Rumor Control...and Marc Andreessen

OK, yes: it's a rumor, that all 3000 attendees of the Creation BSG Con will converge on the WGA picket line at Universal. That is not the case.

HOWEVER it most certainly IS TRUE, that BSG fans - and heck, all TV fans period - in the area are cordially invited to join the striking writers at Universal Studios on Friday, November 16th. Come on down! I believe Mr. Verheiden will keep you posted on the time/location...or just refer to the WGA's picket locations page.

Marc Andreessen has posted again regarding the strike; he feels it may kick-start a process of recreating Hollywood in Silicon Valley's image:

In Silicon Valley, there are many companies, large and small, that create, market, and distribute products -- and more such companies all the time. In fact, there is a whole industry -- the venture capital industry -- devoted to creating as many new such companies as possible, as rapidly as possible.

• In Silicon Valley, creation, marketing, and distribution of a compelling new product is not very expensive. And with the Internet, marketing and distribution costs drop nearly to zero. Most successful Internet companies, large and small, use free viral marketing techniques and never run ads. And the whole concept of distribution costs goes away when everything is digital -- the next set of bits costs nothing to manufacture.
  

• Therefore, there are no bottlenecks. Many companies, large and small, can afford to be in business -- can afford to develop new products and bring them to market, market them and distribute them. And nobody can really block you.
  

• In Silicon Valley, the creators of the product -- the talent -- are owners: owners of their product, and owners of their company. In fact, the entities that finance the companies -- venture capitalists, private equity funds, the public stock market -- want the creators to be owners: in a world where there can be many companies, the best creative talent will be drawn to the situations in which they will be owners, and will be compensated as owners.
  

• Because of that, in technology, creators get paid like owners.
  

• Therefore, there are no unions. There is no reason for the creators to unionize -- they would be negotiating with themselves. The concept of residuals does not exist -- they'd be paying themselves. And alignment of interests between creators and financiers is near-perfect.

There is also the music business to consider...plenty of musicians have figured out ways to make the internet work for them. Wouldn't it be nifty if film & TV artists could do the same?