'New Media' at Heart of Writers Strike
Jan 14, 2008
america, guild, media, new, of, strike, writers
Anyone who watches television has realized that there’s been a significant increase in the number of reruns lately. And only reality TV seems to be new at all. This is because the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) for more than nine weeks now.
Every three years, the Writers Guild negotiates a new basic contract with the AMPTP – which represents the interests of American film and television producers – called the Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA). An impasse in negotiations was reached in 2007 and some 12,000 writers that mainly work on live-action, script-driven movies and television programs went on strike on November 5 of last year.
There are several issues of contention between the two sides, but the main ones revolve around DVD residuals and compensation for what is referred to as ’new media’.
Writers Guild members went on strike in 1988 over the home video market, which at that time was relatively small and consisted of expensive VHS and Betamax videotapes. An agreement was reached, but with the explosion of the home video market and the introduction of more inexpensive DVDs, writers came to believe that they had been shortchanged. In this current round of negotiations, the Writers Guild is asking for a doubling of the residual rate from DVD sales, which would result in a residual of about eight cents per DVD sold.
But the real issue at hand, the one that is most significant and likely the toughest to resolve, involves residuals for new media. This discussion revolves around discussion of residuals for such new means of delivering content as Internet downloads, streaming video, smart phone downloads, and video on demand on cable and satellite television. At present there is no arrangement with companies for the use of content online. With the increasing trend towards delivering video content in these formats, this is a problem that will only become worse if it remains unaddressed.
Opinion polls are showing that public support is strongly in the corner of the writers. So the next time you’re wondering why your favourite show has been in reruns for months, or why reality programming seems even more pervasive than normal (reality programming lies outside of the current agreement), remember that an important battle is unfolding that will have significant implications for an industry that is undergoing rapid and significant change.
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