Writers Unite, Lose Your Chains (Networks) - TheCharlieWarnerReport

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Originally published 11/08/07

Guest blogger Dave Nelson writes:

"There are now thousands of people walking picket lines and sitting in bars—creatively bullshitting one another—who are usually busy bullshitting the rest of us by scribbling the phrases that keep us all from having to think about our terrible jobs, spouses, responsibilities, fears, inadequacies, and problems.

And the bosses and financiers who control the entertainment distribution pipelines are like any other greedy businessman out to screw the little guy, only today the little guys can turn their energies toward viewing escapist comedy and tragedy in order to forget about cleaning out a bedpans or driving trucks.

My advice to the striking writers—the way to deal with the television networks is NOT to deal with them.

The writers should begin by creating a bunch of wwebsites on which they can create a 24/7 parade of funny and dramatic programming (like one big “Saturday Night Live”) that encompasses the whole spectrum of entertainment programming.

The writers can create synergy with You Tube and the whole user-generated-content universe for visual support and Current TV for news coverage; the whole collaboration could become the People’s Television Network (PTN).

And when PTN gets a billion hits worldwide, which it most certainly would, the advertisers would come in droves. Then, PTN could expand into separate programs in different entertainment genres across the Internet and the decline of the network dinosaurs will be accelerated in a few years.

The hedge funds will pour financing in and actors and directors and all the necessary support folks will eventually follow the money and gravitate en masse to the new online enterprise. There are enough creative and production folks available in Hollywood to staff hundreds of PTN programs in dozens of niches—a perfect format for the Internet.

And the suits and bean counters at the broadcast and cable television networks will all be sitting around in shock wondering, “What went wrong.”

So, writers unite! Dump the networks! Start doing what writers do—write—and put it on the Web. Entertain us and laugh all the way to the bank.

And then you can start exploiting the little guys—it’s the American way.

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