You may have noticed that your favorite night-time variety show has flipped the “re-run” switch recently. What’s going on? Well, the Writers Guild of America is currently striking for the right to get a piece of revenue generated from their work being published online, including the mobile space. You see, the seemingly glamorous job of the Hollywood writer is actually a (for the most part) grueling, paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle that just doesn’t seem fair in contrast to the mega-millions that their work brings to the networks/media conglomerates. And, the higher-ups don’t think that there’s enough data on revenue generated from online media to justify extending the revenue sharing model to online, and mobile, media.
So, we fully support the Writers Guild of America and encourage them to hold out for as long as possible to get the money they deserve for bringing tears and laughter into our lives every day and night – even on our mobile phones. This whole deal could change the way the industry views online and mobile media. They may very well already be aware of the revenue generating power of the internet, but, if the strike is successful, the industry will have to publicly address the issue at face value. Could this spark a new wave of online- and mobile-centric media? We’ll have to wait and see.
[Via: Wall Street Journal]