Web tangles TV writers (Networks hire non-union workers)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mon_writers_1001oct01,0,656663.story

By Richard Verrier and Dawn C. Chmielewski, Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
October 1, 2007

HOLLYWOOD - A steamy new NBC soap opera, "Coastal Dreams," is coming to a small screen near you, but to the PC, not the TV.

And it's not alone. CBS has a mockumentary, "Clark and Michael," while ABC's "Voicemail" is a voyeuristic peek into the life of a twentysomething single guy.

The Web series reflect the networks' headlong drive to harness the Internet and lure a young and increasingly elusive audience. Yet the online rush has heightened tensions between the major studios and networks and the unionized actors and writers who fear being shortchanged by this new digital frontier.

To handle much of the Web work, networks are relying heavily on non-union scribes and guild writers who quietly are working outside of union contracts. In some cases, networks and television studios have created separate non-union companies to create original online entertainment on shoestring budgets.

They also have launched digital studios that serve as "farm teams" for new concepts on the Web that one day might get drafted for the major leagues of prime time.


FULL story at link.

[Deja Q]

1. If the youth think Brit Brat is an example of how to live by,

maybe 30 is the new young and companies should start eyeing us again?