'schmucks With Underwoods' : Understanding The Wga Strike

“Schmucks with Underwood’s” – understanding the WGA strike By Richard Sloat

This Report investigates the Writers Guild of America and the way it has represented the interests of writers, specifically those working in television, since its inception. The report investigates the history of the guild and how through significant labour disputes, contract negotiations and the consequences incurred the guild has sought residual payments in new technologies and new forms of distribution. The report, through an understanding of historic WGA a contract agreements, investigates the climate, negotiations, motivations and consequences of the 2007-2008 Strike.

It may be sound little redundant to start this report by stating that great television is nothing without a script or by stating that all narrative fiction begins with the written word but the role of scriptwriters and the value ascribed to their work has not always reflected their seminal role in the production of content. Since the early days of television the WGA has been responsible for bargaining collectively for writers in television, radio and film. At present the Writers Guild of America (WGA) negotiates a new basic contract with the Association of motion picture and television producers (AMPTP) by which its most of its members are employed, every three years. The contract negotiated is called the Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) and stipulates among other things the minimum rates of initial compensation (pay rates) and the minimum residuals.

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On November the 5th 2007 the Writers Guild of America (WGA) staged a walk out that would last 14 weeks and 2 days (100 days) involve 12,000 writers and cost the economy of Los Angeles anywhere between 380 million (Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles, cited in new York times article 12/02/08) to 2.1 billion dollars (Jack Kyser cited in Bloomberg article 13/02/08). But before we can investigate this most recent activity it’s important to understand some elements of the history of the industry, of the guild itself and of their previous interactions.

The WGA represents the combined efforts of the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) and the Writers Guild of America west (WGAW) labour unions. Since its inception The WGAE has represented writers of live action Television and film centred around New York and the east coast of the United States. It has it’s origins in the authors league of America which was formed in 1912 by around 350 magazine, book writers and quickly joined by a small number of dramatists. When the number of dramatic authors grew in the following years a dramatist’s guild was established as a part of the Authors league to represent the specialist needs of its members. In the 1920’s as the motion picture industry grew the Screen Writer’s Guild was formed although this remained essentially a social club until the arrival of synchronised sound and a nationwide emphasis on unionism began. The guild became affiliated with the author’s league in 1933 and by 1939 they began negotiating with producers for collective bargaining. (wgaeast.org)

When television made a serious appearance in the 1950’s writers working in the new medium were at first represented by a number of different organisations this situation was

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further exaggerated by the tense political atmosphere of the post war McCarthy era. By 1951 it had become evident that a single organisation couldn’t properly represent authors in so many disparate fields and so an amicable dissolution came to pass with the birth of two new entities the WGAE and the WGAW. The WGAW has since that time represented the same groups as the WGAE but centres its activity on southern California and the west coast. The two groups have bargained collectively since 1954 (WGA west timeline) On January 16 1960 the WGA went on its first significant strike, primarily to secure revenue from the sale or lease of films for television and royalties on repeats on television programs. It was at the time the longest walkout in Hollywood the history (CBS News, November 25th 2007); lasting for 20 weeks and 6 days, although it should be noted that action against the television networks did not begin until March 19 1960. The Screen actors guild (SAG) were initially on strike at the same time and over much the same issue, but they returned to work before the writers reached a compromise with the movie companies. (Multimedia and Entertainment Law Online News, January 22, 2008) The strike ended and the writers went back to work on June the 10 th of 1960 when Seven of the eight major studios from the time, Allied Artists, Columbia, MGM, Paramount, Twentieth-Century Fox, Walt Disney, and Warner Bros agreed a new deal with writers. Interestingly the 8th major studio, Universal, which was suffering major financial difficulties at the time had already struck a deal with the guild that meant writers could resume work on its productions many months before the strike ended, with a caveat that when it did Universals agreement would shift to the new industry standards. This of course gave the studio a major advantage over its competitors as well as helping the guild to apply

