SciFi Channel Forced 'Battlestar' Webisodes

The signature show's executive producer, Ronald D. Moore, was among hundreds of writers picketing in Los Angeles over the last few days as part of the Writers Guild of America strike, and shared with E! Online some of the details of what happened when the network decided it wanted to produce some teasers to hold fans over until the third season premiere.

"When we were approached to do 'Galactica' Webisodes, the studio's position was they didn't want to pay anyone to do it," Moore said. "They considered it promotional material. They weren't going to pay any of the writers or the actors or the directors to do it, which we thought was crazy."

At first, the crew refused to do them, but SciFi Channel eventually sweetened the pot saying they would pay everyone to create the Webisodes, however they compromised saying they wouldn't actively give credit to those who produced it.

"They weren't going to acknowledge anybody who wrote it," Moore said. "And then I refused to deliver the Webisodes, and they came and took them anyway, which is their right since they own the show ... but it really made me aware of the issues."

At the time the Webisodes were about to be released, the WGA demanded that the network credit writers and compensate them or not to release the Webisodes. SciFi Channel didn't comply, and the Webisodes were released almost as scheduled. It was later reported by SyFy Portal that the Webisodes were written by the team of David Weddle and Bradley Thompson.

But that wasn't all that Moore was upset about.

"I mean, my staff writer, who is the lowest man on the totem pole, they want him to do all this work for another media and not pay him for it, and then make money off of his work. Ultimately, that's why we're here, because that's just wrong."

"Battlestar Galactica: Razor" will show Nov. 24 on SciFi Channel, with the fourth and final season scheduled to premiere in April.

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