Empowering Writers In the Age of New Media
September 9th WGA Workshop
Sometimes ‘Breaking and Entering’ is not a felony! There’s a whole new world out there.
The changes and upheaval taking place in the entertainment industry are seismic – all due to technological changes over the past twenty years and gaining pace rapidly.
The longevity of a career consists of consistently ‘breaking in again’.
To stay in the game writers must adapt to the changing phases.
“Come up with a project the industry wants and they don’t care what you look like or how old you are!”
This seminar and workshop is designed to help you to use the technology to gain more exposure and ‘do it yourself’, to encourage writers to become more proactive and entrepreneurial, embracing the new technologies rather than fearing them.
In addition to introducing writers to the demands of the new media versus traditional, it will introduce writers to the new and user-friendly tools at their disposal and how best to use them to enhance their projects. A good career is a long career. And you can start addressing that no matter how old you are.
The first in a possible series of workshops.
BREAKING IN AGAIN – P.R. BIOS
DOUGLAS E. WELCH’s premier podcast, Career Opportunities, is nearing its 5th fifth year of weekly production. He is a pioneer Podcaster and computer consultant. Douglas consults on a variety of technology subjects in the Los Angeles area, teaches Podcasting and New Media for Writers at UCLA Extension, and was on the staff of the 2006 Stephens College Summer Film Workshop in Columbia, Missouri, teaching new filmmakers how to promote and distribute their work using new media.
ROSANNE WELCH is a television writer/producer with credits including FOX’s popular “Beverly Hills 90210” and CBS’s Emmy winning “Picket Fences” and a five year stint as a writer/producer on CBS’s top rated “Touched by an Angel”. In 1998 she researched, wrote and co-produced a two-part special documentary for ABC NEWS/Nightline “Bill Clinton and the Boys Nation Class of 1963”. She is also the author of two books (“Three Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work and Kids” from Seal Press, 2004 and “The Encyclopedia of Women in Aviation and Space” from ABC-CLIO, 1998). Before that Welch was a high school English teacher and freelance writer with editorials for the Los Angeles Times and The Cleveland Plain Dealer and she was one of the founding columnists for The Microsoft Network’s online literary magazine, Matter.
As a writer-producer MARC SCOTT ZICREE has hundreds of hours of network TV to his name, including STAR TREK – TNG, DEEP SPACE NINE (“Far Beyond the Stars”), BABYLON 5, SLIDERS, FRIDAY THE 13TH – THE SERIES, FOREVER KNIGHT and even SMURFS. He has had bestsellers in fiction and non-fiction, notably the MAGIC TIME trilogy of novels and his classic TWILIGHT ZONE COMPANION (recently named by the NEW YORK TIMES one ten science fiction books “for the ages”). He has just completed co-writing, directing and executive producing STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES “WORLD ENOUGH AND TIME,” starring George Takei, which won the TV Guide Award and has been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula.
KEN LAZEBNIK — A veteran playwright-tv and screenwriter, Ken LaZebnik’s most recent screenplay is for the Lionsgate film “Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage.” It stars Peter O’Toole and Marcia Gay Harden and will open across America in November, 2009. Together with Garrison Keillor, LaZebnik co-wrote director Robert Altman’s last film: “A Prairie Home Companion” and has a long history of writing for “Prairie Home Companion”. And has several films in the pipeline. His other screenplays include “Hot Air,” which he wrote with Norman Steinberg for Michael Keaton and MGM. His plays have been produced in New York, Minneapolis and Los Angeles. Los Angeles was the site of the premiere of his comedy “Sink Eating,” which opened at the Matrix Theater. His most recent play, “Vestibular Sense,” premiered in Minneapolis in 2007, and was honored with an award from the American Theater Critic’s Association at the Humana Festival in Louisville. For television, he has written on series as varied as “Touched By An Angel,” “Providence” and “Star Trek: Enterprise.” Crossing genres he wrote three PBS specials for their series “In Concert at the White House”. In addition, he founded the literary baseball magazine The Elysian Fields Quarterly, now over twenty years in publication. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Kate Fuglei, and their two sons.
MARY FEUER is Consulting Producer on the TV series “Dante’s Cove,” which has been described as “Dark Shadows” meets “Queer As Folk” meets “Lost,” if you can imagine that. Her pilot, “God and Mann,” is in development with producer Michael Rosenberg (“The Riches”) at Blueprint Entertainment, and her original web series, “With the Angels,” premieres in August on www.Strike.TV. Mary’s other work on the web includes about 60 episodes as Head Writer/Supervising Producer of the seminal series “Lonelygirl15.” She was also Story Editor for “Buried Alive,” a series on Sony’s FEARnet.com. Mary’s short story “House on Fire” beat out over 19,000 entries to win the Grand Prize in the 2006 Writer’s Digest Competition, and another story, “Valentine’s Day at the Psych Hospital,” will be published in an anthology from St. Martin’
BILL TAUB – veteran television writer-producer with over 25 years experience and hundreds of episodic credits. Has broken in again several times. And has just finished his first web series. “Psycho Babble”, which will have its first exclusive showing on STRIKE TV. And is developing several projects through the LAUGH FACTORY. He also teaches an online course at UCLA Extension Writers Program: “Writing A Spec Pilot”. And is also a member of the WGA Education Committee.
Really disappointing. Absolutely nothing about being “entrepreneurial” as it was advertised. The speakers just advocated making these little webisodes then hoping to God someone would take notice and acquire your property for free. Everyone who showed reels lost money making their projects and have little hope of making anything on them. When the subject of commerce was brought up, that discussion was shot down immediately.
Making money from your new media is certainly a good topic for discussion, but I am wary of it for a number of reasons.
Too often, the person asking the question is not asking how to make money in new media, they are asking “How do I get rich in new media…TODAY!”
The fact is, the market is much too immature to fuel get rich quick schemes and instead requires someone be in for the long term rewards that it will bring. To discuss how to make money on a project that doesn’t exist a truly putting the cart before the horse.
Here is the value I see in new media in the order I consider most likely.
1. New media project as PR and marketing for those involved.
Marketing and PR provide very important value as without the attention of an audience and the market there is little chance of making any money. I believe attention comes first and only then money.
2. Advertising and sponsorship
As your attention and audience grow, you will have opportunities to sell advertising on your show. The nature of the market means that this will likely be much less than is typical for traditional media, but I see these earnings rising rapidly as the power of the new media market starts to come into its own. Sponsorship models hold more interest for me as they are relatively easier to sell and service, especially for smaller viewership shows.
3. Distribution deals with the new media wings of traditional media companies, such as the one recently signed between Rocketboom and Sony.
4. Sale of a new media property into the traditional media market
While this might prove the most lucrative, I would consider it the least likely. It also can mean the loss of control over your property. I also wonder if the traditional market is the place for shows with such marked differences in sensibilities.
Finally, the new media market is in it’s infancy and will probably develop money-making models we have not even considered.
Pingback: Recent Links Tagged With "wga" - JabberTags