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pressure to them. Interim agreements of this kind would be a strategy the guild would utilize 47 years later in an attempt to accomplish the same division of interests (Variety, December 16th 2007) The deal which was eventually secured included paying 600 thousand dollars toward health and pension benefit funds, 5% of studio income generated from the lease or sale films made before 1960 to television reduced to 2% of income generated on films produced thereafter. (Multimedia and Entertainment Law Online News) This can in some sense be considered the guilds first foray into negotiation over a ‘new media’ as watching films on the ‘small screen’ was a relatively new idea which many understandably felt would have limited appeal in comparison to the theater experience. Today of course there are indeed a great many dedicated movie channels on cable and satellite in addition to the myriad of motion pictures which crop up in terrestrial schedules. Perhaps the most important development for television writers was a 4% royalty on all repeats, domestically and internationally, in perpetuity. Prior to 1960 they received 140% of their minimum rate for the first 5 domestic repeats and nothing thereafter. For example ‘I love Lucy’(1951) had all of its 9 series produced before this agreement and has been syndicated globally ever since, absolutely none of the vast revenue earned from this in the last 6 decades has gone to its writers, with the exception of the first 5 domestic showings of each episode. (Multimedia and Entertainment Law Online News) That said, until a threatened strike during contract negotiations in 1977 writers right to residuals were capped after a certain number of reruns, their new contract ensured this limit

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would be removed and writers would receive compensation in perpetuity. In 1981 the guild went on strike again, this time over the relatively new markets of pay-tv (cable and satellite) and home video cassettes, after a relatively short walk out of 3 months a resolution was found and writers received lucrative revenues for repeats on pay-tv. One year later the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) was formed representing a collective bargaining unit for more than 350 producers of motion pictures and television programs. The AMPTP felt revenues earned by writers in Pay-TV and Home video were too great and so when contract negotiations began again in 1985 the AMPTP proposed a new formula for residuals in these markets. (CBS news, nov25 2007) The AMPTP claimed that there was little money to be made in the Pay-TV market and the profit that could be made was needed to offset losses in other forms of distribution, Home Video was at the time mired with high production costs which meant they were prohibitively expensive to the average user, the AMPTP argued that a cut in residuals was necessary to make tapes profitable and extend the market. The new formula provided writers with a great deal less is residuals for Pay-TV (cable). The AMPTP argued that this was an unproven market with limited profitability and that no contract could be drawn up that did not include the new revenue model, a strike broke out but the guild was split and after just 3 weeks the rollbacks were accepted and new deal came into force. In 1988 the WGA contract once again came up for renewal, the AMPTP pushed for further rollbacks, scaling down residuals from 1 hour shows like ‘murder she wrote’(1984) when those programmes were sold or licensed to independent television broadcasters. It should

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be noted at this point that ‘Murder she wrote’ is still in regular afternoon syndication on the BBC. In early negotiations the WGA were unwilling to submit to further reductions in residuals and wanted bigger residual payments on repeats in other countries. Another important disagreement between the WGA and the AMPTP was the issue of reduced residuals for home video in which the members of the Guild felt they had been short changed. With tensions at an all time high on March the 7th the guild began a strike which would last for a total of 21 weeks and 6 days, one day longer than the strike of 1960. It involved 9,000 movie and television writers and is to date it is the longest writers strike in history. As a direct consequence of the strike new series originally intended to begin production in the autumn of 1988 had to be postponed until the winter. Talk shows such as ‘Late Night with David Letterman’ (which due to their topical nature were some of the first to feel the effect of the strike) returned to the air without their writers by having their presenters write the monologues that begin the show. This is something that would re-occur in the 2007 strike with ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’. Soap operas were able to carry on production unaffected as they use non union writing staff for their productions something which was also the case in the most recent activity. In order to fill increasingly sparse television schedules, the networks relied largely on repeats but also re-shot old content like the ‘Mission: Impossible’ series based on the original scripts, they also aired movies as much as possible. Another way to fill schedules was to produce unscripted ‘reality’ programs like the hugely popular ‘Cops’ (1989) (imdb).

