Writers Underwhelmed by Studios’ Proposal

LOS ANGELES, November 30:
During negotiations between the striking Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the
Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP), yesterday the
AMPTP, representing the studios, made a proposal regarding compensation for new-media
content, but the writers rebuffed it.

According the The
Hollywood Reporter, the AMPTP’s
proposals involved at least two key areas of writer compensation: ad-supported
content created for film or TV and then streamed for free, and content originated
on the Internet or mobile platforms, usually derived from film or TV
franchises. The proposals did not feature any increase in existing residuals
for fee-based downloads of films or TV shows, also referred to as electronic
sell-through.

The AMPTP put out a
statement that explained what its package of proposals on new media, called New
Economic Partnership, would
entail. “The entire value of the (package) will deliver more than $130 million
in additional compensation above and beyond the more than $1.3 billion writers
already receive each year,” the AMPTP said. “In response, the WGA has asked for
time to study the proposals. While we strongly preferred to continue
discussions, we respect and understand the WGA's desire to review the
proposals.”

The press blackout that
both sides had agreed to when talks resumed on Monday was lifted at the WGA’s
request. The WGA then put out the following statement on Thursday evening: “Our
inability to communicate with our members has left a vacuum of information that
has been filled with rumors, both well-intentioned and deceptive. Among the
rumors was the assertion that the AMPTP had a groundbreaking proposal that
would make this negotiation a 'done deal.' In fact, for the first three days of
this week, the companies presented in essence their Nov. 4 package with not an
iota of movement on any of the issues that matter to writers.

“Thursday morning, the
first new proposal was finally presented to us,” the guild added. “For
streaming television episodes, the companies proposed a residual structure of a
single fixed payment of less than $250 for a year's reuse of an hour-long
program (compared to over $20,000 payable for a network rerun). For theatrical
product, they are offering no residuals whatsoever for streaming. For made-for-Internet
material, they offered minimums that would allow a studio to produce up to a
15-minute episode of network-derived Web content for a script fee of $1,300.
They continued to refuse to grant jurisdiction over original content for the
Internet.”

Despite the current
impasse, both sides have agreed to resume talks on Tuesday.

—By Anna Carugati