Logo

Hollywood Writers, Producers Resume Battle

Nov 30, 2007  •  Post A Comment

The war of words is back on in the Hollywood writers strike.
Contract negotiations temporarily ceased Thursday, with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers and the Writers Guild of America issuing starkly contrasting statements characterizing the progress made last week during four days of talks.
Networks and studios said they offered a “groundbreaking” new-media plan they claim will add $130 million in compensation for writers. The WGA said the proposal amounts to “a massive rollback.”
The new-media arena is at the heart of the disagreement between the writers and their employers. Writers want to secure what they see as a fair share of residual payments generated when TV shows are streamed on the Web and other media. The producers and networks have said it’s difficult to gauge how much revenue new media will generate.
Both sides have agreed to resume negotiations Tuesday. According to the AMPTP, the WGA asked for time to study the proposal. The guild in a statement said its response isn’t going to be favorable.
On Friday afternoon, the AMPTP said in a letter to its member companies that its plan, dubbed the “New Economic Partnership,” represented “one of the largest compensation increases of any major union contract negotiated in recent American history.”
The offer adds two new potential sources of revenue for writers: residual payments for online streaming and WGA representation for “derivative” programming made for new media (such as Web episodes for existing TV shows).
The proposal kicked off a new round of dueling numbers between the writers and their employers.
The producers and networks pegged the annual value of the plan at more than $130 million on top of “the $1.3 billion writers already receive each year.”
The WGA said its proposal, presented Wednesday, would deliver writers $151 million over three years.
The union complained that the first three days of talks effectively produced a stalemate. On Thursday, the AMPTP made a proposal that represented new movement, but did not include theatrical residuals for streaming and other concerns.
The union said the plan continues to apply a DVD residual formula for download-to-own titles that writers deem too stingy. The WGA continued to assert that under the proposal, an entire film or TV episode could be streamed for “promotional” use, effectively keeping them from sharing in residual profits.
The proposal, the WGA continued, includes a fixed payment residual structure paying $250 for a year’s use of an hourlong program online, compared to $20,000 for a repeat aired on a broadcast network.
“The AMPTP’s intractability is dispiriting news, but it must also be motivating,” the WGA said in its statement. “Any movement on the part of these multinational conglomerates has been the result of the collective action of our membership.”
The AMPTP counters that their proposal is “in fact a very big ‘roll’ forward” that increases the average working writer’s salary as much as $31,000 annually. The AMPTP also expressed disappointment at the WGA’s rapid public dismissal of its plan.
“[We] were disappointed to see such a quick and decisive attack on the plan that they had asked for so much time to study … we believe to generate the necessary momentum to reach a deal, we must be at the table talking.”
Updated at 4:00 PM

81 Comments

  1. Everyone should remember that a good show or movie starts with a great script. If it isn’t on the page, it is not going to be on the screen. Writers should be compensated fairly for the intellectual ideas they bring to the production.
    It takes everyone working together to create an amazing show: the writers, actors, directors and all supporting personnel. The studios do not deserve all the profit. Without the creative team we would be left with all the rubbish of reality TV and I certainly do NOT want that! Pay the writers what they are worth and let’s get everyone back to work!

  2. You have to wonder what more writer’s could ask for? I have been an aspiring writer for about 2 years now and the world would be looking much more magnificent from one of these greedy writer’s shoes. So the corporations have found a loophole that stemmed writer’s. That’s life. Nothing worth doing is ever easy, so I say, “Suck it up to the WGA.”

  3. I’ll gear this review to 2 types of people: current Zune owners who are considering an upgrade, and people trying to decide between a Zune and an iPod. (There are other players worth considering out there, like the Sony Walkman X, but I hope this gives you enough info to make an informed decision of the Zune vs players other than the iPod line as well.)

  4. If you’re still on the fence: grab your favorite earphones, head down to a Best Buy and ask to plug them into a Zune then an iPod and see which one sounds better to you, and which interface makes you smile more. Then you’ll know which is right for you.

  5. Apple now has Rhapsody as an app, which is a great start, but it is currently hampered by the inability to store locally on your iPod, and has a dismal 64kbps bit rate. If this changes, then it will somewhat negate this advantage for the Zune, but the 10 songs per month will still be a big plus in Zune Pass’ favor.

  6. Between me and my husband we’ve owned more MP3 players over the years than I can count, including Sansas, iRivers, iPods (classic & touch), the Ibiza Rhapsody, etc. But, the last few years I’ve settled down to one line of players. Why? Because I was happy to discover how well-designed and fun to use the underappreciated (and widely mocked) Zunes are.

  7. Very nice list.

  8. Ice hockey is an interesting exercise, I like it.

  9. Where is link?

  10. I come and read constantly. very nice blog.Thank you.

  11. Know whether the site is opened too late.

  12. Nice blog here! Also your website loads up fast! What host are you using? I wish my website loaded up as fast as yours lol

  13. Nice effort really – yahoo found the site for me so lucky to have read such a good post.

  14. Nothing better than Yahoo finding me a good website related to what I was searching for.

  15. Searched Google and ended up here – its good so I posted the site on my Facebook account !

  16. Just bookmarked this site with my jumptags account .. thanks

  17. link please :(((

  18. Searched Yahoo/Bing and landed up here – its good so I posted the link on my Facebook account !

  19. link please :(((

  20. I come and read constantly. very nice blog.Thank you.

  21. Nothing better than Google finding me a good site related to what I was searching for.

  22. Was looking for this – so I just tweeted your website on our account – thanks

  23. Fantastic post… I observed this via google.

  24. Love all the opinions expressed here! How is everyone? Love how everyone expresses whatr they feel 🙂

  25. Dreamin. I love blogging. You all express your feelings the right way, because they are your feeling, focus on your blog it is great.

