TV Writers Say Strike Set For Monday

(CBS/AP)  There will be a last ditch effort to prevent a walkout by film and TV writers.

Union officials and producers plan to meet Sunday with a federal mediator in an effort to end the stalemate. The meeting will take place at a neutral location.

The writers are making final plans for a Monday morning strike that would be the first in two decades. Among the sticking points are profits from DVDs and Internet programming.

A guild official accuses the studios of wanting to shut down rather than reaching a fair deal. But the head of the producers' group calls the writers' strike "precipitous and irresponsible."

Four writers told The Associated Press that Writers Guild of America (WGA) president Patric Verrone made the announcement about Monday's strike plan in a closed-door session Thursday, drawing loud cheers from the crowd.

"There was a unified feeling in the room. I don't think anyone wants the strike, but people are behind the negotiation committee," said Dave Garrett, screen writer for the movie "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo."

Nick Counter, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), said in a statement Thursday the alliance was not surprised by the action.

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How Will A TV Strike Affect Viewers?

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"We are ready to meet and are prepared to close this contract this weekend," he said.

Negotiators for the writers, in a message posted on the WGA web site Wednesday night, slammed negotiators for the industry.

"After three and a half months of bargaining, the AMPTP still has not responded to a single one of our important proposals. Every issue that matters to writers, including Internet reuse, original writing for new media, DVDs, and jurisdiction, has been ignored," said WGA negotiators, in a statement. "This is completely unacceptable."

Counter, in a statement on the AMPTP web site, insists that the talks cannot move forward so long as the union's proposal to get paid more for DVDs and Internet downloads remains on the table.

"This cannot come as a surprise," said Counter. "Before the negotiations began, Writers Guild of America West President Patric Verrone met with many CEOs. The consistent message from the CEOs was that, for overriding business reasons, the home video formula would not be changed."

The strike won't just affect writers, according to Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman, who says members of some other union members are likely to honor the picket lines. That, she adds, could result in temporary layoffs on sets. Even security guards could be affected. "It could make it a bad holiday season," one janitor told CBS News.

The writers' union has been negotiating since July with film studios and production companies. Guild members two weeks ago approved an authorization for their negotiators to call the first strike since 1988, if necessary.

Verrone said at that time that "writers do not want to strike, but they are resolute and prepared to take strong, united action to defend our interests... What we must have is a contract that gives us the ability to keep up with the financial success of this ever-expanding global industry."

A key issue dividing producers and writers, as well as actors, whose contract expires in June, is compensation for DVD sales and productions that get distributed on the Internet and in other new media formats.

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[michellem99-2009]

I BUY THE MUSIC CDS I HAVE AND I USE HEAD PHONES. I BUY THE MOVIES I HAVE. THERE IS A CODE WRITTEN IN THE MOVIE DVDS THAT WON''T ALLOW YE TO RECORD IT AND OR /SAVE IT TO YER HARD DRIVE. IT CAN''T BE DONE.I DON''T LOAN OUT..I AM NOT A LIBRARY.

[yohnvilson]

The point isn''t whether the writers are paid enough to live on, but whether they get their fair share. It''s the same as when pro athletes go on strike -- of course they''re not poor, but the money is coming in by the truckload, and why shouldn''t the people doing the real work get a decent cut? Studios, investors, team owners etc. deserve to be paid well too since they risked a lot of money to make the whole thing possible, but they can make a huge profit even if all the little people get a decent taste. It''s not like they''re demanding Seinfeld-esque pay, just a bigger share of the part where the studios make the easiest money anyway.

[justfacts2]

They are overpaid for what they do anyway! Just like actors and sports stars. When they make more money a year than a doctor, nurse, or somone who has a REAL job, then something is wrong! VERY wrong! And the networks wonder why more people watch cable than network television?

[kevzgrl]

Let ''em strike, and good riddance! All 9/10ths of them seem to write these days is copy-cat, derivative garbage that isn''t fit to watch. As far as I am concerned, I would just as soon read a good book or watch an old movie that doesn''t have a cuss word every time the actor opens his mouth. The writers have lost the ability to come up with new ideas that are worthwhile and non-repeating. Maybe while they are on strike, they can think up something NEW.....

[brianbwb-2009]

NO...They are paid to write the drivel and they are paid very well...
Posted by DylanXXV

Thank you, you prove the real point I was getting at, that copyright laws in this country not only redefine the meaning of the word "purchase", they are also being applied in an unbalanced and illogical way, enabling multiple collections for the same item, but only for the corporate level.

Take a movie you purchased, if the intentionally fragile medium is scratched, you have to buy it again, the "fair use" concept of backing up the data of your item is now illegal, if you loan it to your friend, and he copies it, you are illegally file sharing, because he didn''t also pay for your copy.

If it is to be applied to content, the creators of the content should be compensated according to revenue earned from all relevant sources.

I wasn''t saying it was right, only that it is inconsistent, and laws should not be so.

[dylanxxv]

"We already know their starting salaries are at or over 70.000 a year...
Posted by DylanXXV"

That is not the point, if you create something, the saying goes, you deserve to be paid for your creation. The companies who use this line to justify redefining the word "purchase", will sell DVDs and CDs, and try to get away with not counting that income as sharable, even though it is now the dominant medium. They will sue "illegal downloaders", often times children, for thousands of times the value of the material, but won''''t pay royalties to the creators on monies collected.

Only recently, record companies had to be forced to include CD and digital media as royalty earning sales for the creators, rather than vinyl LP sales, which are almost non existent now.
Posted by brianbwb at 04:33 AM : Nov 03, 2007


Using your logic (and theirs), everyone that built my truck or your car/truck should get a slice of the pie everytime it''s sold? Should I get a piece of the pie every time one of one of my pieces of hand built furniture changes hands? NO...They are paid to write the drivel and they are paid very well...

[jcbach76]

On the other side of the coin(as it were), rohink has it ''nailed!'' Stop-n-think about the ''family'' life & how much it HAS gone into the toilet since everybody, now, seems to be ''wired'' to something other then actual communication...person to person. Gee! one on one time w/your kids, getting to ''really'' know your spouse(again)...and your neighbor. Wow!! what a concept.

[jcbach76]

So...perhaps this is a chance for those of us who aren''t in the WGA to get a ''shot'' at marketing some of our own talents(i.e., ideas for shows, storylines & manuscripts et all). If the writers don''t want to write, some of us do. Call me/us ''scabs'', but writing is STILL what we want to do.

[a8151947]

ampsanne I am with you. Who cares

[ampsanne]

Who cares? I surely don''t. I don''t find the shows on tv nowadays much entertainment. Glad I have cable and can watch all the old time shows when they didn''t have to use ***, bad language and violence and half clad women to entertain you. I''m sick of those reality shows too.