That being said, of those on his list I can offer up a quick recommendation for artist Kirsten Brown as I own some of her work myself, the site grinding as it is among the top feeds I check, the game work of Zachary Anderson who I fortunately know in real life, albeit not as well as I’d like, and the also wonderful art of Ben Templesmith (the 21st century’s answer to Bill Sienkiewicz, not that Mr. Sienkiewicz is not still producing great work, but if you like the latter, you’ll probably like the former and vice versa).

The first of the bunch, Edward Kittenhands can now be viewed, favorited, and rated with 5 stars at YouTube. The film dates all the way back to 2001 so keep that in mind as you laugh, shriek, and realize that you watched it for free so there are no refunds. As always, spread the word (you don’t want to be the only one caught watching this film).

More old stock will soon be pawned off, er, released over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned (to the TV and away from the computer).

Universal Pictures has announced a six-year partnership with Hasbro to produce at least four feature films based on branded properties.

I am of course not a WGA member and likely will never be as my recently crystalized intentions for my filmmaking lead me in a different direction (that’s a post for another day). As a filmmaker though, particularly one who writes most of his own scripts, I strongly support the guild, but I do hope this ends soon as to support them I have steered clear of all online video and really want to test out the iTunes rental service.

Oh, and I also just found out about Roy Scheider’s death too.

Now the Directors Guild has made a deal with AMPTP and, well, let’s look first at some of what AMPTP offered the writers as their final take-it-or-leave-it offer:

• No coverage for writers creating content exclusively for the internet (i.e. no residuals, rights to the work, or health benefits)
• No residuals for a show streamed online if it’s declared to be promotional (even if it’s the entire show)
• No residuals for a show streamed online for the first 42 days
• After the first 42 days, a writer will earn a flat fee of $250 for a year’s streaming of a one hour show (compared to ~$20,000 for a year’s reruns on TV)
• No residuals for streaming movies.
• Paid downloads pay out at the same 0.3% as DVDs (a number established 20 years ago when the studios said it needed to be low because they weren’t sure if this “home video” thing would take off)
• The payout for downloads is based on the producer’s gross (which, thanks to clever accounting, is usually nil) not the distributor’s gross

The offer that the DGA and AMPTP worked out however says:

• Directors creating content exclusively for the web will be covered (if the production cost is greater than $15,000/minute)
• Only the first 17 days count as promotional streaming (upped to 24 days for a first season show)
• No residuals for the first 17 days that a show is streamed online.
• After that window, directors receive a 3% residual for the first 6 months and an additional 3% for the next six. After that first year the percentage drops to 2%
• Downloads pay out 0.3% for the first 100,000 of a TV show or 50,000 for a movie. After that, residuals on TV shows increase to 0.7% and movies to 0.65%
• Payout for downloads will be based on distributor’s gross with access granted to review the accounting data
• Additionally, a sunset provision is included (though details aren’t yet available on what it provides beyond the usual end of a contract negotiation)

So all in all, the directors received just about everything the writers wanted (including yearly increases in wages and health benefits instead of the rollbacks the studios offered the writers) that the studios said was impossible and would bankrupt Hollywood. (My information is all taken from the deal summary and analysis available on United Hollywood.)

Secondly, following on the heels of the agreement that United Artists signed with the WGA, The Weinstein Company may have made a similar deal, showing that if these smaller production houses can afford the terms the WGA wants, why can’t the multi-billion dollar giants?

And finally, at the CES conference in Las Vegas this week, the studio executives in charge of digital distribution held a panel discussing the future of that arena. While they may still be telling the writers they’re not making and it’s only good for promotional use…. Well, here’s what they had to say:

While all agreed that digital media revenue won’t match income from traditional distribution in the foreseeable future, they were quick to react to an audience member’s question about when they would start making money from their businesses.

“There is revenue being created today,” said Paramount digital prexy Tom Lesinski. “It’s not a lot, but we’re not losing money.”

One sticking point that had to be resolved: the fact that CBS owns the digital rights to both shows. When asked how that issue was dealt with, WGA spokesman Neal Sacharow said Worldwide Pants assumed “full responsibility for all economic aspects of the agreement.” [Rob Burnett, chief executive of Worldwide Pants, Letterman's production company] said the company would pay its writers residuals for downloads and Internet streaming, even though that use is controlled by CBS.

SanDisk is committed to providing consumers a vast collection of legitimate content [for promotional purposes only, coughed studio executives], while protecting the rights of content owners [who will then screw content creators out of any money made] with technology solutions such as watermarking.

So let’s all have a moment of silence for those poor executives at NBC who will likely soon be shivering in the cold as we all know burning fifty dollar bills doesn’t generate as much heat as burning one hundred dollar bills. Thank goodness they’re standing up to the writers or they might even have to settle for heating their homes with forty-nine dollar bills.