WritersGuildOfAmerica
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Streaming services will pay writers more following a new deal
Amazon, Hulu and Netflix are going to have to open their wallets a little bit wider if they want to keep producing original shows. The Writers Guild of America has outlined a tentative 3-year contract that will increase the residuals paid to writers for every episode in a high-budget series. The exact payouts vary depending on the size of the service and the length of the show, but the companies are looking at anywhere between $3,448 more per episode for the life of the contract (for a half-hour Hulu show) to $34,637 (for an hour-long Netflix production). That may not sound like much given the money these companies can throw around, but it could add up for a series cranking out several new episodes every year.
'Tomb Raider' and 'Witcher 3' snag Writers Guild nominations
The Writers Guild of America has nominated Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Pillars of Eternity, Rise of the Tomb Raider and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in its Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing category for 2015. (Yes, the Writers Guild still spells "video game" as one word). If these choices feel a tad mainstream, that's because the organization only honors writers who are also members of the WGA Videogame Writers Caucus, which limits its reach. The WGA will present its awards during simultaneous events in Los Angeles and New York on February 13th.
Strike.tv brings new, original Hollywood produced shows streaming home in HD
Dissatisfied with what primetime television is offering? Maybe short form HD in the browser window is the answer. That's the possibility posed by Strike.tv, a new site that's teamed up with BitGravity to stream high definition videos written and produced by familiar Hollywood talent. With newly inexpensive HD cameras, CEO Peter Hyoguchi envisions an opportunity for content creators to get their vision out without long expensive development processes. You can watch the first fruits of their labor right now, and recognize faces from The Office, Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show and other programs among the forty web series available.
