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Writers Overwhelmingly Approve Contract

Feb 26, 2008  •  Post A Comment

The membership of the Writers Guild of America has officially ratified the new contract that ended the 14-week-long strike. The new agreement will be in place through May 1, 2011.
Of the 4,060 votes cast by WGA members, 93.6% were in favor of the deal. However, there are more than 10,500 members of the guild, according to the Associated Press, meaning only about 40% of those qualified to vote did so.
The agreement sets guidelines for writer compensation and residual payments for content used in new-media formats.
Balloting was conducted in person at the WGA’s headquarters in New York City and Los Angeles, and by mail.
“The contract is a new beginning for writers in the digital age,” said Patric Verrone, president of the WGA, West. “It ensures that guild members will be fairly compensated for the content they create for the Internet, and it also covers the reuse on new-media platforms of the work they have done in film since 1971 and in TV since 1977.”
“Not only does [the contract] establish Writers Guild jurisdiction in new media, it gives writers the same separated rights provisions in new media enjoyed by the creators of original TV and motion picture scripts,” said Michael Winship, president of the WGA, East.
The strike order was lifted on Feb. 13, when the guild’s leadership reached an agreement with studios and executives.
1:35: Updated with number of WGA members

One Comment

  1. Way to focus and straight to your point, i love it. Keep up the work people. Dont let anyone stop us bloggers.

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