WGA Strike Nears End

The WGA represents nearly 10,500 striking writers and not all are too happy about the current resolution and its stance on new media (Tivo, Internet Downloads, DVD residuals). Many Writer’s are crying out, “Please sir, I want some more!”

Today, in Crowne Plaza in Gotham and the Shrine Auditorium north of USC in Los Angeles, the WGA leadership will reveal the details of the resolution to all WGA members.

If the new agreement is ratified, it will last until May 1, 2011.

The main issue(s) in the resolution revolves around New Media. WGA Presidents emphasized that although all desires were not reached, there were substantial gains in New Media profit sharing. West Coast WGA President Patric Verrone and East Coast WGA President Herb Sargent said, “It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It creates formulas for revenue-based residuals in new media, provides access to deals and financial data to help us evaluate and enforce those formulas, and establishes the principle that, ‘When they get paid, we get paid.’ “

The last phrase is what the entire new media negotiations revolve around - the concept that if the studios are seeing residuals from DVDs, online broadcasts, internet sites or downloads, the creators of said content are entitled to a cut.

The WGA Presidents followed continued, “As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike. Much has been achieved, and while this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success.”

Only time will tell if the WGA members truly will see great benefits from their 4 months on the pick-it lines.

GENERAL SPECIFICS OF THE WGA DEAL:
- WGA’s terms mirror the DGA agreement on new media jurisdiction
- WGA has jurisdiction over projects with budgets of more than $15,000 per minute, $300,000 per program or $500,000 per series, whichever is lowest.
- Content download (from the internet) saw minimal increase in residuals allotted to writers. This is considered the chink the armor of this agreement.

Stay tuned for more blogs about the entertainment industry and the technology that drives its change.