Surprise-surprise! Government was slow to respond to a gaping hole!

Once again, the U.S. government waited to get involved in a crisis till the damage was overdone.

Gee, I wonder where we've heard that before. Hmm..Hurricane Katrina, maybe? 9/11, perhaps? Let's take a stroll down memory lane to World War II. Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, having begun to kill Jews in 1938. The U.S. got involved in 1941. Okay, that was almost 70 years ago, and everyone who wasn't white and Christian was invisible in the U.S.. Doesn't make it forgiveable, it just states the facts of the times.

Today, members of the U.S. Congress wrote a letter to Bob Iger (CEO of Disney) and Peter Chernin (CEO of Fox), urging them to negotiate in good faith with the writers because of all the money that's been lost. Real smart, guys.

The writers went through Thanksgiving and Christmas on strike, because no one in a position of power told big business what to do. Until now! Pilot season could have been saved, and we could have been a little further into the season of Boston Legal and Desperate Housewives. My friends at Swingline Productions could be creating new episodes of Law and Order Criminal Intent.

Let's review. When big business tried to crush the writers by stonewalling them, our government said nothing. Nobody in government had the foresight to see (or the guts to speak out about the fact that) that billions would be lost; that the American people, and people in many other countries would lose out on great content in film and television, because the creatives who help make it happen asked for what was just, appropriate, and in keeping with tradition.

The Republican Governor of California—also a former movie actor—could have veered from the typical anti-union, pro big-business agenda, and spoken out. Wouldn't that have been something? It wouldn't surprise me if another former actor and ex-governor of California would have kept his mouth shut on the issue. Ronald Reagan—star of Bedtime for Bonzo—was a Democrat-turned-Republican.

Republicans are said to be "pro-business". One would think that every entrepreneur should, by virtue of that "pro-business" agenda, be a Republican. But that "pro-business" hype is a lot like many things in the Republican platform—reminiscent of the warning label "Objects in mirror may be larger than they appear.". The Republicans are pro-business when the businesses are big enough to be substantial campaign contributors. To them, "pro-business" means anti-union.

Ronald Reagan, who busted the air traffic controllers union in 1981, had a Washington, D.C. airport named for him. It gets worse. He was a former president of the Screen Actors Guild. The irony is saddening. The one good thing about him is that he knew how to tell a joke. I find it quite funny that it was during his presidency that the comedy club boom started. The great comedian Richard Belzer attributed the boom (in part) to Reagan's presidency. Comedians had such good fodder for material by 1982 that the comedy clubs just started popping up. Every cloud has a silver lining, I suppose.

Republicans supposedly feel that government shouldn't get in the way of business, and should let the market dictate who succeeds and who fails. Let's review. Many writers in New York and Hollywood own production companies. These companies are small businesses, producing scripts for big corporations like GE (NBC), Disney (ABC Television, and more media than you can shake a stick at), and Sony (CBS). So, when it's small business against big business, I guess the size of the contributor determines which side the Republicans take. Fun, huh?

Keeping the (Strike) Iron Hot:

Technology Tips for the Writers Guild to create /
maintain public awareness during the strike

Dear Writers:

I wholeheartedly support your cause, and would like to help.

In the first days of the strike, you chanted “1, 2, 3, 4, we just want to write some more.5, 6, 7, 8, Why won’t you negotiate?”.

Clever? Perhaps. On Message? Definitely! Effective? Maybe (at best).

Your job is to put words on paper. Getting those words out to the public isn’t your specialty–nor should it be. In fact, the people against whom the writers are striking are the ones with the Mega-megaphones that reach around the world. (I won't bother linking to them.)

As such, I am not surprised that the writers’ message isn’t getting out as much as it could be. Isn’t it ironic that the primary reason for the strike is that the studios and production companies aren’t willing to better compensate you for internet broadcasts of your work, and that you aren’t ALL using that astoundingly powerful (and practically free) medium to better broadcast your message?

(Wasn't that a hell of a long sentence just now?)

Not only is the internet likely to be the primary broadcast medium in the near future, but it’s going to continue to be a much more versatile means of getting a message out than television is. As many of you know, ANYONE can broadcast on the internet.

Now, about getting the word out:

The Writers Guild of America website (wga.org) offers some news, but...how does the average person know to go there?

For rates ranging from zero to 1/25th of a penny, the Writers Guild (and each of you)
could be sending e-mail newsletters to “push” your message out to te public,
draw them to the Guild’s website, and to other information sources.

“Opt-In” Newsletters have been a very effective way to PULL traffic in by PUSHing a message out.

For zero dollars, the writers you could include links to YouTube videos, and Picasa picture galleries inside those e-mail newsletters.You could link to the amazing content on sites like
The Late Night Writers On Strike site, YouTube, and Deadline Hollywood Daily.

Vertical Response gives an opportunity for those without a lot of money, but with a great cause, to get the word out. Vertical Response will also let you send a wide variety of mailings, get great reporting/statistics on how many people have seen, or opened your message, and allows you to really organize your lists effectively.

For zero dollars, you could EACH be creating a blog, displaying the kinds of writing talent that’s laying fallow. Blogs which mention The Writers Guild, the strike, or anything else related to your cause increase their visibility on the web in general, and on Google specifically.

