Today in the LA Times, a piece by Joseph Menn on striking WGA members in Hollywood who hope to launch venture-backed online entertainment startups as a way to bypass conventional entertainment economics:
At least seven groups, composed of members of the striking Writers Guild of America, are planning to form Internet-based businesses that, if successful, could create an alternative economic model to the one at the heart of the walkout, now in its seventh week.
Three of the groups are working on ventures that would function much like United Artists, the production company created 80 years ago by Charlie Chaplin and other top stars who wanted to break free from the studios.
"It's in development and rapidly incubating," said Aaron Mendelsohn, a guild board member and co-creator of the "Air Bud" movies.
Link. Image: Aaron Mendelsohn (courtesy LA Times)