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On august the 8th 1988 the strike ended when the guild agreed by a vote of 2,111 to 412 to accept a new contract with the AMPTP. The deal provided very small gains for one hour shows sold abroad, the previous formula had paid writers a maximum of around 4400 dollars for a one hour show, the new formula gave writers the option to instead receive 1.2 percent of foreign sales. Writers of TV movies and original screenplays were also awarded greater creative control of their work. In exchange for these benefits and preventing further rollbacks the guild agreed to reductions in residuals from domestically syndicated one hour shows. More crucially they agreed to disregard the first 80% of revenue from VHS tapes. The elements which helped sway the guild to accept this massive cut was the understanding that Home Video as a new media had an untested revenue stream and an agreement to re-evaluate the agreement when the media involved had become more established and production costs had dropped. On the remaining 20% of sales the WGA accepted 1.2% of revenue, this works out to roughly 0.48% of the retail price In the years that followed the home video market grew exponentially, the Video Home System (VHS) cassette format became dominant and as demand increased so did production. Increased production volumes radically reduced the cost of producing tapes making them far more profitable for producers, in fact by 1998 American consumers were spending 18 billion dollars a year on VHS tapes although the same formula for writer’s residuals applied. Production costs dropped again in 1996 when the Digital Versatile Disc DVD format debuted and by 2003 when the format had matured American consumers were spending 22.2 billion dollars on both formats combined adding around 4 billion dollars in

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consumer spending to the industry without adversely affecting theatre ticket sales. (New York Times, April 20th 2004) Despite these massive changes in the home video market the promised re-evaluation of royalties was never made, this became a huge source of resentment among writers and would become a very important part of the 2007-2008 strike. While, as we will find out, the cuts agreed by writers proved to be disastrous in the long run and financially difficult in the short term, the cost to producers was huge, not only in losses of potential earnings(estimated cost to the entertainment industry as a whole was 500million) but in the numbers of viewers who switched from broadcast TV to other forms of media, in fact one of the side effects of the strike was an increase in the popularity of Cable which at the time relied on far fewer new scripts and so was able to operate during the strike with very few compromises. It’s believed that broadcast TV has been unable to recapture as much as 10% of its audiences to this day. Although as the walkout ran from the spring when television production usually winds down until the summer, when repeats usually fill the schedules, meant that strike actions did not have as much impact on the industry as they may have if it had started in the winter as the 2007 strike would. The following years went by without a strike, perhaps because of the deal that was signed or perhaps because of the significant cost to both writers and producers incurred. It is by understanding this history of these strikes and contract negotiations and the effect they would have in the years that followed that we can begin understand the issues at the heart of the strike of 2007-2008. One of the prime issues was a reformulation of DVD residual formula which had started life in 1988 in regard of VHS tapes and continued to be implemented by studios after the

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switch to the more profitable DVD format. In the 19 years since the introduction of a cut of 80% of writer’s residuals due to the untested and expensive nature of video in the late 80’s, the promised readjustment had never happened. The WGA requested a doubling of the residual rate on DVD’s from 0.3% to 0.6% of the reportable gross for the first million and from 0.36% to 0.72% on gross earned over 1 million. The WGA argued that these concessions were essential as residual payments are important for writers as they provide income during periods of unemployment common in the industry. Indeed according to the WGA half of all its members are unemployed at any one time. By far the most important issue for the guild and the one which proved to be the most divisive was what the guild called ‘Non traditional media’ which would come to be known as ‘new media’. More specifically a system which paid royalties to writers for TV and Theatrical content used on the internet, mobile phones and any other form of delivery system not previously covered by the MBA at a rate of 2.5% of the distributors gross income. According to the guilds proposals; “This is the simplest and fairest way of compensating our members for their creative contribution, and one which permits the companies maximum flexibility in the development of this business model” (WGA Contract 2007 Proposals) Before the strike the studios were paying nothing for “free to user” streaming sites such as “southparkstudios.com”, “thedailyshow.com” and “hulu.com” (which launched just after the conclusion of the strike). Although the content of these sites, including full episodes of

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shows, are free at the point of delivery they feature not only banner advertising in the style of Youtube.com but often television style adverts played before and sometimes in the middle of content. For content which users pay to download from websites like I tunes and Amazon’s “unbox” the producers were paying the DVD residual rate of 0.3%. The AMPTP argued as it had for home video that the internet was an unproven market with little money to be made and that material on ad supported streaming sites was promotional. This is interesting when we consider that Viacom who own comedy central announced 500 million in profits from its internet ventures just before the strike, and also sued youtube.com for one billion dollars for loss of earnings due to copywrite violations in regards to its content. (BBC News, Tuesday 13th march 2008) In addition to residuals for re-use of TV and Theatrical content on the internet the guild proposed minimum pay rates for writers producing for-internet content match those in television. Before the strike a side-letter to the MBA negotiated in 2001 permitted a deal which guarantees no minimum pay rate, separated rights, credit, or residuals but did include the standard provisions for pension and healthcare. Between 2001 and the strike the guild had managed to negotiate conditions which met with their proposals in relation to forinternet content relating to the series ‘lost’. Many felt this demand had a lot to do with the Guild not making the same mistakes it had in the DVD market (Los Angeles Times, October 20th 2007). Of course the Guild had made the issues of new media and new revenue streams important in strikes before, it felt it was more about the future profitability and dominance of on-line content rather than its short

