Striking Writers Starting Own Studios?
"Dozens" of striking writers are negotiating with venture capitalists in efforts to establish their own online entertainment studios and bypass the traditional studios, according to the LA Times.
Tech investors have been reticent to fund entertainment ventures in the past, largely because they see programs/movies as one-offs with low post-debut margins compared to tech ventures, which have more of an innate ability to grow virally and with less overhead.
Earlier this year, Will Ferrell's FunnyOrDie.com had a hit with the vid "Landlord," essentially making the Web safe for A-list talent.
A handful of web companies, like Revision3 and Yahoo, are currently attempting to produce original content for the web, with mixed results. Yahoo's had the most experience -- Wow House, Richard Bang's Adventures, In the Hot Zone -- but has often fallen short of its stockholder's expectations. Perhaps the most successful original entertainment initiative from a tech company is AOL's Gold Rush which, while not successful across all demographics, did attract a large number of women age 35 to 44.
