“We’re all heading toward a collision over digital content. Somebody’s going to blink, but I don’t think it’s going to be the writers.”
Good for you, Ron Moore!
The former god of the Star Trek writing world, and current god of the Battlestar Galactica universe, has gone to war with NBC/Universal over writers’ rights…and we should all hope he wins.
Recently, the Battlestar Galactica website has been offering mini-web episodes at its online home – episodes that fleshed out the behind-the-scenes actions of the recent New Caprica occupation storyline. The episodes were written by Producers Bradley Thompson & David Weddle (the best writers on Galactica, after Moore himself), and function as much as a continuation of the storyline as the official broadcast episodes. Doctor Who has been offering similar web and digital-only content in a similar fashion on the BBC’s websites for years, and more and more productions are following suit.
However, NBC has refused to pay residuals fees or credit the writers of these webisodes, claiming that such programming is merely “promotional material”. In response, Ron Moore has refused delivery on the 10 remaining, complete webisodes, and NBC has countered with a complaint to the Writer’s Guild of America about unfair labour practices.
NBC must lose this fight. More and more content is being delivered on line, as broadband, ipods, YouTube and cell phones become the new way of delivering entertainment programming. According to their own statistics, the season opener of Galactica drew an audience of 2.2 million people. On the other hand, the Galactica webisodes were streamed 5.5 million times in September…
Digital content isn’t covered in the current agreement with the WGA, and it MUST be…writers should not lose their credit or their compensation for continuing to provide quality programming that simply happens to be delivered by modern technology no one could have conceived of ten years ago…or even five years ago. It’s a game of chicken that must be played, because networks will do everything in their power NOT to have to compensate creative work…and that’s both an ethical AND an economic crime. If the networks win, then the slippery slope with simply freeze over.
Get the word out! There are many writers and journalists who command a large online/digital presence (such as my friend James…who has some of the best writing and analysis you can find anywhere online!), and who deserve to have their work adequately protected and compensated. Big business shouldn’t have the final say on this matter…for all its glorious freedom, the internet should command the same respect and creative practices as television, theatre and radio. This is a battle that must be won…so don’t let the bastard corporations win by default.
Writers should only be slaves to their own creativity and ambition…not to their paymasters!