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term growth. Best summed up by the guild: “the internet IS television” (WGA Contract 2007 Proposals) The WGA proposed that all animation writers should fall under the MBA with the exception of those already covered by different labour unions. Despite the job of writing being exactly the same in animation and the vast majority of animated programming being written by at least one WGA member, animation writers have never been under the jurisdiction of the Guild. Another, more curious issue in the strike was an expansion in jurisdiction over reality productions. The guilds argument was that although most reality shows feature little to no scripted material and no writing staff the process of creating interesting scenarios and then creating a narrative complete with characterisation, conflicts and resolutions from the raw footage, fell under it’s contract. In fact the employees whom the WGAW had been trying to unionize since 2004 work it what is commonly known as the ‘story department’. In 2006 the WGAW organised a walkout at the production offices of ‘America’s Next Top Model’. One of those on strike, Kai Bowe described their role to USA Today in the following terms, (USA Today, 8th October 2006, Picket line, Not Catwalk, at ‘Top Model’) "We look at primary characters, maybe look at who is being eliminated that week, and craft an arc so that their elimination is either something the viewers are sad about or happy about" There may be another motive for the guild to want to expand its influence over reality and animation as in times of strike these programs have a much more important role in

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providing original content for audiences. If a WGA strike, or the threat of one, was to include these groups the impact on the industry would be huge as they are staples for new programming during times of strikes. Other proposals included an increase in basic pay rates, a provision that writers be consulted about product placement and have influence in decisions, The application on MBA rates to programming made for basic cable not just high budget subscription channels like HBO, Annual funding to continue the show runner training program, The application of prime-time rates of initial compensation to the CW network, An increase in residuals for programming made for pay TV by adopting the pre-existent Directors Guild of America (DGA) rate and an increase of the caps on pension & health care contributions.( WGA Contract 2007 Proposals) On October the 25th 2007 negotiations between the WGA and AMPTP began in preparation for the contracts for both the WGAE and WGAW to expire on October 31st. But Talks soon broke down over issues of royalties for digital content and DVD. When both contracts expired the guild held a vote and of 5507 members 90% approved strike action. At a press conference held that day it was announced that all writers would stop work on Monday the 5th of November at 12:00am. At the conference Patric Verrone president of the WGAW claimed that the AMPTP had ignored key proposals on issues such as DVD residuals, New media(including original made for internet productions and internet reuse of TV and Theatrical content), and expanded jurisdiction. Verrone stated, "Rather than address our members' primary concern, the studios made it clear that they would rather shut down the town than reach a fair and reasonable deal,"

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Within hours The President of the AMPTP Nick Counter responded by stating that; "The WGA's call for a strike is precipitous and irresponsible," After the strike was announced the guild maintained that it was still open to negotiations, committee Chief John Bowman said "We don't want to strike. What we really want to do is negotiate." Later that it was announced that last minute talks with the AMPTP would resume on Sunday the 4th. (Variety, November 2nd 2007) These last ditch efforts to avoid a strike failed as negotiations broke again around issues of new media and DVD revenues. Even as the WGA were in negotiations they were organizing picketing Nick Counter commented in a statement that evening; "Notwithstanding the fact that negotiations were ongoing, the WGA decided to start their strike in New York. When we asked if they would 'stop the clock' for the purpose of delaying the strike to allow negotiations to continue, they refused. We made an attempt at meeting them in a number of their key areas, including Internet streaming and jurisdiction in new media. Ultimately, the guild was unwilling to compromise on most of their major demands. It is unfortunate that they choose to take this irresponsible action." (Broadcasting and Cable, 5th November 2007) The guild responded to the statement saying that they had temporarily withdrawn the proposals in regard to DVD residuals which the AMPTP felt was a problem in negotiations but claimed the AMPTP was still insistent that among other things that the guild have no jurisdiction for most new for-internet writing, that internet downloads would have residuals paid at the DVD rate and that no residual would be paid on streaming content. The guild

