Leading into Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica, they filmed these promotional webisodes that were released online. I thought they were neat, personally. They gave fans a taste before the season proper. They also developed a character so that we had the opportunity to give a damn about him later.
According to Ron Moore, they had to fight to get any pay for the webisodes, they got no credits, and the studio insists it can do anything it wants to with the material now.
“We got in this long, protracted thing and eventually they agreed to pay everybody involved. But then, as we got deeper into it, they said ‘But we’re not going to put any credits on it. You’re not going to be credited for this work. And we can use it later, in any fashion that we want.’ At which point I said ‘Well, then we’re done and I’m not going to deliver the webisodes to you.’ And they came and they took them out of the editing room anyway — which they have every right to do. They own the material — But it was that experience that really showed me that that’s what this is all about. If there’s not an agreement with the studios about the internet, that specifically says ‘This is covered material, you have to pay us a formula - whatever that formula turns out to be - for use of the material and how it’s all done,’ the studios will simply rape and pillage.”
(Via
Crooks & Liars)
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