To Break or Not to Break Through Pickets

Among the questions being raised by the writers’ strike are what does it all mean for new media, and will it be a boon for web content? But the more pressing question is, are any new media companies going after the out-of-work rank and file of the WGA?

Break.com kick-started the discussion by soliciting striking writers, offering them a shot at a $5,000 prize. “It’s more of a bounty than a contest,” said Keith Richman, CEO of Break. “We are increasingly viewing our position in L.A. as a great way to generate content. Continuing outreach is part of the plan during and after the strike.”

But not every new media company shares his enthusiasm.

“We have not worked with any guild writers,” said Michael Wayne, president and CEO of DECA. “Down the road we’ll have to evaluate it, but we would be very measured in how we work with that person. We work with agencies; we are very acutely aware of the issues here. As there is clarity, we will be in lock-step with the entertainment industry.”

Jen Grogono, Chief Content Officer for ON Networks, was equally pragmatic. “We are exploring that cautiously, we don’t want to violate the WGA’s restrictions online,” said Grogono. “We’re not out there putting an ad in Variety saying all writers come work for ON Networks.” ON Networks now even asks people submitting ideas if they are WGA members.

Richman isn’t as concerned about the legalities, “I don’t really understand what people are and are not allowed to do,” he said. “So many letters and missives have been issued, no one has a really good sense of if it’s in complete violation. We’re sort of leaving it up to the people involved.”

Lost in some of the speculation surrounding new media and the writer’s strike was the fact that many new media companies were created to sidestep the Hollywood machine — including the writers.

“We will be looking outside the traditional framework, the same as when we look for new and interesting people to put on camera,” said David Prager, COO of Revision3. “The last place we’d go to is SAG and AFTRA and talent agencies. We don’t go there.” (Disclosure: Revision3 produces The GigaOm Show.)

“Our company was started to find the talent that wasn’t getting deals, that was going unnoticed, we still believe in that mission,” said ON’s Grogono. “The folks who are striking didn’t tend to be the folks were were trying to get anyway.”

But Richman doesn’t see Break’s move as one away from its user-generated roots. “What is a user? Individuals, while they might be employed by Hollywood, are still users. There’s not a writer you meet who doesn’t have their own idea that they could create cheaply. Just like Arkansas guy, these people haven’t had any more success.”

There is one notion that rises above the politics of Hollywood and definitions of user-generated content that Richman firmly believes in. “Truly creative people tend to create. They’ll figure out a way to make them. They’re always thinking and making stuff,” he said. “Can’t tell people not to do that.”

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