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claimed that a proposal from the AMPTP that would allow them to use complete movies and TV shows as promotional material without paying any residuals at all. In regard to the AMPTP ‘promotional’ proposal the guild stated that “this alone destroys residuals” (Writers Guild of America, November the 4th 2007) It had been expected that if a walkout would happen, the guild would work without a contract until June 2008 to align them with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). (New York Times, September 1st 2007) But many felt that anticipating a strike, producers had been stockpiling scripts and accelerating production schedules in order to minimize the impact of the missing writers, much as they had done other times that strikes had been threatened (variety, December 19th 2006). The guild felt it needed to move quickly to exploit their asymmetric relationship with the AMPTP. In addition to minimizing material stockpiled by the studios an earlier had the potential to cause more impact because of it’s relation to normal cycles of television production, a lesson learned from the 1988 strike which started in early march. It was also felt that the producers had made themselves vulnerable to a November strike by scheduling filming well into 2008 (New York Times, September 1st 2007) As with previous strikes some of the first television shows to go off air were talk shows which use the greatest amount of material, usually on a topical basis. A good example of this, and one I will come back to, was “the daily show: with Jon Stewart” like other talk shows it went off air as the strike began (BBC News, November the 3rd 2007) On November the 9th The WGA held a 90 minute rally outside the fox studio, in century city LA, around 4000 members of the WGAW and other supporters were in attendance. The

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event featured speeches from guild president Patrick Verrone, veteran actor Alan Rosenberg, civil rights campaigner Rev Jesse Jackson and Seth Macfarlane the creator of ‘Family guy’ and ‘American dad’. (Variety, November the 9th 2007) Verrone summed up the purpose of the strike and the feelings of many of the guilds members; “We took a bad deal in cable 25 years ago; we took a terrible deal in video 20 years ago. Now is our shot at new media, we wont get fooled again, we wont get boned again” (Youtube.com, November the 9th 2007) Seth MacFarlane who despite working in animation is a WGA member thanks to a 3 Day walkout of all Fox animated shows which started on the first day of production for ‘Family guy’ and meant that all Fox animated sitcoms could join the Guild. During his speech MacFarlane explained why he thought the originally resistant studio had given in so quickly; “Because they knew they were screwing us. They were just waiting for us to make a little noise about it. They never would have made the offer on their own; that would’ve been bad business” (Youtube.com, November the 9th 2007) MacFarlane used this point to argue just why the strike was necessary for writers to get royalties for their work, drawing parallels with Novelists and Musicians. He also commented that only 3 days into the WGA strike all of the assistants for ‘family guy’ had been fired, something he sarcastically referred to as ‘a classy move’. WGAW executive director David Young noted that the strike enjoyed the support of every other writer’s guild

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in the English-speaking world not to mention a myriad of other unions including the SAG and the Teamsters. (Variety, November the 9th 2007), (RedOrbit, 21st of November 2007) On November the 14th striking writers for The Daily Show posted a video on youtube.com called ‘not the daily show, with some writer’. The video is presented by Jason Ross, one of the daily show’s 14 full time writers and was recorded on a picket line in New York.

The video takes the form of a mock news bulletin in the style of ‘The Daily Show’ (1996) style and goes on to explain the writers position in the strike and focuses on Sumner Redstone the CEO of Viacom, which owns comedy central, highlighting apparent hypocrisy between the AMPTP claiming that new media is untested and as yet unprofitable and then suing you tube for 1 billion, the writers used footage of Redstone and other interviews to reinforce their point. Since it was posted the video has received over 600 thousand hits on youtube.com (Youtube.com, November 14th 2007an interesting imbalance was created; without writers of their own the AMPTP had no way to respond in kind. This video was one example of striking writers producing content about the ongoing action but there were many others which were part of a strategy by the guild to win public support for the writers. (BBC News, November 22nd 2007)

On November the 16th there way a ray of hope for a speedy resolution to the strike, both the WGA and the AMPTP released identical press statements saying; “Leaders from the WGA and the AMPTP have mutually agreed to resume formal negotiations on November 26. No other details or press statements will be issued.”

