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Battlestar Galactica 'Webisodes' Conflict Brewing
nebaz writes "MSNBC has an article saying that there is tension between NBC and Ron Moore and team about the royalties on the 'Webisodes' of Battlestar Galactica. The episodes have been seized by NBC, balking at Ron Moore's refusal to produce any more episodes, due to compensation issues."
NBC Universal, the studio behind "Battlestar," refused to pay residuals or credit the writers of these "Webisodes," claiming they're promotional materials.
not pay writers? sheet. if these people worked for nbc, would nbc not pay them for the time during their work day they wrote?
"you get no pay, peon, that was your break!"see how they feel if you lift the webisodes an puth them on your own site.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
What is wrong with TV executives? Most TV writing is appallingly bad - and they pick a fight with the best writer they've got? (And since it sounds like NBC is in the wrong anyway.)
These things are clearly more than commericals and the actors should be paid. Heck, even actors in commericals get paid.
Obviously, you're not a writer.
I am. And if I write something, I get paid for it. End of story.
If you RTFA, you might note that the network is claiming it doesn't have to pay for the webisodes because they're "promotional materials," as though that somehow means that the content just magically appeared. The network is trying to get something for nothing, and they're giving the content creators - without whom the network is nothing - the shaft.
I know some people must have seen this comming, but you'd think they'd act before this became such a big issue. As time goes on, I am sure some new method of distributing stuff or new forms of media will eventually cause this problem again. If they didn't think of this being a problem all those years ago, what lies down the road in 10, 20 years time?
Whatever BSG's writers want, give it to them. They're far better than the writers on nearly every other one of your shows, and is one of the highlights of a network this is otherwise deservedly in last place among the big four.
A deep unwavering belief is a sure sign you're missing something...
It can also be a matter of contract rights.
IE Sci-Fi doesn't have the overseas contract rights for he show.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
NOTICE: Possible Spoilers
Apparently they got tired of spending so much money on computer graphics, so almost all of the new shows are set in a muddy field, with some tents and some junk. It's turned into a freaking soap opera about mommies and babies. Fuck that shit, I want to see some nuclear explosions in space!
OK. First of all, Galactica is a drama set in space. It's not a scifi kill-fest. The awesome explosions and Viper vs. Raider battles are incidental to the plot. The show gets all its acclaim and awards (and most of its audience) from the script and acting. Without that, the show won't have lasted into season 2.
And the current situation on the planet is symbolically critical - recall the line last week when Tyrol said "We're going home" in reference to reassembling the fleet, when the whole first 2 seasons they wanted a planet to call home, they've found out (both before and during the occupation) that maybe there's more to a new home than soil. Also, you'll be getting your wish in Exodus Part 2, I bet, with 2 battlestars vs. 5 basestars, and 1000 resistance fighters versus the Cylons on the ground.
Back on topic: The webisodes were short (a total of about 15 minutes of content), but they are vital to introducing Duck and Jammer and their choices. Seeing the webisodes helps with the Duck-related scenes in "Occupation", and Jammer's conflicts in the other two episodes. It also really reveals the full irony of Tyrol's conversation with Jammer about Gaeta. That will echo through to at least Episode 5 "Collaborators".
Here is the bottom line: If the company is making money off of the webisodes then the writers deserve their piece under union rules. However, if they are given away for free then they are indeed promotional materials and as such the writers/actors don't deserve any extra cash. For example, should the writers get paid for each time a BSG commercial airs? No, its just promotion for the show for which they do get paid.
I got the webisodes for free, did you guys pay? Really, I don't know.
I believe his point was that you shouldn't be "amazed" at their attempt to squeeze you out. That sort of thing is business as usual for any large corporation.
once you go slack, you never go back
Yeah I'm aware of this and thought it was most likely, but I still wanted to mention it. I also want to mention that the internet sucks, not in a post dot.com bubble ironic sort of way but as a fact. I think we have to accept the fact that the internet isn't going to change the world, but the internet is being changed by the world to suit their existing business models. Its the reason why iTunes isn't 1 store but 21 stores.
Jonathanjk.com
Some fucking space battles!
So far this season it's all "Let's go start some shit up and blow up our own hovels - that'll show the Cylons!", or whatnot.
(admittedly, I may not have paid particular attention to the specifics of TFA)
sic transit gloria mundi
The WGA recognizes that web delivery is the future of the content creation industry. No one is sure yet how increasing broadband access and a generation of entertainment consumers weaned on BitTorrent is going to affect the commercial arts, but you can bet that web delivery, either for-pay, sponsored, or free, is going to be a huge part of the new business model. WGA screwed up once a already by failing to forsee how the home video/DVD market was going to become the major revenue source for movie studios. (Aside: Some clueless pundits - usually conservatives railing against liberal Hollywood - have pointed to falling box office receipts as signs that the studios are somehow dying, but the studios are doing better than ever. They've simply changed their business model.) It's absolutely in their interests to come on strong on the the subject of webisodes.
Wait, if that's true (I note that you posted as an AC...), I just had a horrible thought. We have DRM on the iTunes episodes because we are told that this stops pirating, so people pay for the episode instead. The networks tell us this is a good thing, because it means more money to pay for more shows = more content for us. But now we are being told that the money doesn't go back to the creative talent, ie presumably it goes into the oversized pockets of company execs/shareholders. Come again?!?!
/.ers that actually believes DRM to be a reasonable idea. I write software for a living, and don't like the idea that others can just take my products that I have worked hard on without me getting anything in return. I even do DRM for a living just at the moment! But still, DRM is ONLY justifiable if the money made means more content (better content!) is produced.
