Since I work with a number of people in ‘the biz’, this is not really all that shocking. But honestly, I am surprised that it was not podcasting first, then mobile TV shows. Just my thinking…

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Three Hollywood craft unions on Monday said they reached a landmark deal with Touchstone Television setting pay and working conditions for the making of mini-episodes of the hit ABC series “Lost” to be shown on mobile telephones.

The making of the new programming, known in the trade as “mobisodes,” is a medium so far not covered by labor agreements.

The Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild and the
Screen Actors Guild said the agreement not only lays down conditions for producing the new programming, but lays down a framework that could cover other technological platforms.

So far, Touchstone Television, owned by Walt Disney Co.’s ABC network, has plans only to produce segments of “Lost” for mobile phones that will be called the “Lost Video Diaries.”

The Writers Guild said the agreement was reached after WGA members working on “Lost” insisted that proposed mobisodes be guild-covered.

Patric Verrone, president of Writers Guild west, the chapter that negotiates with Hollywood, said, “We set the process in motion.” The agreements set the details for fees, residuals, and pension and health benefits guild members would receive for producing mobisodes.

Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg said, “This unique agreement represents a crucial first step into a new frontier of production and content distribution.”

Touchstone Television shows include such hits as “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” Source: Reuters/VNU

[tags]walt disney,hollywood unions,touchstone television,abc network[/tags]