According to Variety, the WGA and the AMPTP reached a tentative settlement of the three month-old writers' strike early this morning. The presidents of the east and west coast guilds of the WGA sent this letter, which announces the agreement and gives information on the membership meetings that are being held today to discuss the terms of the deal. According to this PDF of the contract terms, it looks like the writers are going to get some credit and money if their writing is used for new media purposes, like on the internet or on moblie phones. It just doesn't look like they're going to get as much as they were looking for.And that might be a problem. According to Nikki Finke, she's hearing that the rank-and-file members of the guild have been expressing displeasure at the terms of the contract in today's meetings, with the feeling that the union leadership is "ramming this deal down our throats," as one of her sources told her.
They don't want to call off the strike until they at least see the full contract, while the union leadership is trying to sell the fact that they won't get a better deal than this one, even if they keep striking. Looks like the union isn't going cave without a fight, but at least there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on 'Faces of America' and the Beer Summit
Six Reasons Why '24' Has Jumped the You-Know-What
The Super Bowl Commercials: The Best
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-09-2008 @ 2:04PM
Oreo said...
Well I'm glad the number everyday lower field writers hate this deal. They wait 4 months and are supposed to take this crap deal?
At the same time I want more Lost.
Reply
2-09-2008 @ 6:21PM
bruce said...
Remember, the hallmark of a good, fair deal is one that both sides dislike. Reading over the summary, it looks like they got a great deal of what they wanted. They're getting a chunk where they were getting zilch before. The chunk they're getting doesn't seem unreasonable, but sure they'd like it to be higher. Maybe in the future. They should take this deal.
While most people, myself included, have been supporting the writers, if they start refusing reasonable offers in favor of continuing the strike (thus forcing crap like "my dad is better than your dad" to be on TV), the writers may very well lose the support of the people.
Well, the intelligent people... I'm sure the average morons out there will actually watch "my dad is better than your dad" (which I thought was a joke title of a reality show but was dismayed to learn was an actual NBC show being promoted).
Reply
2-09-2008 @ 7:41PM
Argus said...
The promotional window and the cap on distributors gross are both pretty weak. I'd reject this deal unless they shorten the window to a week or next showing and get rid of the cap.
Reply
2-09-2008 @ 9:54PM
chrisd said...
The terms in this look overly fair to me, but then again I am not a GREEDY WGA member.
As I have said before-
As far as I am concerned the Writers are just a bunch of over paid greedy B@#$%%$ who want more money from another group of richer greedier B@#$%%$.
The only people this strike truly affects are all the workers on the series who put in just as much effort if not more then writers / directors / actors. They get NO cut of any other part of the distribution. It is those people I feel bad for.. SCREW the WRITERS -- SCREW the DIRECTORS -- SCREW the ACTORS -- SCREW the AMPTP
Chris D
Reply
2-10-2008 @ 12:37AM
Jeff N. said...
I hope the writers got a decent deal and they vote to end the strike. The public really wants new shows and so many jobs have been lost during this strike. I understand why they had to strike. They deserved to get paid for their shows they had written... when shown on the internet. But like most everyone we(The viewing public) really want this to end.
Reply
2-10-2008 @ 1:40PM
Jeff N. said...
Any chance the writers won't approve this deal?
Reply
2-10-2008 @ 11:20PM
Anita said...
While I want the strike to end, I don't feel the deal is fair and I might be happier if they hadn't dropped the animators & reality tv writers. On a side note, I wonder if producers had the same union restraints on reality tv as for 'scripted' shows, we'd have less of the former :) -
Reply