Thanksgiving is a weekend for most of us to relax, enjoy family gatherings, and be thankful and grateful for all that we have in our lives… For my friends in L.A. that means a 4 day weekend of no sleep to party it up! Continue reading
Here is an interesting article from the Associated Press.
Striking Hollywood Writers Turn to Web
By GARY GENTILE (AP Business Writer)
From Associated Press
November 26, 2007 7:38 AM EST
LOS ANGELES – Striking TV and movie writers kept up the pressure on studios by picketing and intensifying an Internet campaign that uses the very medium at issue in the contentious negotiations.
Both sides were set to resume contract talks Monday. The Writers Guild of America went on strike Nov. 5 over payment for work aired on the Web. Writers want more money when TV shows and films are sold on Internet sites such as Apple Inc.’s iTunes.
Studios, networks and producers, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, say it is too early to know which business model will succeed on the Web. They want flexibility to experiment without having to be locked into payment formulas.
As the strike enters its fourth week, writers have stepped up their use of blogs, short videos, MySpace pages and other Web-based methods aimed at keeping their ranks together and reaching a wider audience, including TV viewers who will soon have to settle for reruns of their favorite prime time shows.
The guild’s West and East coast branches have posted strike schedules, press releases and other information on its official Web sites.
But soon after the strike started, other sites sprang up, including one maintained by strike captains and another hosted by writers for “Late Show with David Letterman.”
Writers also began using social networking sites, including MySpace and Facebook, to communicate among themselves. The irony of using a site like MySpace, which is owned by media conglomerate News Corp., a company being struck by writers, does not go unnoticed.
“It can’t be fun for Rupert Murdoch for me to be doing this in his back yard right now,” said Kristen Stavola, a screenwriter behind the MySpace site “Hollywood Interrupted.”
One of the most popular efforts has been the video “The Office is Closed,” which was shot on the picket lines by Peter Rader. The video features the show’s writer-producer Greg Daniels and cast members belittling a TV network claim that reuse of episodes on the Web is merely “promotional.”
That video, posted on YouTube, has been viewed more than 520,000 times.
“We realized we had the opportunity to take the Internet and use it against the companies which are trying to dominate the Internet,” Rader said.
Rader said the videos, blogs, social networking pages and other efforts constitute a “virtual picket line” where writers can communicate their position without having it filtered through the media, much of which is owned by the companies that also control TV networks and film studios.
The latest effort is a series of video featuring A-list stars such as Sean Penn, the cast of “Ugly Betty,” Holly Hunter and others.
Screenwriter George Hickenlooper and Allen Sereboff devised the campaign, entitled “Speechless,” that will eventually include as many as 50 videos.
“We’re trying to tell the world what the role of the writer is,” Hickenlooper said.
In one video, Penn silently mouths words while staring into the camera. In another, Hunter calls the screenwriter from the set of a movie, only to be connected with a clueless customer service representative in Bangalore, India.
Each video ends with the word “Speechless.”
“It’s all about bringing attention to the strike and the power of the Internet,” Hickenlooper said.
The actors donated their time in a show of unity that many believe helped bring both sides back to the bargaining table.
The other major factor was the refusal by show producer-writers, called showrunners, to prepare episodes for airing. The near unanimous decision by showrunners to honor picket lines has forced dozens of shows to go into reruns far sooner than networks had anticipated.
—
On the Net:
Writers: http://www.unitedhollywood.com
http://www.myspace.com/hollywoodinterrupted
http://www.speechlesswithoutwriters.com
http://www.youtube.com/profile?userwgaamerica
AMPTP official site: http://www.amptp.org
See You At The Top
Written By
R. Branch
Code Name
Scotty Pimpin
Holla for New Media! 🙂
As per my job description I know a little about this strange combination of words commonly referred to as “New Media.†The whole thing makes sense to me… I mean the reason the writers are striking in the first place…
All these network shows you can watch on the internet as well as video games you purchase or download and play on your gaming console or computer, or even those live web streams we can watch, are all a form of NEW MEDIA… Advertisers pay tons of money so the networks can put these shows for free on their websites, and we drop at least 50 bucks for a new release video game… Where does all that money go? You guessed it  the Production team.. (i.e. ABC, NBC, CBS and all the Execs that originally funded the project)
So, what does that mean for our friends who write all these blockbusting shows??? NOT A DIME! After all the advertisers purchase space on the webpage for their ads and interrupt the show you’re watching, and after you spend all that money on that new video game you’ve just bought It doesn’t seem to be such a bad idea to give the ones that came up with the whole idea a little change, does it? All they originally were asking for was 8 cents per sale… and the opportunity to work out a deal for all the internet stuff…
So thank God they decided to strike…
Because when we copy that same situation over to the music industry… we’re in the same boat! As a musician playing or composing the music that goes on these shows that get streamed on the internet, and the music for those same video games, you deserve to get paid!
Anyway… More power to the writers to start something that has needed to be started since internet and video games were created…!
If you would like to see any of this in action, be sure to hit up Hollywood Blvd. Tuesday, November 26th @ 1:30pm.. There you see all the big wig writers that created shows like Heroes, Lost, and Desperate Housewives… See You There! 🙂
Continue reading
Winter is soon upon us, and bringing out the Designer Frames for the holidays is simply a California Thing.In The Know individuals who have a need to Keep It Pimpish, would ordinarily be seen in a pair of Vintage Louis V Frames, or as I prefer to call them “DMC’S”.
