AfterDawn: News

Writers Guild of America goes on strike

This morning, the Writers Guild of America formally went on strike after negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers over a contract dispute fell through.

The WGA's current contract expired last Wednesday and the two groups had been in negotiations in an effort to avoid a strike.



“Early today, the WGA completely withdrew its DVD proposal, which the [AMPTP] companies said was a stumbling block,” said WGA West in a Sunday statement. “Yet the AMPTP made no response to any of the other proposals that the WGA has made since July.”

Some of the demands the WGA is looking for include a substantial hike in the writers’ share of electronic sell-through revenue, "which is currently based on 1.2% of the licensing fee production companies receive for each downloaded item." The WGA wants 2.5%.

The WGA also wants to get paid for internet streaming of its work which they currently do not. The AMPTP calls web streaming "promotional" and insists that studios do not get significant revenues from streaming to pay other content partners.

More updates as they become available.

Source:
VideoBusiness

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 5 Nov 2007 15:49

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• 20 comments

• Bucknekid

  This will get blamed on pirating also, you know cos they ain't getting paid enough cos the theater sales are down, ect, ect. Just like the corn farmers...

  6.11.2007 01:05 #1

• zippyd

  I saw a TV news report on this which claimed that many of the TV networks were actually hoping for a strike so they could ditch the flops in the fall lineup.

  6.11.2007 01:20 #2

• akaangus

  Quote:and insists that studios do not get significant revenues from streaming to pay other content partners.
  So why not offer 1-5% of the revenue from it... if it is nothing then why is this an issue? I think I smells some fishy business

  6.11.2007 02:56 #3

• AUTiger89

  So that means we don't have to watch as much of the garbage that they shovel out on us?
  
  Yippee!

  6.11.2007 07:15 #4

• ZippyDSM

  Quote:Quote:and insists that studios do not get significant revenues from streaming to pay other content partners.
  So why not offer 1-5% of the revenue from it... if it is nothing then why is this an issue? I think I smells some fishy businessbecause the studios do not give out money easily and like overpowering their staff so they can work longer and harder for less money.
  
  Its funny as lil money as they get from digi services either side is behaving like this.

  6.11.2007 08:04 #5

• 7thsinger

  Quote:Quote:Quote:and insists that studios do not get significant revenues from streaming to pay other content partners.
  So why not offer 1-5% of the revenue from it... if it is nothing then why is this an issue? I think I smells some fishy businessbecause the studios do not give out money easily and like overpowering their staff so they can work longer and harder for less money.
  
  Its funny as lil money as they get from digi services either side is behaving like this.Agree. Both sides are kind of hammering on the small revenue scale of things in digi-land.
  The writers have not been treated very fairly though. I think they're kind of being babies about it right now. But i'm siding with them. These studios can afford to even out the financial playing field for them.

  6.11.2007 08:28 #6

• oappi

  i dont understand why they have to go on strike.... If they are not willing to do the job they are payed at the price they get paid why do it at all? I think strikes shoundn´t be allowed.. they belong to category of "Communism" and extortion. I bet there is people who would love to be writers if they got 1.2%. Ok they might not be that good but thats what capitalims is all about. Better writers should get more and those who are less talented should get less. It is pure Communism to pay all 1.2%. They should all negotiate their own price and not set price for every writer.

  6.11.2007 10:12 #7

• monkey83

  There's no excuse for not reaching an aggreement, they knew this was coming for months and months now. You can't blame the writers for wanting more money... any of these shows and movies out there now would not be any good without the writers. Good actors can't save a movie that has bad writing. And good writing can even make some bad actors look good. Nice job putting the whole entertainment industry on hold.

  6.11.2007 11:35 #8

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by oappi: i dont understand why they have to go on strike.... If they are not willing to do the job they are payed at the price they get paid why do it at all? I think strikes shoundn´t be allowed.. they belong to category of "Communism" and extortion. I bet there is people who would love to be writers if they got 1.2%. Ok they might not be that good but thats what capitalims is all about. Better writers should get more and those who are less talented should get less. It is pure Communism to pay all 1.2%. They should all negotiate their own price and not set price for every writer.It has to start somewhere also tis a union they tend to limit unchecked capitalism least until they become part of the problem.
  
  Oh and striking is a balancing mechanism to strike a balance between the top and bottom, it functions better than a machine without it thats lopsided and slowly damaging itself from the indavendaul fearing replacement thus the status quo never changes and the machine coughs out broken parts just to be replaced by new workers.
  
  And BTW Communism works on small scales (areas with less than acouple thousand) however with lots of people issues arise like unregulated capitalism that breaks itself because tis run out of parts, power, ect.
  
  moderation in anything can susaintain it and grow it.

  6.11.2007 12:28 #9

• SProdigy

  As I said before, this is why Hollywood stacked the summer lineup with as many blockbuster sequels as they could. Look at the winter lineup, it's totally lame. They juiced the box office before this was going to happen. There's not going to be a quality release now for months...

