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Writers Strike: Six Weeks Later
Writers strike in Los Angeles.
After six weeks of tense negotiations, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) remain deadlocked in a heated battle over digital distribution dollars. No, this isn’t Perseus versus the Kraken. But it is an epic battle, the end of which will have an enormous impact for Hollywood in the years to come, as the industry moves headfirst into the electronic age.
Consumer needs are changing, along with the technology used to meet those needs. In the age of the Internet, where movies and television shows are readily available by networks and retailers online, a new distribution model is emerging, one that circumvents the traditional forms of television and DVD and allows consumers to download content straight to their computers, iPods and a vast assortment of portable devices.
Says Tim Kring, writer-producer of the hit series “Heroes,” and screenwriter of such films as Teen Wolf Two and Sublet, “We are heading in this direction where people are going to be watching and getting most of their entertainment from the Internet—and are currently working under a contract that has no provisions for anything we write or put on [the Internet].”
That contract, now in dispute, represents a preemptive strike by the WGA, not wanting to miss out on any profit sharing from this new form of digital distribution. However, the form is far from certain. And the revenue model is not clearly defined. Because of this, both sides are hesitant on any type of compromise.
Says Jack Honour, CEO of StereoVision Entertainment, “They’re trying to force the producers into making a decision on something that nobody knows yet… Is it going to be a hundred, a thousand, a million?” With so much at stake and so much uncertainty, it’s no wonder the two sides are clashing.
At the heart of the matter lie these key issues:
*Reality television and animation. The WGA wants to make membership in the union mandatory for those who work in these industries. Furthermore, that networks don’t air any programs that are not produced in the terms of the WGA agreement. The AMPTP is concerned that this will cost many producers and writers their jobs; specifically, those who have chosen not to join the union.
*"No strike” provision. The WGA wants to change the provision to allow writers the ability to join strikes of other labor unions.
*Internet compensation. The writers are asking for more compensation through Internet distribution while the producers feel the current proposal would actually cost them more money than they take in.
*Advertising revenue. The WGA is asking for a piece of advertising revenue. However, producers would be footing the bill and they do not receive any advertising revenue themselves.
*Third-party transactions. The WGA wants to set an artificial value on transactions instead of allowing the market to determine the worth. The AMPTP feels this would unfairly enable writers to draw more money than producers would ever receive.
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by Luciana Polney on 12/25/07 at 8:43 am
Although not a member of the WGA, I as a writer/director presently working in documentary, (not a pitch), am supporting the strike not only because of the bread and butter issues involved, but because of the potential dangers to democracy that does not respect sacrifices a writer makes to craft words on a page. When in negotiation such work is often dismissed at any and all stages of a production as an impersonal piece of business, whether a blueprint for a film, the book of a play or for that matter when words manifest in song or poetry it is no less than intellectual genocide. Furthermore, as concerned as business is over costs of employment of union members, there seems to be a middle ground. Do writers earning an upper-end income pay enough to maintain their membership? Can low income writers of the WGA pay less in order to over their health insurance? Will producers generating hundreds of millions of dollars for their executive producing clients and/or corporate sponsors play fair with labor?
- Comment by ds on 4/02/08 at 8:54 am
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