The Quarterlife folks had the deal inked with NBC long before the strike and before they ever went live on MySpace. Basically NBC paid for chunk of the costs and part of their contract was that NBC had right of first refusal on Quarterlife. In essence, they get the chance to produce it before the creators shop it elsewhere. One the strike started NBC exercised that option. It's really isn't a case of selling out. I've heard more than one interview with the creators and they aren't happy that things played out with this way during the strike, but there isn't a lot they can do since the contract was in place months before the strike.

I'm not saying sold out like it's a bad thing, NoiseDesign - although I hadn't realised NBC part financed the production.

The big deal with Quarterlife is that the creators have maintained complete creative control of the project as well as ownership. They just couldn't keep it off the air this winter as NBC already had the contract in place.

Yes, part of the reason that some people are watching Quarterlife (in the business sense) is that the creators basically gave up any long term contracts (like the deal that Tim has with FOX) in order to form an independent production company (since the vast majority of them died out in the 90s when the fin-syn rules were abolished.)

Howard Gordon did a "Why We Write" essay.

Why? It didn't seem unreasonable. The reaction to it was. And transparent.

I'm not saying it was unreasonable. I understand what they were going for but it was edited down so much that the final product felt a little desperate to me. And, hey, I'm not saying we're not desperate. I'm just saying, let's not wear our desperation on our sleeves, folks. It's unattractive. Slap on some lip gloss and a pair of cute shoes and fake your way through it.

According to the BBC, Fox and Apple are going to announce an iTunes deal which will put Fox's films on iTunes for rental. The article doesn't say it, but I've heard the content will be streamed down, which I presume means writers won't need to be paid. Although maybe I'm too pessimistic with these things.

[link]

It's interesting because a lot of studios are complaining about Apple, so I'm surprised Fox are staying in bed with them.

In other StrikeWank news, Rob Thomas was asked by TV Guide about the potential Veronica Mars comic:

“I had a second meeting with DC comics. I heard that the [WGA] didn’t want [TV writers penning TV-based] comic books during the strike as it would promote a network property. We’re investigating whether there are similar hurdles for a defunct TV series like Veronica Mars. Naturally, I won’t be writing it if the Guild doesn’t want me to, but we’re hoping that’s not the case.”

Someone should start a website. StrikeWank.com

I'm tempted almost every day.

It would certainly be more interesting than reading the entires and comments at unitedhollywood and deadlinehollywood. And a hell of a lot less depressing.