  6.11.2007 12:48 #10

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by SProdigy: As I said before, this is why Hollywood stacked the summer lineup with as many blockbuster sequels as they could. Look at the winter lineup, it's totally lame. They juiced the box office before this was going to happen. There's not going to be a quality release now for months..."There's not going to be a quality release now for months..."
  and there hasn't for years ^_~

  6.11.2007 12:51 #11

• 7thsinger

  Originally posted by oappi: i dont understand why they have to go on strike.... If they are not willing to do the job they are payed at the price they get paid why do it at all? I think strikes shoundn´t be allowed.. they belong to category of "Communism" and extortion. I bet there is people who would love to be writers if they got 1.2%. Ok they might not be that good but thats what capitalims is all about. Better writers should get more and those who are less talented should get less. It is pure Communism to pay all 1.2%. They should all negotiate their own price and not set price for every writer.Union functions and sanctions being compared to Communism is kind of a far stretch. Communism would determine that everyone doing a set job, no matter the experience or quality gets paid the same. Union functions are based on scale wages for work. Meaning, the more experience at the craft the opportunity to move up in scale. So, union work is still a function of capatalism just set and moderated in a different manner than our typical non-union jobs.
  
  All in all, you can't really blame the writers who do their jobs and watch the actors get paid multiple times what they do when the writer's part of a sucessfull production is just as important as the face delivering the lines they wrote. They want what everyone else does, an increase in wages to offset the increase in cost of living.
  

  And Shepards we shall be...

  6.11.2007 13:05 #12

• redux79

  Quote:i dont understand why they have to go on strike.... If they are not willing to do the job they are payed at the price they get paid why do it at all? I think strikes shoundn´t be allowed.. they belong to category of "Communism" and extortion. I bet there is people who would love to be writers if they got 1.2%.Decades ago there were no organizations to ensure that workers wages increase as their company's prospered, that’s why unions were formed. your saying that when GM or other large organizations (unions) go on strike demanding better wages or health care they should be broken up, told to get back to work or quit? When unions were first formed people were beaten and thrown in jail. Workers fought long and hard to organize themselves so they couldn't be weeded out and fired. That’s why people go on strike because they know they can't all be fired and they have a better chance of negotiating if they are organized.
  
  Quote:Better writers should get more and those who are less talented should get less. It is pure Communism to pay all 1.2%. They should all negotiate their own price and not set price for every writer.
  
  I think it goes without saying that someone helping to create Hollywood movies has a higher salary/wage than some one writing soap operas. That 1.2% is dependant on how well the show or movie sells. So if the idea flops they get paid less, but if it does well they get paid more.
  
  Many companies have taken measures to prevent unions from even being formed. They don’t like the idea that they don’t have complete control over their bottom line. I have friends that work for some these corporations, if you mention that you’re unhappy with wages, healthcare, ect... your marked. People have been fired for even mentioning the idea of a union.

  6.11.2007 13:17 #13

• ZippyDSM

  redux79
  and the downside to unions is them becoming its own creature, becoming a parasite off the workers and the company and doing little for anyone other than its top members, however organizations like that are worth having to be weeded out to keep workers the ones that basically make the company happy or at least protected from the constant grinding of the bottom line.

  6.11.2007 13:26 #14

• Solo_Tek

  The Rich are Getting more Rich
  
  The poor slave away and starve and they give nothing back to those who are disadvantaged!
  
  Tell it to someone who cares!!!!

  6.11.2007 14:30 #15

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by Solo_Tek: The Rich are Getting more Rich
  
  The poor slave away and starve and they give nothing back to those who are disadvantaged!
  
  Tell it to someone who cares!!!!more like the rich stay rich and the poor can not help themselves *rolls eyes*.

  6.11.2007 14:40 #16

• 7thsinger

  So i guess i picked a really bad time to quit my job and move to LA to pursue a career in writing sitcoms? Oh well, i guess i can clean some windshields along with the guy who used to write for M*A*S*H.
  

  And Shepards we shall be...

  6.11.2007 15:10 #17

• justme81

  Originally posted by oappi: i dont understand why they have to go on strike.... If they are not willing to do the job they are payed at the price they get paid why do it at all? I think strikes shoundn´t be allowed.. they belong to category of "Communism" and extortion. I bet there is people who would love to be writers if they got 1.2%. Ok they might not be that good but thats what capitalims is all about. Better writers should get more and those who are less talented should get less. It is pure Communism to pay all 1.2%. They should all negotiate their own price and not set price for every writer.I guess you must be a rich bastard right? Do you work or living on a trust fund? Strikes gave us all the rights we now enjoy like being paid for our work, livible wages, safety regulations everything the working world has now was gotten by strikeing. The writers deserve a bigger part of the pie there was no such thing as the internet or DVD when the old contract was worked out. So according to you the studio should get all the revenue from DVD and online sales? And acctually sir Communism has never existed ever not true communism sir.

  6.11.2007 18:01 #18

• eatsushi

  After watching the last episode of Grey's Anatomy on my HD DVR last night I can only hope that this strike lasts forever.

  9.11.2007 16:08 #19

• borhan9

  We will just have to wait and see where this heads.

  24.11.2007 16:35 #20