  26. En güzel erotik filmler burada.

  27. keep

  28. cling on to

  29. Searched Yahoo/Bing and ended up here – its good so I posted the site on my Facebook account !

  30. I really enjoyed the site so I used my Digg account to digg it – should assist you

  31. Nothing better than Google finding me a good site related to what I was searching for.

  32. I really enjoyed the post so I used my Digg account to digg it – should help you

  33. Was looking for this – so I just tweeted your site on my account – thanks

  34. Love the blog here. Nice colors. I am definitely staying tuned to this one. Hope to see more.

  35. Strong work always good to come across a really thoughtful website – I’ve bookmarked it.

  36. Google really did a excellent job helping me find your website – its good.

  37. Bing really did a great job helping me find your blog – its good.

  38. Between me and my husband we’ve owned more MP3 players over the years than I can count, including Sansas, iRivers, iPods (classic & touch), the Ibiza Rhapsody, etc. But, the last few years I’ve settled down to one line of players. Why? Because I was happy to discover how well-designed and fun to use the underappreciated (and widely mocked) Zunes are.

  39. I’m pleased that bing has presented me to your blog.The style of presenting your point of view is eye-opening! Keep it up!

  40. Check out this cool site/video on how to download YouTube videos

  41. This is really a extremely cool blog, thanks a lot for this! I’ve read a great deal about this topic within the past and I agree with you.

  42. I love the way you write and also the theme on your blog. Did you code this yourself or was it done by a professional? I’m very very impressed.

  43. Just bookmarked this website with my jumptags account .. thanks

  44. Nothing better than Bing finding you a good site related to what I was searching for.

  45. Thank you for great article. I had a very good time reading, and there were few things I was surprised by.

  46. Was looking for this – so I just tweeted your website on my account – thanks

  47. I really enjoyed the post so I used my Digg account to digg it – should help you

  48. I really loved the site so I used my Digg account to digg it – should assist you

  49. Very Interesting Information! Thank You For Thi Post!

  50. I like your blog.

  51. I love the expression. Everyone needs to express there own opinion and feel free to hear others. Keep it up 🙂

  52. Dreamin. I love blogging. You all express your feelings the right way, because they are your feeling, focus on your blog it is great.

  53. You make blogging look like a walk in the park! I’ve been trying to blog daily but I just cant find writing material.. you’re an inspiration to me and i’m sure many others!

  54. Thats I will email it to my friends just what i was looking for

  55. I like your blog.

  56. I love the expression. Everyone needs to express there own opinion and feel free to hear others. Keep it up 🙂

  57. Good quality storie, it’s real awesome. I did a search on the issue and found the majority of people will agree with your blog. Thank’s for you recommend. My information about making money affiliate programs. I suppose you made various nice points in features also.

  58. You completed some nice points there. I did a search on the matter and found mainly folks will consent with your blog.

  59. Interesting thoughts here. I appreciate you taking the time to share them with us all. It’s people like you that make my day 🙂

  60. Nice keep up the good job

  61. I really like the colors here on your blog. did you design this yourself or did you outsource it to a professional?

  62. Thanks for the great post, found you site on google and added to my google reader account. Gonna try to keep up with the new posts as much as I can :).

  63. I agree with your thoughts here and I really love your blog! I’ve bookmarked it so that I can come back & read more in the future.

  64. Thanks much for the great document. I am glad I’ve taken the time to learn this.

  65. I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a nice blog like this one these days.. 🙂

  66. Hi. First of all – interesting blog! Secondly this article was also good and interesting to read, but I don’t think everything you have said is real truth. I will need to google about few things you have mentioned in your artcile to make sure. But anyway thanks for trying and good luck on writing other articles. P.S sorry for bad English, I aren’t English native speaker.

  67. I really like the colors here on your blog. did you design this yourself or did you outsource it to a professional?

  68. Well, this is my first visit to your blog! We’re a group of volunteers and beginning a different initiative in a area in the same niche. Your blog presented us valuable details to work on. You have done a marvellous job!

  69. I would like to start my own blog one day. This was a really nice blog that you made here. Keep up the success 😛

  70. You make blogging look like a walk in the park! I’ve been trying to blog daily but I just cant find writing material.. you’re an inspiration to me and i’m sure many others!

  71. I would like to start my own blog one day. This was a really nice blog that you made here. Keep up the success 😛

  72. I truly like this blog. I like the author capacity to put words into righting. Keep up the great work I will check out far more of your posts when readily available.

  73. I would like to start my own blog one day. This was a really nice blog that you made here. Keep up the success 😛

  74. I agree with everything you said there, keep up the good writing

  75. Cant say I am not suprised by your article. All of them are interested but this one is great.Just keep on!

  76. Magnificent site, pls contiune your work and keep us update with fresh entries

  77. Between me and my husband we’ve owned more MP3 players over the years than I can count, including Sansas, iRivers, iPods (classic & touch), the Ibiza Rhapsody, etc. But, the last few years I’ve settled down to one line of players. Why? Because I was happy to discover how well-designed and fun to use the underappreciated (and widely mocked) Zunes are.

  78. I have to say that I, personally, like the way in which the Commerzbank model turned out. To get two manufacturers and mold them into 1 is always complicated, but th is resolution looks so effortless. That is kinda the stage even though is notit? :O)

  79. Randy Hill >> Personal computers

  80. I??? ll continue to v isit BrandNew though I completely d isagree using a great deal of the possibilities right here, in particular AOL. at #1 Finest. Weird.

  81. Amazing freakin blog here. I almost cried while reading it!

Leave a Reply to kral oyun Cancel Reply

Email (will not be published)