WGA Leadership Approves Deal; Writers to Vote on Ending Strike

LOS ANGELES, February 11: The Writers Guild of America (WGA)
leadership has approved a deal with the Hollywood studios and is asking the
organization’s members to vote tomorrow on whether or not to end the strike,
pending ratification of the new three-year agreement.

If the strike is concluded tomorrow, writers are expected to
return to work on Wednesday. Sitcoms will be the first to see new episodes
appear. Drama fans will be less fortunate; 24 is not due to return to FOX until the fall, and NBC may hold Heroes till later in the year.

The WGA leadership has voted unanimously to recommend the
contract, which is being submitted to members for ratification. That vote will
take place over the next few weeks by mail ballot and at a special membership
meeting. A separate vote, tomorrow, will seek to end the strike immediately,
prior to the deal’s ratification. In the interim, all picketing activity has
been suspended.

The new deal runs through May 1, 2011. Among the terms is a
minimum 3.5-percent rate increase per year, excluding network prime time rates
and daytime serial script fees, which increase 3 percent each period.

On the contentious new-media front, writing for new media is
covered by the deal if it is written by a “professional writer” (anyone with a
single TV or screen credit, 13 weeks of employment in TV, film or radio, a
professionally produced stage play credit or a published novel); the program is
derivative of a TV show; or the budget is above $15,000 per minute, $300,000
per program or $500,000 per series order. In terms of compensation for content
created for new media, the minimum for derivative dramatic programs is $618 for
programs up to two minutes, plus $309 for each additional minute. The minimum
for derivative comedy-variety and daytime serials is $360 for programs up to
two minutes, plus $180 for each additional minute. The minimum for all other
types of derivative programs is $309 for programs up to two minutes, plus $155 for
each additional minute. For original programs, initial compensation is
negotiable.

For reuse in new media, online rentals call for residuals of
1.2 percent of distributor’s gross receipts. For electronic sell-through,
residuals are paid at 0.36 percent of distributor’s gross receipts for the
first 100,000 downloads of a television program and the first 50,000 downloads
of a feature. After that, residuals are paid at 0.7 percent of distributor’s
gross receipts for television programs and 0.65 percent for feature films. Ad-supported
streaming of feature films produced after July 1, 1971, is payable at 1.2
percent of distributor’s gross receipts. Ad-supported streaming of television
programs produced after 1977 (and a small number produced prior to 1977) are
payable at 2 percent of distributor’s gross receipts one year from the end of
an initial streaming window. There is an initial window of 17 days (24 days for
episodes of the first season of a series, one-off television programs, and
MOWs) with no residual. This window must include or occur contiguous to the
initial television exhibition.

Clips are defined as excerpts of less than five minutes for
episodic TV or ten minutes for features or long-form TV. A company can use a
clip for a promotional purpose without payment.

—By Mansha Daswani