WGA formally go on strike

By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 11/5/2007

NOV. 5 | Despite withdrawing its demand for higher DVD residuals, members of the Writers Guild of America formally went on strike Monday morning.

The WGA had been negotiating with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers on a new contract through Sunday, days after their current contract expired on Oct. 31, in the hopes of averting a strike.

In a Sunday concession to the AMPTP, WGA said they would not ask to double the fees its film and TV screenwriting members receive for DVDs of their work, from $0.04 to $0.08 per unit sold.

But WGA started striking at 9 a.m. Monday in Los Angeles, as the Guild could not secure from AMPTP several other key contract demands, many of which focused on compensation for Web-delivered content. Picketing also kicked off in New York.

“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.”

Among other demands, WGA is looking to substantially hike 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. WGA is gunning to get 2.5% of the licensing on downloads.

Also, the WGA wants to start getting paid for Internet streaming of its work. The AMPTP currently likens Web streaming as promotional and insists studio do not get significant enough revenue to pay other content partners.

Click here to read Variety's story.