KCRW's The Business Podcast

Hollywood's actors' unions file for an untimely divorce. Then, what happens when a novice TV writer gets her own show.

In a town where actors are more likely to wait tables than wait in the wings, how do you define a working actor. That's the central question in our lively conversation with two actors. How SAG answers that question may determine if there's a strike. Plus, this year's ShoWest movie exhibitors' conference.

Jim Keyes was the former CEO of 7-11 stores. Now he's applying the lessons of the Big Gulp to the small screen at the troubled video-rental giant Blockbuster. Plus, Variety game reviewer Ben Fritz asks, "Why are hardcore video gamers so sensitive." And good agentry with writer and producer Rob Long.

Video games are an $18 billion business in the US, and they just keep growing. Will Hollywood studios get in on some of that interactive action. Plus, will TV's increasingly pilotless way of making shows crash and burn.

What happens when a studio executive comes out from behind his desk to direct a major motion picture. We talk to Kent Alterman, formerly New Line Cinema's EVP of Production and now the Director of Semi-Pro. Plus, we say goodbye to HD-DVD.

The venerable Hollywood trade paper, Variety, is up for sale. What will a new owner mean to the business. We'll have a lively conversation with blogger extraordinaire Nikki Finke and PR veteran Howard Bragman. Plus, which Oscar prognosticators predicted with paramount precision.

The divide between movies that make money and movies that get awards has been growing in the last few years. Why. And what does that say about how Hollywood is changing. Plus, the 1967 Oscars signaled a coming cinematic revolution. Is this year's crop of best picture nominees the harbinger of another.

The writers' strike has meant reruns, reality and rankor. So how will things change now that the strike is over. Plus, when will the digital pie that the writers want a piece of actually be out of the oven.

In the wake of Super Tuesday, The Business broadcasts from the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Pennsylvania Avenue. We talk to Variety's political guru, Ted Johnson, and check back with MGM CEO Harry Sloan, an elephant in a sea of donkeys.

Animation had lost its luster until Pixar came on the scene and shined it up. We talk to one of their chief polishers, writer and director Brad Bird, about retired superheroes, rats that cook and Oscar gold. Plus, do movies make money (redux).

MLB Update - Bentley Men's Basketball - The Rise and Fall of an NFL Prospect - Skiing the Samller Mountains in Colorado - Bill Reads Your Letters - Charlie Pierce - God Save The Fan

TV was already getting more and more into unscripted fare before the strike. Now, there's so much reality programming it's unreal! We get the lay of the unscripted landscape with Joel McHale of E! Entertainment's show The Soup. Plus, while most of the industry suffers, video games rock on (redux).

Steve Samuels is the third generation of successful Boston-based real estate developers. He's also one of many outsiders who've brought their fat wallet to Hollywood. Will he get his pocket picked or make the show business sit. (National broadcast)

The directors seem to have made a deal with producers. Will the writers follow suit. Should they. We're live today with TV writer/producer David Milch and Oscar-winning filmmaker Paul Haggis to answer these questions and more. First, what exactly did the DGA agree to. Joe Adalian has been one of the team of reporters covering the strike for Variety. NOTE: Today's special LIVE edition of The Business is broadcast locally in the Los Angeles area only, but will be archived online.

The big four record labels are finally offering some music free of copyright protection. Is it too little too late. And, no Globes, no Oscars = no box office. Plus, swag--Hollywood's silent scourge.