DISQUS

AFAIK, the lawyer really is one, and the plagiarized and/or poorly cited parts didn't make it into the published book. (There are plenty of fanfic bits in it, but they do seem to be her own work.) Plagiarism is certainly a huge problem on the internet, but so are personal vendettas like the one Laura has against the people mentioned there, other fan-run wikis, the Organization for Transformative Works (which I'm involved with), anyone internet famous who doesn't want to be friends with her, etc. Considering she's added blatantly false info about me to her wiki before, I'd take anything there with a grain of salt.

I love your blog though. I'll definitely be checking out your other posts.

--Franzi

Kyle, I see what you mean, but the problem is that today's contract will probably be in force for the next twenty years (just like the last one), so the writers need to secure some pay for online stuff right now or be screwed for decades. The studios are claiming that it's too early to know how profitable online viewing will be (yeah right) so they should hold off on giving the writers a cut. (I think this is silly since 1% of $0 is still $0.)

I think I misunderstood what you meant by "New Media". I was also including things like webisodes produced by the old media companies, iTunes distribution, streaming content on network websites, etc. All of those things are highly relevant to the issue even if more indie stuff isn't. For example, I often watch Supernatural episodes on the CW website (yes, yes, you probably think it's badly written, but that's not the point), and these are shown with several commercial breaks per episode. It's not much different from showing reruns (for which the writers get a hell of a lot more than they get for DVDs).

The way I hear it, the writers really did try to avoid the strike, but the studios have been even more dishonest than usual, so negotiations broke down. (Negotiations that have been going on for ages, btw, so it's not as though the studios didn't have ample warning that they needed to negotiate seriously.) I have to say, my sympathy is still with the striking writers no matter how many biased news articles I've read that favor the networks/studios.

I'm confused: you say New Media is here to stay yet think that it should be ignored when paying writers? Residuals are a normal part of pay in that industry just as tips are a normal part of a waiter's pay. The money that doesn't go to the writers, actors, etc. goes to the studios, who certainly make more than 200k/year. (Most writers don't actually make that much, of course, but even if they did, they'd still be making less than the studios and the execs on the other side of the issue.)

I'm not a big fan of unions or strikes either, but the studios are so ridiculously unreasonable about this issue that they're leaving the writers no other choice.