July
23
Grabbing Scoops: Bart Addresses Site Boycott
With Comic-Con looming, movie sites are pushing to get scoops on new movies of interest to the fan community. A sequel to 300, which broke big at Comic-Con, is a big deal.
Thus at the Saturn awards last month, after Collider.com got Zack Snyder to talk about a planned 300 sequel, word spread through the fan sites and eventually Variety tracked the story down and got official confirmation of Frank Miller writing a 300 prequel for Snyder to direct.
Here's how Variety handled the online coverage:
Another "300" has been rumored from the start, but last week Snyder and the original producing team stoked a frenzy online when they talked about it at the Saturn Awards.
This happens a lot.
This doesn't mean that Variety purposely stole the story, as Collider suggested. Variety's Diane Garrett actually nailed down more info.
It's not always cut-and-dry--sometimes everyone is chasing the same news and a given reporter may not be aware of what has broken online. A reporter isn't always tracking down where something broke first, just the story itself. "Sometimes when a publicist sees a story break online," asserts one major online site editor, "they try to place the story in a legitimate news source and they don't necessarily let anyone know."
The Collider protest led to several other sites joining a boycott of the Hollywood trade papers. Here are reports in Folio and MTV News, which spoke to Variety editor Peter Bart. He announced Variety.com's plan to create a blog of blogs:
“I think we’ll grow together. I really do and I think to some degree we want it. I would like to have us develop a blog of blogs, where we get a highlight reel of the best blogs that deal with the entertainment media. I think that will happen before long, and I think that would ameliorate some of these concerns.”
The fight for numbers now is so fierce that the site that breaks a story wants to get credit for it---via links and traffic. That is what is at stake. By the way, a host of mainstream outlets, online and print, rewrite Variety stories without always giving us credit, either. This is the way of the world.
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Zach had better reread his Herodotus or his Victor Davis Hansen (who he said he used as a resource for 300) and dig for what could possibly be a prequel/sequel.
Possible ideas?
Plataea -- Spartans and Athenians crush the Persians -- dull.
Marathon -- Good possibilities, but it is Athen's story.
The first Persian invasion -- Uh...that ends at Marathon.
The Peloponnesian War -- Um...there are no good guys in that war, except maybe the Thespians and nothing demonstrates the virtue of thumos (Spiritedness) better than watching great men die meaninglessly of the plague or at battles distant from the real front. Thucydides admired some Spartans and some Athenians, but most the people he admired died tragically.
The Anabasis -- Ah, the march of the 10,000 by Xenophon, now that makes a good story.
Posted by: Christian Lindke | July 23, 2008 at 08:35 AM
"The Anabasis" was the source of the Walter Hill classic "The Warriors" (or actually of the Sol Yurick novel on which the movie was based). Going back to the source of sources would make a lot of sense--except that it would mean making heroes out of the baddies of "300."
Posted by: David C | July 23, 2008 at 09:16 AM
Creating a "blog of blogs" does nothing to address the issues that started the boycott. A list of links to popular blogs would only end up looking like this giant list of links on the side of this site. Why not just make it a policy to include a small link to the original story? Or mention the original source? Has Variety forgotten that journalism principle?
Saying "oh, well everyone else does it, so get over it" in so many words is immature and unprofessional.
It's time Variety stepped up and set a good example as the largest print entertainment outlet, rather than ripping off blogs without credit.
Posted by: Jeff L. | July 23, 2008 at 09:42 AM
Jeff L you are funny
These blogs don't do research. I could tell them anything and they would print it. Variety checks sources. These blogs steal more from Variety than the reverse.
Posted by: Don Murphy | July 23, 2008 at 11:13 AM
Anabasis makes heroes of the villains of the 300?
Not so much. Sure Cyrus is represented heroically, as he is in the Bible as well, but the Persians are still the villains hounding the 10,000 who want nothing more than to return home to Greece.
As for THE WARRIORS...classic.
Posted by: Christian Lindke | July 23, 2008 at 02:06 PM
Mr. Lindke rules the ancient world.
Posted by: David C | July 23, 2008 at 04:51 PM
Don Murphy obviously has no idea what it takes to run a successful movie news website. That's unfortunate because I was hoping for some answers to my questions.
Posted by: Jeff L. | July 24, 2008 at 12:07 AM
I see where GEORGE CLOONEY is dong a remake of THE BIRDS and knowing how these hollyweed freaks are cuaght up in this green poppycock it will most likly involve GLOBAL WARMING i mean just how stupid are the hollyweed dopeheads?
Posted by: Flu-Bird | March 15, 2009 at 01:14 PM
Every scene looks like a moving oil painting...Outstanding.
Posted by: Targus TLE400 | September 19, 2009 at 05:39 AM