Strike Days: It (Really, Really) Ain't Over Until...

The initially lukewarm news from the negotiating table turned into plain discouragement yesterday afternoon when the AMPTP issued a statement (soon to be matched by a longer, angrier release from the writers) confirming that their sweetened offers were on the table but the writers wanted to postpone further talks until Tuesday. They added that they respected the writers' need to study the proposals, but the writers soon made clear that the offer, to their thinking constituting a "massive rollback", had been rejected out of hand.

In a week where there's been some media chatter about the AMPTP's lack of a palatable public profile (as their spokesperson Barbara Brogliatti chose to depart the thankless post the studio bosses had convinced her to fill), it's interesting to note the typically terse AMPTP release and the typically through-gritted-teeth WGA response, in their entirety here:

STATEMENT REGARDING AMPTP WGA NEGOTIATIONS

LOS ANGELES, November 29, 2007 - "The AMPTP today unveiled a New Economic Partnership to the WGA, which includes groundbreaking moves in several areas of new media, including streaming, content made for new media and programming delivered over digital broadcast channels. The entire value of the New Economic Partnership will deliver more than $130 million in additional compensation above and beyond the more than $1.3 billion writers already receive each year. 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. We look forward resuming talks on Tuesday, December 4.

We continue to believe that there is common ground to be found between the two sides, and that our proposal for a New Economic Partnership offers the best chance to find it."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 29, 2007

CONTRACT 2007 NEGOTIATIONS STATEMENT

LOS ANGELES - The following message was issued today by the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) regarding Contract 2007 negotiations:

To Our Fellow Members,

After four days of bargaining with the AMPTP, we are writing to let you know that, though we are still at the table, the press blackout has been lifted.

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 November 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. It dealt only with streaming and made-for-Internet jurisdiction, and it amounts to a massive rollback.

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 $1300. They continued to refuse to grant jurisdiction over original content for the Internet.

In their new proposal, they made absolutely no move on the download formula (which they propose to pay at the DVD rate), and continue to assert that they can deem any reuse "promotional," and pay no residual (even if they replay the entire film or TV episode and even if they make money).

The AMPTP says it will have additional proposals to make but, as of Thursday evening, they have not been presented to us. We are scheduled to meet with them again on Tuesday.

In the meantime, we felt it was essential to update you accurately on where negotiations stand. On Wednesday we presented a comprehensive economic justification for our proposals. Our entire package would cost this industry $151 million over three years. That's a little over a 3% increase in writer earnings each year, while company revenues are projected to grow at a rate of 10%. We are falling behind.

For Sony, this entire deal would cost $1.68 million per year. For Disney $6.25 million. Paramount and CBS would each pay about $4.66 million, Warner about $11.2 million, Fox $6.04 million, and NBC/Universal $7.44 million. MGM would pay $320,000 and the entire universe of remaining companies would assume the remainder of about $8.3 million per year. As we've stated repeatedly, our proposals are more than reasonable and the companies have no excuse for denying it.

The AMPTP's intractability is dispiriting news but it must also be motivating. Any movement on the part of these multinational conglomerates has been the result of the collective action of our membership, with the support of SAG, other unions, supportive politicians, and the general public. We must fight on, returning to the lines on Monday in force to make it clear that we will not back down, that we will not accept a bad deal, and that we are all in this together.

Best,

Patric M. Verrone
President, WGAW

Michael Winship
President, WGAE

The Los Angeles Times summarized the gap between the two sides this way:

Thursday's unexpected action to break the media blackout inflamed tensions and dashed the hopes of many industry insiders that a new three-year deal could be concluded quickly. It also demonstrated how far apart the sides remain on the key issues of pay for writers' work on movies and television shows distributed via the Internet and other new technology.

For the presentation of TV episodes online, writers said the studios offered a single, fixed payment of less than $250 for an hourlong program, negligible in relation to the more than $20,000 a writer earns when that program is rerun on a network. The guild said the companies offered nothing for movies shown free on the Internet.

Regarding shows created specifically for the Internet, studios offered to pay a script fee of $1,300 for episodes lasting up to 15 minutes that are derived from scripted dramatic programs. However, the studios refused to give the union jurisdiction for all other original shows created for the Internet.

That's a major sticking point. Writers view online entertainment as a new frontier and don't want to be shortchanged. Studios, however, say they can't compete in the new medium if they must pay union wages.

Furthermore, the guild said, the studios did not budge from their previous offer to apply an unpopular DVD formula to movies and TV shows that are sold online. Nor did the studios scrap an equally controversial proposal that allows them to stream entire films and TV episodes for promotional purposes without paying residuals.

Variety theorized that:

If the sides do not make progress next week, it's most likely that the AMPTP would opt for launching negotiations with the Directors Guild of America. The DGA's contract expires June 30, and the directors have indicated they're ready to start talks even if the WGA hasn't made a deal -- a move that could undermine the WGA's leverage. However, it was noteworthy that the AMPTP statement included the conciliatory sentiment that the moguls "continue to believe that there is common ground to be found between the two sides."

Speculation has also emerged that the WGA could call off the strike and tell writers to return to work, leaving open the possibility that the strike could resume at any time.

One strike captain I was in touch with yesterday showed little optimism as regards the latter proposition.

Meanwhile, Conan O'Brien's much-lauded readiness to pay his staff throughout the strike made for a strong contrast to Carson Daly's plunge from career lassitude into forthright unpopularity as he sought to fill his show's dead air with humor created by amateurs (an effect some thought he had already achieved). He responded to a rapid WGA scourging with the "just kidding" defense.

Los Angeles awoke to rain, an awareness of dollars and projects washing down the drain, and a deepening sense that this strike will find no timely solution.