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Strike Talks Collapse Friday

Dec 10, 2007  •  Post A Comment

Strike negotiations ended abruptly on Friday, with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers and the Writers Guild of America each blaming the other for the breakdown.
In a press release entitled “AMPTP Breaks Off Negotiations,” WGA negotiating committee chair John F. Bowman said the AMPTP was unwilling to budge from its offer of a flat residual of $250 for a year’s worth of Internet streaming.
“This offer was accompanied by an ultimatum: The AMPTP demands we give up several of our proposals, including Fair Market Value (our protection against vertical integration and self-dealing), animation, reality, and, most crucially, any proposal that uses distributor’s gross as a basis for residuals,” Mr. Bowman said.
“This would require us to concede most of our Internet proposal as a precondition for continued bargaining,” he added.
In contrast, the AMPTP said, “We’re disappointed to report that talks between the AMPTP and WGA have broken down yet again. Quite frankly, we’re puzzled and disheartened by an ongoing WGA negotiating strategy that seems designed to delay or derail talks rather than facilitate an end to this strike.”
The AMPTP refuted the WGA’s demands, saying the writers’ proposal for Internet revenue would equal more than producers’ revenues, and would doom the Internet business before it even started.
The end of the talks puts a cloud of uncertainty over when the two sides will return to the table.
Production crews marched on Hollywood on Sunday, urging the two sides to get back to negotiating, as darkened shows have put many below-the-line workers out of a job.
“The Writers Guild is deeply concerned about the consequences for below-the-line workers impacted by the AMPTP’s decision to prolong the strike,” said WGA West president Patric M. Verrone.
“Despite the companies’ unwarranted action on Friday to break off talks and walk away from the table, we remain ready and willing to return to negotiations,” Mr. Verrone said. “It’s time for the networks and studios to join us in crafting a fair deal that will put this town back to work.”
Click here for complete coverage of the strike.

3 Comments

  1. Well as non-sellout Kurt Cobain sung the Meat Puppet song Lake of Fire on MTV unplugged(on DVD now).
    “Where do bad folk go when they die, they don’t go to heaven where the angels fly, they go to a lake of fire and fry.”
    Bad Folk = both writers and producers.
    They made a decision a long time ago to write for quantity(i.e. money) instead of quality(i.e. truth).
    They made their beds, now they got the sleep in them. And like the Civil War, it will all be paid back for all the selling out(last 2 decades of music, movies and TV because the flow of good material became sporadic around that time). Now their existence is purposeless. Making money. What good is life if you live like blood sucking lawyers.

  2. Ah! I cannot believe that writers are just sitting back and being such hard balls as well as the producers. Don’t they see? Neither the writers nor the producers and directors can continue this way. Why? Because that crap known as “reality tv” will invade homes and bring about an ever lower low to entertainment. I disagree with “Fate” the writers have not sold out and produced just “crap”, it’s called supply and demand and if people want to see crap like american idol the writers have to “be real” in their writing and give the audience boring crap instead of decent programing. So thanks to stupid reality tv we have shows like South Park which provide little to no quality entertainment besides fat jokes and cursing.

  3. Aurora, take consideration this complimentary thought to my first post. That you say they had to write what the audience wants like American idol. Well it hasn’t worked. Has it. Look at the pure numbers – Ratings, boxoffice and music sales are off. You have to admit they aren’t selling like they used to when shows used to get 20+ ratings. Box office is compensated because inflated ticket prices. Their pie that they sold out for didn’t get bigger, it got smaller with cost getting bigger. So quality and quantity are both lacking. That’s what happens when you follow too much. Do you think audience or anyone knew that Depp’s funny pirate Jack was going to hit. Or Sopranos. You make dreams come true, both known and unknown. You keep regurgitating, copying like in this era. It gets paler and paler. These products are not wrenches where you can make it the same. Thus, writers and producers of the last 2 decades have given us the both short ends of stick.

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