Lucky strike?

Over at Rouge Wave my attention was caught by Sheldon's Bull's intriguing take on the WGA Writers Strike at this potentially pivotal time for the industry.

Read the complete article in Storylink. Here's an excerpt:

'Take a deep breath and think for a minute. Maybe you don’t need to pen that spec or genuflect to that agent. Maybe what you need to do is bypass them all and just do it yourself.
Do I mean that you should make a short movie or three-minute TV series on your own and then post it on the web for free? Yes. That’s exactly what I mean. Can you think of a more effective way to introduce yourself to the world? If you get ten thousand hits on your video, don’t you suppose that people with money to invest will come looking for you?
The ’07-’08 Writers Strike could be the seminal moment in the collective lives of every screenwriter alive. This could be the beginning of the biggest tectonic shift in the history of entertainment.'

Thoth

In times of strike or stalemate, who better to turn to than Thoth - the ancient Egyptian patron of writers (and by extension scriptwriters)? Diplomatic Thoth who was credited with inventing writing and numbers, was also God of the moon and magic.
In art, Thoth was usually depicted with the head of an ibis with a beak resembling the crescent moon.

"Thoth the Scribe, wrote the story of our reality then placed it into grids for us to experience and learn through the alchemy of time and consciousness."

Hmmmm...

pencils down

strike

South Africa might seem a little off the radar when it comes to the US Writers Guild strike and indeed the majority of scriptwriters here produce for local content and broadcasters - and tend to be consumed by a different set of pressing professional issues.

Striking US writers have stated that it is not proper for writers anywhere (that includes here in SA) to approach, negotiate, pitch or do business with any of the 'struck' WGA signatory companies during the strike action. The list of companies is available here and contains a fair number that have done or are currently doing SA co-productions.

Last year alone, film and television production (the majority of which here is overseas co-production) contributed over 5 billion rands to South Africa's economy (3 billion in the Western Cape and 2 billion in Gauteng). It might be timeous for the writers union SASWU to issue some statement of solidarity - since any benefits eventually won by striking US writers will have far reaching impact, and may provide additional leverage for on-going local negotiations.

For further information and to read various recent media coverage of the strike - see Robin's blog here.