TVSquad

You know those fun little webisodes of The Office that have been showing on NBC.com? It seems like the Writer Guild of America has a big problem with them. They've told writers and producers who are working on these webisodes and webisodes of Battlestar Galactica to stop working on them because they should be compensated for that work. NBC Universal, who produces both shows, have filed a complaint with National Labor Relations Board, claiming that this writing is included in the current WGA contract. According to NBCU, there has been very little production work done on webisodes since June because of the WGA's protests.

The fact that the WGA has been able to get cooperation from producers, who aren't in the union, makes it seem like they may have a pretty legitimate complaint. The network thinks the webisodes are for promotion purposes only; if they don't make money on them, they claim, they can't justify paying people extra to do them. But to me, that doesn't wash; I had to watch an annoying FedEx ad before the last Office webisode started, so they must be making some money. And if they're making money, so should the creative team, even if it's only a few hundred bucks. It's only fair.