ScriptSuperhero.com

Right between movies and TV stands the new electronic media market, from cell phones to wireless devices to PCs and MP3 players, including iPods. All of them have made decent splashes as new markets for TV shows, movies and other entertainment content to be displayed and sold to the public.

Now, I’ve never understood the appeal of paying Apple $1.99 per episode of The Office when you can watch it for free on an HDTV screen in much larger size and far superior 1080p resolution, but to each their own; the point is, there’s money to be made there and the big networks are already raking it in.

That’s what makes Hollywood producers’ arguments ring a bit hallow when they claim that new media is largely untested and they don’t want to set a share for the writers until the revenue numbers clear up a bit. Considering such additional royalties would be paid on a percentage basis, I just don’t see where it can’t be determined.

After all, whether the figure is four percent, six percent or some other percentage, it’s not a hard-and-fast dollar figure; just like producers, writers would only be getting a slice of whatever revenue pie exists, not a slice of sales that haven’t been made quite yet.

The producers need to get serious and start offering writers a real stake in the future of the entertainment industry, before a large portion of the audience decides to stay away even after the strike is over.

When handled oafishly, it can be obvious and insulting, but one of the keys to making a good film a great film is understanding the use of symbolism. Whether it’s religious jewelry or something less obvious, the use of symbols can help communicate the power and meaning of a good film.

My favorite example of symbolism done well is James Cameron’s Titanic. The main symbol was hands and it showed up several times over in the film, both in dialog and in imagery on the screen. Since hands are often the body part most artists struggle the most to get right, among other things the hand symbolism came to represent Cameron’s own struggle to perfect such a daunting, challenging picture to make.

One thing that has always frustrated me is how little some companies understand about the writing profession. The example that’s sticking in my craw at the moment is how some companies will bypass creative-style writers when hiring for ad copywriters and/or technical writers.

That would be as shortsighted as grabbing a Stradivarius and taking it to a discount furniture warehouse, expecting to get the right price for it. You see, no matter what they’re writing about, good writers write well. Conversely, too many such positions are filled with tons of technical know-how, and yet not be able to construct a coherent paragraph, let alone solid ad copy or a legible version of an SOP manual.

Sure, I’m more of a blogger, review writer and fiction writer; but if I needed to, I could succeed at technical writing or ad copy. It’s sad that so many companies value top technical skills over communication abilities.

Perhaps one way to solve the differences between Hollywood producers and WGA writers is to put them all into a better mood; maybe the best way to do this would be a change of scenery. I’d like to suggest setting both sides up in hotels in Las Vegas; negotiate by day, do the nightlife by night.

They always say that whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? Well, maybe that mentality could lead to both sides giving in a little until they meet somewhere in the middle and get a deal done.

In the meantime, networks are laying off hundreds of staffers each time they shut down a show, and all of these innocent tech crew workers are finding themselves unemployed and without any guarantee of getting their jobs back when the strike is over. Those are the real victims of this WGA-Hollywood Producers conflict.

The talent drain could leave a lot of shows worse off for the experience once a settlement is reached and everyone does go back to work.

Late last week, the WGA walked away from strike negotiations with Hollywood TV and film producers after the WGA noted what they felt was a lack of serious effort to reach a resolution.

In addition to the financial considerations previously made public, it appears writers and producers are still far apart on several other “below the surface” issues. This includes the WGA wanting control over reality-programming scriptwriters, which would prevent networks from turning to “unscripted” reality shows in future strikes, in order to fill programming schedules. The also asked for the same sort of control over animated programming. This could prove a tough hurdle for both sides, as the WGA has clear interest in gaining control over these types of programming, while producers seem unlikely to make such concessions as it would make any future strikes much tougher on the industry.

With these issues and more creating ripples between the two sides, it’s not likely that writers and producers will be exchanging diamond rings and walking down the “new labor agreement” aisle any time soon. Get ready for a longer, dragged out conflict before both sides work this one, folks; and get ready for tons of reality programming, game shows and, yes, reruns.

As a writer, two of my favorite light dramas are the USA Network detective shows, Monk and Psych, largely because I can imagine having a blast writing an episode of them. I wouldn’t even need a large paycheck, it’d be so much fun; I’d write it for scale and a Hublot watch.

Well, maybe not. Keeping a roof over my head would be a concern, too.

Even so, it was nice to hear that despite the writer’s strike, both USA series will air the back half of their seasons, with holiday episodes airing in December and then the series picking up where they left off late last summer, on January 11.

Even though Monk is in its fifth or sixth season, it’s still a remarkably fresh show; and Psych is its spiritual successor, a very amusing parody of all those “psychic detective” shows like Medium and Ghost Whisperer.

If the writer’s strike drags on, things could get pretty painful for viewers, but with these two shows confirmed for a return, it won’t hurt too badly too soon, at least.

It’s the nightmare of every writer in the computer age, and now it’s mine.

On Thursday, my desktop PC’s hard drive began to make it really obvious it was about to fail. Over the past month, it has crashed three times and on Thursday night, it started emitting a periodic high-pitched whine. I was able to get a few blog-posts up but quickly shut it down and went out and bought a new hard drive.

What a nightmare!

I was able to find a nice, large, affordable hard drive to replace my existing one, but what a lot of work it has been! I foolishly followed the directions included with the new hard drive, and was rewarded with an unsuccessful formatting procedure; it took me 36 hours to realize it wasn’t working correctly.

Now I am scrambling to do a system restore, reinstall nearly all of my software, some of which I may have to repurchase, and recover my personal files - tons of it writing projects - before the whole thing crashes for good.

At least once it’s done, my new hard drive, a 250GB behemoth, will hold a lot more than the last one. Writing isn’t all capresso and casual clothing.

One of the benefits of the 2007 WGA Writers Strike is that some shows that may have had the cancellation axe fall on them prematurely have at least had more of a chance to find an audience. However, such opportunities don’t always reap the expected benefits of series survival.

Witness NBC’s fascinating SciFi Lite drama, Journeyman. Part newspaper drama, part Quantum Leap, the show chronicles the family-disrupting adventures of Dan, a San Francisco report, who suddenly finds himself leaping backward in time to help out people in crisis.

The NBC drama found its niche and a unique identity apart from its Quantum Leap-style premise by closely tying time-traveler Dan’s personal life in the present with the lives of those he helps out in the past, an element that Quantum Leap never utilized.

Now, word has come down from on high that NBC will burn off the final two episodes of the network’s initial 13-episode commitment during the week of December 17, with the 12th episode airing on its traditional Monday timeslot, and the 13th episode airing two nights later, on Wednesday.

It marks what looks like an ignominious end to a promising drama that, personally, I’ve enjoyed since its debut as a satisfying capper to Chuck and Heroes. Although a sharp upswing in ratings could still spur the network to order the “back nine” episodes of Journeyman, such an 11th-hour save appears, at this point, unlikely.

As a writer, I can only imagine the creative frustration this must lead to behind the scenes; story elements have been introduced that clearly indicate a long-range plan by the series creators for the direction of these characters; now, it appears many of those tales will never be told. The makeup mirrors have gone dark and it appears the show is a wash.

The writer’s strike appears not to be an influence in the network’s decision; both Chuck and another freshman NBC drama, Life, received full-season orders last week.