WGA Members Agree to Ratify New Contract

LOS ANGELES,
February 27: A majority of the members of the Writers Guild of America West
(WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) have voted in favor of
ratifying the new three-year contract that ended their 14-week strike, giving
writers new rights and protections for work distributed on and created for the
Internet and other new-media platforms.

Of 4,060 votes
cast by guild members in Los Angeles and New York, 93.6 percent voted to ratify
the new contract. The term of the agreement is from February 13, 2008 through
May 1, 2011.

Ratification
follows the WGA's lifting of a strike order on February 13, which ended a
100-day work stoppage.

The new
contract establishes WGA jurisdiction over writing for new media, giving
writers “separated rights” in new-media content. Separated rights are the
contractual rights traditionally enjoyed by writers of original television and
motion-picture scripts. The contract also establishes residual payments for
new-media reuse of covered material, including Internet downloads and
ad-supported streaming of feature films and television programs; and sets
“distributor's gross” as the basis for calculating new-media residual payments,
thereby creating meaningful access to information and auditing tools that will allow
the WGA to monitor the development of new-media markets.

“This contract
is a new beginning for writers in the Digital Age,” said Patric M. Verrone, the
president of the WGAW. “It ensures that Guild members will be fairly
compensated for the content they create for the Internet, and it also covers
the reuse on new-media platforms of the work they have done in film since 1971
and in TV since 1977. That's a huge body of work that will continue to generate
revenue for our members for many years to come as it is distributed
electronically.”

Added Michael
Winship, the president of the WGAE, “The 2008 Minimum Basic Agreement is
groundbreaking on many levels. Not only does it establish Writers Guild
jurisdiction in new media, it gives writers the same separated rights
provisions in new media enjoyed by the creators of original TV and
motion-picture scripts, as well as residuals for the reuse of movies and
television programs on the Internet and in new media. Those residuals will be
based on distributor's gross—real money for our members—that we'll
be able to audit and monitor more effectively than ever before.”

—By Irene Lew