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On the Internet, Everyone Knows You're a Hyphenate

By Jonathan Handel

Idle hands are the devil's playthings, and writer's hands are no exception. That's why some of them have occupied their time on the Internet, creating short films about the strike, and, in some cases, seeking deals to make Internet content for pay. If this trickle becomes a flood, it could herald a sea change for the industry, as Thom Taylor argues in an LA Times Op-Ed. (Water metaphors are on my mind after the torrential weekend rains here)

But there's an irony that may escaped notice - writers are claiming their digital destiny at the cost of their core focus: they're becoming directors and producers as well. Now, that's not unusual; it seems like everyone's mixing in each other's business today. Apple was a computer company; now they're also a music distributor. Microsoft was a software company; now they're gamers as well. Google was a search company; today they're a video network (by virtue of owning YouTube) and a lot of other things. On an individual level, print reporters now make Internet videos as well, and all sorts of people are bloggers (even attorneys).

Yet, it's a big change for many writers, who are often not managerial or entrepreneurial, unless they're already hyphenates: writer-producers (such as television showrunners) or writer-directors (about 10% of the Writers Guild), for instance. There are even a few writer-actors, such as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck - indeed, the latter's now a triple-hyphenate, as he's now a director as well (Gone Baby Gone).

Still the irony remains: the strike, in part, is about claiming respect, and fair compensation, for writers as writers - but to attain that respect writers may have to do something other than write. It's a sad world that way, or an exciting one, or maybe both.

This article first appeared on the Huffington Post on January 7, 2008.

Full post as published by Digital Media Law on January 07, 2008 (boomark / email).