For those unaware , that is the name of the 2nd part of the Hip Hop Iconic Trio RUN-D.M.C., and as you may have seen, the 80’s Babies are currently pimpin the same style of frames that he did during the mid 80’s
While Marc Jacobs and Pharell have taken the initiative to BRING IT BACK, your Friendly Neighborhood PimpHop.com will pick up the slack by giving the credit where it is due.
The DMC for The New Millennium?
Yes Indeed, just like the PimpHop.com Experts Predicted.
B.Spears is back in full effect with a solid working formula,
DOIN NUMBERS and GETTIN MONEY!
Billboard charts show a fairly large amount of units of her recently released single being moved.
Album Release Date scheduled for Tuesday Novemeber 13 , 2007 &
Its Official PimpHop Approved.
Oddly enough, the tabloids and most of the media are not broadcasting the
GREAT NEWS , which would leave it in the hands of
Neighborhood PimpHop.com .
Soo….
Lets See Here!!!
Shaved Head & Tattoos= Good Publicity
Crashing Into Parked Mercedes While Driving A Mercedes without a California Drivers License= Good Publicity
Tolerating Being HATED ON by the Press, Peers, and False Friends= Good Publicity.
Judge Playing With Custody Rights of Children with K-Fed=Good Publicity.
Rounding It All Off With A Strip Tease Video, and having it
posted on PimpHop.com= BEST PUBLICITY.
Yes Indeed, just like the PimpHop.com Experts Predicted.
B.Spears is back in full effect with a solid working formula,
DOIN NUMBERS and GETTIN MONEY!
Billboard charts show a fairly large amount of units of her recently released single being moved.
Album Release Date scheduled for Tuesday Novemeber 13 , 2007 &
Its Official PimpHop Approved.
Oddly enough, the tabloids and most of the media are not broadcasting the
GREAT NEWS , which would leave it in the hands of
Neighborhood PimpHop.com .
Soo….
Lets See Here!!!
Shaved Head & Tattoos= Good Publicity
Crashing Into Parked Mercedes While Driving A Mercedes without a California Drivers License= Good Publicity
Tolerating Being HATED ON by the Press, Peers, and False Friends= Good Publicity.
Judge Playing With Custody Rights of Children with K-Fed=Good Publicity.
Rounding It All Off With A Strip Tease Video, and having it
posted on PimpHop.com= BEST PUBLICITY.
In The News.
The OJ Simpson Las Vegas Hearings for kidnapping, robbery, and conspiracy charges is in full swing as
co-defendants gave testimony regarding events said to have taken place in September of 07.
The allegations claim that O.J. Simpson, along with a team of armed associates, barged in to the hotel room of a sports memorabilia dealer to retrieve what he considered stolen property.
One of the assailants , who struck a deal with prosecutors for a reduced charge plea bargain, testified that they did in fact see armed men in the room who were actually followed in by Simpson himself.
Reports were also circulating last week that the F.B.I. was aware of the planned, “repossession” at least two months prior to the alleged incident.
http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20071110/47353ad0_3ca6_1552620071110789618652
PimpHop Perspective.
Those who fail to learn from their history, are often doomed to repeat it.
If O.J. Simpson tells someone that he plans to Jay Walk, chances are that someone is going to RUN & TELL!!!
So just like the rest, you may very well be seeing O.J. wearing a shirt like the one below.
And the results are in!!!
Google has finally unveiled its highly publicized yet secretive plans regarding their planned entrance into the world of mobile devices .
They have , as of today
(Monday 11-05-07) announced their plans of creating and releasing a software platform specifically for mobile devices.
The Google Software Stack is scheduled to be released on mobile devices in the second half of 2008.They will NOT be manufacturing phones, nor will they be using their own brand on cell phones (As Of Yet).They have partnered with 4 U.S. phone manufactures and other international service providers to begin releasing phones equipped with the software modifications.
This most likely will lead to the continuance of a new trend in the market place, in which independent software developers will add their own modifications to existing software stacks. In Non TECHNO-GEEK terminology, individuals will be able to better PIMP THEIR PHONES, as is the current trend with the IPhone software package which the Apple Corporation has taken lengthy steps to counteract.
Google, anticipating this scenario, will be releasing its own developmental tool kit this month to see what comes back from innovative minds in regards to what phones can and should be able to do, and do better.
The next logical step is the rumored MULTI BILLION DOLLAR PARTNERSHIP with Your Friendly Neighborhood PimpHop.com in hopes of getting you the proper PIMP APPEAL, otherwise stated as that “THING” that we are really in search of, thereby doubling up on the current Google stock share price of $719.51 per share to
a more affordable $1,600 per share.
See You At The Top
Written By
R. Branch
Code Name
Scotty Pimpin
Important News.
The Writers Guild Of America has officially gone on strike as of Midnight, 11-05-07.
Contract disputes have not been resolved as writers are asking for a greater share of royalties in regards to DVD sales and online content distrubution.
The impact of this strike is predicted to have far reaching effects within the entertainment world, as the last Writers Guild walk out cost the industry an estimated
$1/2 Billion Dollars.
PimpHop Perspective.
Take It From Me.
No SCRIPT=No STORY
Know SCRIPT= Know STORY
See You At The Top
Written By
R. Branch
Code Name
Scotty Pimpin
In The News.
As of Friday, Novemeber 2 , 2007 The A&E Cable Network has removed the
Dog The Bounty Hunter show from its programing schedule.
This stems from a recorded conversation which was leaked on the internet on Holloween, with Duane “Dog” Champan using a racial slur, regarding a woman that his son Tucker is currently dating.
Media reports are actually stating that Chapmans attorney is claiming that the conversation was actually leaked by Duane Chapman’s son Tucker Chapman.
PimpHop Perspective
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAH
ScottyPimpin's Blog 