Please note, I am one of the rare
Now imagine that computer programming was a highly unstable profession, where any project you worked on could get canceled at any moment, and in any case, once you hit your 40's, you would cease to be hot and hip and might never work again--which means you'll be living off your software "residuals" for many years to come.
Why would one have to imagine? Isn't this the case? I suppose maybe at 40 you don't cease to be hip in the programming world, but if you don't keep up with whatever tech its the same and could happen when you're 25 or 35 or 55 and we don't get residuals. Although I thought some programmers or designers earned royalties? is that only in games? Or is it even in games? Are royalties anagolous to residuals?
What a shallow argument, what if the suits decide that really, the season premiere episode is really just promotional content for the entire season? What if they offer up that episode as a free download on the iTunes Store (as a good bit of pilots, and season premieres seem to be these days).
Shouldn't the writers get their residuals for those too?
Bottom line, if you want promotional content, hiring an advertising firm, if you're creating something regardless of length or what you decide to do with it, you should still be paying those creative folks their proper dues.
Error 407 - No creative sig found
Yay! Then you can watch them in depressingly over-aggressive hyper-compressed format. Awesome.
Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005
For example, should the writers get paid for each time a BSG commercial airs? No, its just promotion for the show for which they do get paid.
But it's not the same. Commercials are excerpts from the larger episodes, so they did get paid for making the episodes. As I understand it, webisodes are not excerpts from the episodes, but are filler around them and produced in addition to the episodes.
As it stands, they were done for free...no renumeration. Shouldn't the people involved in the making of the webisodes get paid for making them in the first place?
The only thing that might be a hitch is if this material was taped as part of the episodes, but later cut out for whatever reason (episode length, etc). This is similar to the "deleted scenes" stuff that appears as bonus material on DVDs. If so, the people involved may have already been compensated for them. From my reading of the article, that isn't the case, but we're not seeing both sides of the argument either.
Please do not blaspheme the internet. It has changed everything, its just that the rest of the entire world has not kept up with frenetic pace set by our beloved internet.
Like, you know, how all content, all entertainment, all information, is now freely available to everyone everywhere, which is so tantalizingly similar to the abundant economies predicted by our favorite sci-fi shows (now, by the way, freely available for free download) that we cannot restrain ourselves from making ever more boastful predictions covering things we know nothing about apart from our certainty that they will be fundamentally changed by the internet. Like in the 90s only we're right this time.
I do not care what you say. The internet is not owned by the same corporations that own everything else. The packets that come to my house are not carried over wires owned by a profit seeking ISP, carried at their whim rather than mine. By virtue of my birth into this world I have earned an inalienable right to these packets and any other packets I might want to receive or send. The internet is not dependent on routers and switches owned by telcos that can decide to allow or reject packets based on their specific business needs or the constraints placed on them by the governments that allow them to operate. No one can sue me for doing something wrong, like piracy or theft of information or slander, as long as I am using the internet because the internet is a playground of limitless freedom that no man, no government, can ever hold back. Not even a nation of millions.
If you don't recognize that the internet has ushered in a new era of free, and freedom, then you way off in the weeds. We disciples praying at the altar of the internet are leaving you behind, old man.
"Sacrifice for the good of The State" - The State
Show A costs $5, gets ratings of 4 and ad revenues of $6. Show B costs $1, gets ratings of 2 and ad revenues of $3. Show B is better for the network. Fake numbers, probably wrong, good illustration of my point.
It isn't about the shows being better, it is about how much better they are, and how much it matters.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Please do not blaspheme the word "blaspheme" since it can only be used in combination with a god-like entity (which i think the internet isn't, just to be clear)
I've been pondering this issue, especially considering the decline of SciFi Channel's signature show SG-1.
First, SF Channel discovered its ratings boost was largely coming from women, who have traditionally not been part of the SF demographic. So we get story lines about mommies and babies. Spare me.
Second, the new season of BSG suffers from the same problem that ruined SG-1, they're losing. Nobody wants to watch a bunch of losers, it isn't very inspiring. It is even worse watching your formerly-glorious heroes get defeated over and over, without even the slightest foreshadowing of an eventual victory.
IMHO the BSG writers totally jumped off the deep end in this season, I can hardly watch it anymore. Character development is all fine and good, but I don't want to watch a soap opera, I want to watch an action show.
So we get story lines about mommies and babies. Spare me.
The "mommies and babies" story line has been there from at least the second episode of the first season. Remember Boomer and Helo?
Nobody wants to watch a bunch of losers, it isn't very inspiring.
To each his own. I think it's great.
IMHO the BSG writers totally jumped off the deep end in this season, I can hardly watch it anymore.
So don't watch it.
Character development is all fine and good, but I don't want to watch a soap opera, I want to watch an action show.
I don't want to watch an [all] action show. I want character development.
I am sure there are excellent writers on the show as I have thoroughly enjoyed it for 2 years, but whomever they are allowing to inject politics into season 3 should be fired.
Have you been watching BSG at all?
The show is full of politics -- stealing elections, the issue of abortion, torturing enemy detainees, religion & religious extremism, "terrorism" and everything associated with it (armed resistance, suicide bombings, etc.)
Seriously, this show has been full of political commentary (allegories, whatever you want to call it) from the start.
It's part of what makes the show so compelling.
Whether or not you agree with the message.... it's part of what makes the show great. Bringing issues like these to the forefront and forcing people to face them, when most people would rather cover their eyes and ears and pretend its not there.
Dude, Galactica falling from the sky, launching Vipers through the fire of atmospheric reentry is what I would call "fun". Maybe I'm just a nihilist...