One of the byproducts of the recent writers' strike is a website called Strike.TV. The site is a new network for web series, run entirely by the creatives of big Hollywood productions. Or as the site describes itself, "a full-blown community of talented visionaries." Writers from "The Office," "The Daily Show," "Friends," even Die Hard have apparently contributed to the mass of creative product that will soon be unleashed upon us, the eagerly-awaiting public.

One glance at Strike.TV's website and "sizzle reel" though, and one is immediately forced to ask: is this is the best that Hollywood's "top talent" can produce? Certainly, I can't tell too much from the empty website and the generic reel of new content—but one thing is certain, none of it looks good. It's always a bad sign when a preview has to tell you what you're watching ("we have action"—cue a punch to the face. "We have comedy"—cue a talking knife. "And drama"—cue man saying "I still love you" and woman saying "...I don't!"). Ugh.

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Last week, I wrote about the new web series, "Trunk: A Love Story," now available at my site, WebSerials.com. It's been great to see the response to this latest show—with more than 75,000 views in its first week of release. That makes the first episode of "Trunk" our most successful pilot to date. Congrats to Chris, Brian, and the Biola film program for their great work.

Episode 2 is now available here.

 Two years ago, I found myself among the few defenders of M. Night Shyamalan's under-appreciated, misunderstood Lady in the Water (you can read an essay I wrote about it here). Now with The Happening, I'm finding that audiences are still going into the theater hoping for the twists and surprises of his earlier work and walking away disappointed.

I feel sorry for filmmakers like Shyamalan or George Lucas, who exploded early in their careers with a rare crowd-pleaser and despite showing great creativity, artistry, and diversity in later works, have always found their audiences begging for more of the same. I for one enjoy seeing these talented minds experimenting and exploring the limits of cinema and its storytelling possibilities. If I want to re-experience The Sixth Sense or Star Wars I have those DVDs easily accessible.

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In preparation for The Happening, I re-visited some of M. Night Shyamalan's earlier works. When his brilliant film Lady in the Water was released a couple of years ago, I found myself one of the few defenders of the film. What follows is an essay I wrote in an attempt to look deeper into a film that I found quite moving, challenging, and thought-provoking. It gets a little philosophical, so if you go to the movies just looking for a good time, I doubt this will help...

When my wife and I saw Lady in the Water, we came out of the dark theater simply loving it. Imagine our surprise when we found ourselves in an unusual minority of opinion on this vastly under-appreciated and misunderstood work of genius. M. Night Shyamlan has—I dare say—crafted one of the most intelligent, thought-provoking, and satisfying films of 2006. You just have to know what to look for. After all, the movie warns us in its prologue that we've all forgotten how to listen.

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If you've seen "Cataclysmo"—one of the web series I produce—you're familiar with Brian Walton and Chris Hartwell's talents in front of the camera playing the time-travelling heroes Johnny Zanzibar and Bucky Stallion. But their latest collaboration puts them behind-the-scenes, with Brian writing and Chris directing a brand-new short film, "Trunk: A Love Story," which is airing as a mini-serial on WebSerials.com this month.

Brian's script cleverly weaves romance, action, and a little intrigue into a smartly crafted story about two bickering assassins who maybe, possibly, might have some romantic feelings for each other. It's a little reminiscent of the recent "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" but Brian manages to keep the plot fresh and the witty dialogue has its own distinct flair.

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Netflix has recently released a new set-top box that streams movies from the web directly to your TV. The device is neither revolutionary nor a game-changer—but it continues to cement the fact that video distribution is growing more and more confusing and disparate.

It's hard to believe that Netflix has been around now for a decade. I can't remember exactly when the video rental-by-mail trend caught on, but I've been a dedicated Netflix user for close to five years. The rental process is still an odd one for a movie viewer like myself. I'm rather spontaneous with my viewing habits—never sure what I want to watch until I'm actually getting ready to pop in a disc. Netflix must love this about me, because when I get stuck with a DVD that I'm not in the mood for, it can sit on my desk for weeks...okay, sometimes months, without being watched.

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This week sees the premiere of another new web series from Michael Eisner. Last year, Eisner offered audiences Prom Queen—a poorly scripted, gratuitously lewd, high school murder mystery. Nevertheless, Prom Queen was one of 2007's most watched web series and was one of four shows that YouTube called "the best dramas the web has to offer" (two of the other shows—Project X and Cataclysmo—are shows produced by my own company, WebSerials.com).

Now, Eisner has followed up Prom Queen with Foreign Body—another thriller, but this time with a (hopefully) stronger foundation. The new web series is a prequel to a new Robin Cook novel, releasing in August. The show is serving as a rather obvious promotional tool for the book.

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There weren't a lot of surprises at last night's 80th Oscar Ceremonies. The Coen Bros. did well with four wins for No Country for Old Men—my personal favorite film of the year. Daniel Day-Lewis and Javier Bardem dominated the actor categories from the beginning, while it was anyone's guess which actresses would walk away with awards. If anything, the biggest surprise for me was when The Golden Compass beat Transformers and Pirates 3 for best visual effects. I guess the Oscar voters dig those CG polar bears.

I enjoyed Jon Stewart's irreverent jabs at an all-too-insular Hollywood ("...before spending the next 4 to 5 hours giving each other golden statues, let’s take a moment to congratulate ourselves"). Stewart has a knack for making all of us at home laugh at the town's absurdity, whilst leaving all of the Oscar attendees squirming in their seats. It's fun to watch—at least from the comfort of home.

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If you're a fan of David Letterman, you'll probably be happy to hear that The Late Show is the first TV production to have its writing staff return to work amidst the prolonged writers strike. Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, struck a deal with the Writers Guild last week, agreeing to all the terms and conditions that the WGA is fighting the studios over.

The WGA is calling this a huge victory—if their terms are good enough for Letterman, than the AMPTP really is being unreasonable by refusing to agree to the WGA's proposal. The WGA says this should be a turning point in their fight because the more companies they make individual deals with, the more they'll prove that their proposal is reasonable.

I'm sorry, but this logic just doesn't follow. Don't get me wrong—I think it's great that The Late Show's writers are getting the deal the Guild is fighting for. Worldwide Pants couldn't produce Letterman's show without their writers, so they're willing to pay. But that's not a victory for the WGA. It's just good economics—capitalism at work, supply and demand, so on and so forth.

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We've been waiting for the tide to turn for many years now. From almost the beginning of cinema, it's been a business for most. For a century, this amazing art form has been owned and operated by corporations focused on the bottom line. This inevitably means that films look the same, sound the same, are the same. Creative experimentation is discouraged. Beauty is an afterthought. Story is a reproducible financial equation.

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