Striking Writers to Launch New Company

January 12, 2008

Perhaps the headline of this post should be ended with the he disclaimer "With the help of investors who may or may not pony up $30 million."

The worst nightmare of the studios and networks dealing with the writer's strike is not that it will go on but instead that the out of work writers will start a new company which allows writers to develop content which viewers can view on the web.

According to an article on swarmcast, some of the writers are indeed now looking to start their own production and distribution company.

Aaron Mendelsohn, writer of the Disney film Air Bud and an active WGA member, is captaining the efforts, and says he has gotten a group of “A-list” film and TV writers on the team. He’s also partnering with online community experts from Silicon Valley and raising “north of $30 million” in venture capital, with the idea of launching a company called Virtual Artists later this year.

On the technology side, the company is looking to foster communities around its content and include viewers in the development process. Henri Poole of CivicActions and Brian Behlendorf of the Apache Project and CollabNet are serving as advisers.

If this company does get funding it could be a very scary problem for Hollywood to have to deal with. In fact if it is able to make money by distributing content online it will show how disruptive technology is now changing how writers negotiate. All of Hollywood will be shaken up.

Striking Writers to Launch New Company

Communications and Technology Blog - Tehrani.com

Striking Writers to Launch New Company