some of America's favorite TV shows, explain WTF new media is all about, and whether this strike is a sign of things to come in American labor.
You can also stream it live at WXNT, or catch it on podcast later today here or on XNT’s website.
UPDATE: (December 3 @ 6:12 a.m.) OK...that went hella fast! I touched on some points as best I could, but the phone connection kept dropping out which was a little weird (not to mention stressful). Another thing that's funny: I was scheduled for the entire hour, but I think Chris and I only talked like about 24 minutes or something like that. Anyway, as soon as I get the audio for this I'll be posting it on the blog. As they say...stay tuned!
