Strike Watch: Halloween Impasse

For those fearing a writers' strike is inevitable, almost all the signs bred pessimism today. As the WGA contract headed for its expiration at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, there were obdurate statements from the AMPTP, then the guild, and the reverberating insistence, in the AMPTP statement just below, that "the DVD issue [to increase writers' compensation formula, including electronic `sell-through'] is a compete roadblock to further progress."

A while later, the WGA's returning salvo called the producers' stance "completely unacceptable." and added a pointed reminder that the writers would be holding a meeting Thursday night in the L.A. Convention Center. A telling report that surfaced was that the guild's contract captains (whose appellation will change to "strike captains" if the union goes out) had been told to advise guild members to remove their personal items from their production offices tomorrow.

Two themes that emerged from various members' comments on blogs were that there is a vocal bloc of writers committed to strike regardless of what it will mean for their income (and the industry), and second, that many of the more vocal members that they also feel they've not been given fair coverage in the mainstream press.

That mainstream press was busy reporting that the WGA, with the exception of a welcome proffer of support from Teamsters, has been publicly and with a good deal of high-impact legalese, been isolated from the various other job-related unions--SAG, DGA, AFTRA, and most vociferously, partly because of a turf war over feature anmation writers, IATSE.

Even as the studios were eager to tell the press that they've got enough well-polished feature material to coast through 2008 (which was greeted by many writers with skepticism), the guild was pointing out how soon television might grind to a halt, including shows like Saturday Night Live (almost immediately) and what the trades call "gabbers", like the Letterman show (the host was a union loyalist in a previous strike and is the likely bellwether for the response of other talk show hosts to a strike.)

Thus, the town will wake up with a pretty clear picture of the opposing sides' irreconcilable differences--and the continuing knowledge that if there's to be broken crockery, the damage will be widespread.

Below are the releases:

6:42 p.m. Pacific time
AMPTP POSITION STATED TO THE WGAW AND WGAE TODAY (OCTOBER 31, 2007)
BY AMPTP PRESIDENT NICK COUNTER

We've been working hard to come up with a package in response to your last
proposal. But we keep running up against the DVD issue. The companies believe
that movement is possible on other issues, but they cannot make any movement
when confronted with your continuing efforts to increase the DVD formula,
including the formula for electronic sell-through.

The magnitude of that proposal alone is blocking us from making any further
progress. We cannot move further as long as that issue remains on the table.
In short, the DVD issue is a complete roadblock to any further progress.

This cannot come as a surprise. 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. Nevertheless, you proposed to increase the DVD
formula in these negotiations.

We want to make a deal. We think doing so is in your best interests, in your
members' best interests, in the best interests of our companies and in the best
interests of the industry. But, as I said, no further movement is possible to
close the gap between us so long as your DVD proposal remains on the table. In
referring to DVDs, we include not only traditional DVDs, but also electronic
sell-through -- i.e., permanent downloads. As you know, we believe that
electronic sell-through is synonymous with DVD.

There are pending claims with regard to electronic sell-through that will be
resolved through the arbitration process. But to make any new agreement with
you, residuals for the DVD market, including electronic sell-through, must be
paid under the existing home video formula.

We are ready and willing to proceed to reach agreement with you. We call upon
you to take the necessary steps now to break this impasse so that bargaining
can continue for our mutual benefit and the good of everyone else who works in
this industry.
[addendum:]

After Nick Counter presented the above position, the WGA advised us that they
were not prepared to continue tonight. When asked about tomorrow, they said no,
we have a membership meeting. When they were asked about Friday, they advised
they would call us.

7:44 p.m.

LOS ANGELES - The WGA Negotiating Committee, on behalf of the Writers of Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), has issued the following statement regarding Contract 2007 negotiations:

"Today, just hours before the expiration of our contract, the AMPTP brought negotiations to a halt.

The Companies refused to continue to bargain unless we agree that the hated DVD formula be extended to Internet downloads.

This morning we presented the AMPTP with a comprehensive package of proposals that included movement on DVDs, new media, and jurisdictional issues. We also took nine proposals off the table. The Companies returned six hours later and said they would not respond to our package until we capitulated to their Internet demand.

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. This is completely unacceptable.

There will be a WGA West membership meeting in Los Angeles Thursday night."