Joss Whedon's Internet Musical

[Nate the great]

Well, he does have his own production company, so he's also a producer and director now.

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Well, he does have his own production company, so he's also a producer and director now.

That's not that unusual. Tina Fey, was out on the picket lines.

It's just curios to me.

[Gideon]

So good... so very good.

"The thoroughbred of evil?" HA HA HA HA!

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

That's not that unusual. Tina Fey, was out on the picket lines.

It's just curios to me.

You're right. This is surprisingly hypocritical of him. Here is an old blog entry:

http://whedonesque.com/comments/14650

He sounded like he supported them back then. But to really support the writers would require a work stoppage. How could he have worked on this?

[carandol]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

That was the NPR story, although why he was writing and shooting during the strike is a bit beyond me.

Surely the point of going on strike is that you don't work for the people who are employing you until the dispute is resolved. It doesn't prevent you working on your own projects. An office cleaner who goes on strike isn't expected to stop cleaning their own home for the duration.

[SpiderMatt]

Originally Posted by carandol

Surely the point of going on strike is that you don't work for the people who are employing you until the dispute is resolved. It doesn't prevent you working on your own projects. An office cleaner who goes on strike isn't expected to stop cleaning their own home for the duration.

Ditto. The WGA, like any union, is a controlling, exploitive organization. In the interest of freedom, I support the choice to unionize but people shouldn't give them so much control over their lives. There seems to be this religious appeal for unions, especially in Hollywood, where people are willing to do anything for the leaders. Even if a writer supports the cause against the big production companies, why on earth would a professional writer decide not to exercise his craft for months? That's just stupid and would hurt him in the long run when finally returning to work. Whedon wanted to prove that you don't need large corporations to produce good quality work and distribute it to an audience. Hypocrisy? A ridiculous charge. People should be celebrating his work here. I have my own bones about the strike but that aside, I like Whedon's project. I wish people would do more work to be distributed on the internet. The only real gripe I have with the television corporations is the kowtowing they do to public cries for censorship. On the internet, artists are free to put whatever they want into their work. It's beautiful.

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I just hope this will be something new. Have you noticed that he's had 3 shows (Buffy, Firefly, Dollhouse) with a young female superhero? I hope he's noticed he's in a rut, and is trying to break out of it.

Joss Whedon prides himself on giving women leading roles in his work and "identifies himself as a feminist," according to Wikipedia. This isn't him in a rut, that's just what he likes to do. "Superhero" is a relative term (can River really be considered a superhero?). Authors who make a name on scifi/fantasy work generally stick with the genre since it's what they like to write. If it's the age thing you're caught up on, just consider the audience. Most prime-time shows deal with young protagonists. Besides, Malcolm Reynolds was the highlight of Firefly for me and he's neither female nor young (well, not that young).

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by SpiderMatt

Ditto. The WGA, like any union, is a controlling, exploitive organization. In the interest of freedom, I support the choice to unionize but people shouldn't give them so much control over their lives. There seems to be this religious appeal for unions, especially in Hollywood, where people are willing to do anything for the leaders.

Being someone who works in "Hollywood" and belongs to a union, I haven't come across anyone who was willing to do "anything" for union leaders.

Without getting into a whole argument, the unions serve a purpose. I have great medical benefits and am paid well. I am also able to work on non-union shoots. Those production companies who, although non-union, try to follow union rules are great to work for. Those that don't can literally end up with people dying (and they have) for overwork, calls times too close together causing people to drive long distances while tired and having car accidents, or to tired to operated machinery properly (I seen cranes fall over).

A couple of weeks a ago I was part of a job action, which I didn't want to be part of (as were all the rest of the crew union members). We all really loved the non-union company we were working for (I've worked with them longer than I've been in the union) but the union had a point and the production company knew it. All the crew members spoke on behalf of the production company to our union leaders and everything was hammered out in an hour and we went back to work. It all worked out.

Hypocrisy? A ridiculous charge.

I don't think anyone made that charge. I even said it was ridiculous to expect them not to write.

People should be celebrating his work here.

I don't think anything negative was said about the work. I posted to remind people to watch while it was free.

I wish people would do more work to be distributed on the internet.

There is a lot of it being shot, it just takes a while to get the word out. Whedon is a name, so he has an easier time than most.

The only real gripe I have with the television corporations is the kowtowing they do to public cries for censorship.

They are listening to their customers. If that is what the majority wants, why is that a problem?

On the internet, artists are free to put whatever they want into their work. It's beautiful.

Agreed.

Edit: Here is a link to another web series. I didn't work on this but I work with the producers on other things from time to time. The lead in this show is now the lead on the new Terminator series, so there will be no more new shows but they have plans to branch out into other web programming.

http://iq-145.com/

[SpiderMatt]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I don't think anyone made that charge.

Actually, Nate did.

Originally Posted by Nate the great

You're right. This is surprisingly hypocritical of him. Here is an old blog entry:

http://whedonesque.com/comments/14650

He sounded like he supported them back then. But to really support the writers would require a work stoppage. How could he have worked on this?

The part about the hypocrisy charge was a response to this post.

Originally Posted by daffy4u

They are listening to their customers. If that is what the majority wants, why is that a problem?

There's nothing wrong in trying to appeal as best you can to your customers but often times when things like television and radio are involved there is an audience for the racier things but the offended part of the population threatens government intervention and lawsuits. FCC content rules are ridiculous, oppressive, stifling to freedom, all that. Yeah, I'm not a fan.

Originally Posted by daffy4u

Here is a link to another web series. I didn't work on this but I work with the producers on other things from time to time. The lead in this show is now the lead on the new Terminator series, so there will be no more new shows but they have plans to branch out into other web programming.

http://iq-145.com/

Thanks for the tip. I'll probably check it out at some point in the future. What I would really like to see is some real high profile projects with full length episodes (more than a few minutes at a time--it's not appetizing). Sponsors and/or advertisers are acceptable. I just want to see a move away from traditional television to a place where artists have more creative control.

[BenG]

The episodes are available for free at hulu.com:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/28343/dr-h...ing-along-blog