The Guild held a rally on November 23rd. It was terrific. I had to go to the Writers Guild website to find out there had even been a rally. I went to YouTube, and sure enough, there were video excerpts from it.

How about raising money for the strike fund?
Paypal is a great conduit for contributions to the WGA strike fund! It’d allow anyone
who’s so inclined to contribute to the strike fund. Your blogs, newsletters, and links wherever you can get them, will bring in visibility and money!

There is a FANTASTIC site that David Letterman’s writers put together. It’s full of GREAT, original videos and writing, that’ll keep us HANKERING to see that great writing talent back on TV. In fact, seeing their fantastic work online may give the Letterman audience a whole new perspective on what they could expect from Letterman’s show.

Someone with the pseudonym WriterBoi created a Hip Hop Anthem for the strike.

Holly Hunter did a fabulous short called “Speechless”.

It clearly demonstrates what happens without the Writers Guild membership.

But we had to go SEARCHING for it. Publicizing something that fantastic is EASY.

You’re writers, and you’re doing a fantastic job putting together original content that gets the word out. But the word’s not going far enough! Since the studios aren’t distributing your content on TV and in movies, do it yourselves.
Some of you are doing it already. Do it more. It’s easy. All it takes is a webcam, free software, and an internet connection.


PetitionOnline.com can get your word out to
the masses, and demonstrate a show of support. (There’s already one petition to the studios, add another, or get signatures for the one that’s up there.)...Include a link to it in your blog, your newsletter.

Take your webcam and a laptop to the picket line. Most Apple notebooks of the past 3 or 4 years have built-in webcams. Stream events live! Lord knows that significantly less important things are being streamed live on the web. Some cell phones can even function as webcams.

If you want to communicate the numbers, to those who don’t understand how little the
writers want for their contribution, putting a little gadget on the website that multiplies the number of
streams/users by the pennies the writers are asking for, versus the studio’s income from those same streams might be an effective tool.

Striking blue collar workers have the same tools available that you do, but you, the writers have an astounding talent that can complement the medium so well. Demonstrate further how your talent can still be a powerful force without the networks.

My thoughts are with you.

Major Record Labels, Darwinism, and the Future of Intellectual Property

It's been over a month since my last post here. However, nothing has changed, and everything has changed in the world(s) of major purveyors of intellectual property. And with the Writers Guild on strike, it makes ya think (okay, it makes me think) about the whole intellectual property landscape, and how physical media are overvalued.

The short version: Intellectual Property is about what's in the mind(s) of its originator(s)! So many are concerned these days with the media on which the darn things are sold. The physical forms by which some entrepreneurs choose to sell intellectual property are but one means of capitalizing on it. Even those who focus on the digital transmission of music, lyrics, screenplays, and whatever else, are often myopic in their view.

Sorry, I'm full of big words and complex sentence structures today.

Let's review what's gone on in the past 6 weeks or so.

1. Radiohead has released their current album without the backing of a record company. They've made some money, and are sufficiently tired of the record companies' b.s., that they've decided to sell their album directly, and to make it available via their website for download (or purchase of physical media). That's pretty impressive. What's even more radical about Radiohead's move is that they are charging on a "pay what you wish" scale. When a friend first told me about it, I didn't believe it, so I downloaded it for free. I'm not a Radiohead fan, but I'm sure a fan of their marketing tactics.



2. The RIAA sued an individual for file-sharing/downloading music illegally. They were probably mistaken in going after the one they sued. No one could prove that the alleged file-sharer was even the one who did the deed. But before we get into the analysis of this event, let's continue with the next one.
3. Madonna has signed a $120 million record deal. The deal is not with a major record company, but rather, with Live Nation—a concert promoter and ticket sales outfit. She walked away from Warner Brothers, when they wouldn't "step up" with a viable offer. Warner was the first major label to sign her.
4. The Writers Guild of America is on strike right now. The only issue they have with movie and television studios is back end profits on digital media sales. Everyone there is being somewhat forward-thinking in their understanding that there's real money in selling and broadcasting over the internet.

There's some commonality in the lessons we can learn from these recent events. There are hundreds of others which made the news this year, and in recent prior years, from which we can learn similar lessons.

How about these for starters?

- Myopia has little to do with your personal collection of hallucinogens. (Okay, that was an awful pun). There are many ways in which someone who could have profited from the above-mentioned events, chose to lose money, because they had tunnel-vision about how they sell intellectual property, and/or how the profits should be divided.

- Profit centers change. Some are so stuck to the old models /their old ideas about how to make money, and/or what makes money, that they eschew change, in favor of their "old faithful". This is nothing new.

Blacksmiths aren't making quite as good a living these days as they did before cars were commercially available. Those who loved being blacksmiths, and learned their trade weren't about to give it up. They probably had to focus on different audiences. That's one way to stay in business.

When VCRs first came out, the MPAA was against them. They said that home taping and viewing would mean the end of movies and movie theaters. You tell me: How are movies doing today? :) G'ahead...tell me. Say it. They're making a dollar or two, aren't they? And DVD sales? Not bad, ay? The studios know where the money is. That leads to the next point...and the next post.