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The talks came about when Nick counter of the AMPTP reversed a decision not to negotiate with the WGA while the writers were on strike, although subtle third party efforts had been made to get talks restarted since the start of the walkout. (La Weekly, November 22nd 2007)(Variety, November 16th) Hope was short lived as talks broke down again on December the 7th when the AMPTP said it would not sit down for official negotiations unless the guild were willing to disregard six of their key proposals including authority to organize writing staff on animation projects and those from the ‘story department’ of reality shows. Until this stage of the strike they key issues had been those around residuals for ‘new media’ and DVD. It was soon after talks broke down that Worldwide Pants the company run by talk show host David letterman and which is responsible for producing his show “late night with David Letterman” expressed an interest in dealing directly with the guild in order to arrange an interim agreement. This was reminiscent although not in scale to the deal the guild had made with universal studios in 1960 and as Worldwide pants is an independent producers it could make such an arrangement without being affected by the WGA-AMPTP talks(CBC News, 16th of December 2007). This was the first indication of what would become an important WGA strategy, interim agreements made with independent producers. On November 22 2007 a group of WGA members began posting information films starring well known Hollywood actors from the Screen Actors Guild. The adverts, which can be seen as another way of the WGA garnering public support for the strike, featured high profile actors unable to speak including. Sean Penn, Alan Cumming, Jay Leno, Jason Alexander, Harvey Keitel, Tina Fey, Tim Robbins, Gary Marshall, David Schwimmer, Julia

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Louis-Dreyfuss, Martin Sheen, Josh Brolin, Charlize Therone, Andre 3000, Jane Fonda, Kate Beckinsale, Marisa Tomei, Ethan Hawke, Minnie Drive and Philip Seymour Hoffman. (Youtube.com, November 29th 2007)(Speechlesswithoutwriters.com)

It as announced on the 21st of December that like other talk shows like Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel, the Daily show and the Colbert return without writers In a joint statement about their return to the air Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert said: “We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence” The guild commented on the announcement stating that comedy central, which is part of Viacom was forcing Stewart and Colbert back on the air and stating that it “will not give viewers the quality shows they expect” (BBC News, December 21st 2007) On January the 7th the daily show and it’s spin off the Colbert report returned to the air after a 2 month hiatus but without their writers. The show’s host, WGA member and union advocate Jon Stewart opened the show by commenting on the lack of writers and sporting a “writer’s strike solidarity uni-brow”. He then announced that the show would be known as ‘a daily show with Jon Stewart’ because ‘the daily show’ is a program made wide array of people including writers. With the exception of a 2 minute segment relating to the ongoing presidential election, which would

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become a focus of the show while the strike was on, the entire episode was dedicated to issues in and around the strike. Stewart seemed to be in support of striking writers but joked that as talk shows had been off the air for nine times longer than they did after the September 11th terrorist attacks, Stewart joked that the writers strike was now "nine times worse than September 11th" In an interview with Ron Seeber at the end of the show Stewart mentions that he tried to get a interim deal through the WGA but was rejected despite having the support of comedy central (The Daily Show, January 7th 2008). Seeber is a Professor of labour relations at Cornell University and their expert on conflict resolution; he commented that the strike was as much about social justice as it was about money; “the social justice part of it is getting the fair share of the return for intellectual property, and everybody tries to do that, it’s a big issue globally, it’s a big issue for the writers here, in some ways they’re trying to get ahead of the technology curve if you will, in that sense its courageous to do that and think that far in advance” This issue of social justice will become important later when reflecting on the success or failure of the strike from the guilds perspective. On the 19th of January 2008 the AMPTP and WGA agreed to resume informal talks with the aim of re-starting formal negotiations (UPI.com, January 22nd 2008). These informal talks were like those which began on December the 7th were subject to a media blackout with no WGA members reporting events or negotiations to the press however on the 22nd of January Patric Verrone stated that the

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guilds proposals relating to animated and reality content had been dropped. (La Weekly, November 22nd 2007) On January 24th striking writers from ‘the daily show’ and ‘the Colbert report’ staged a mock hearing (Youtube.com 24th January 2008) in Washington DC for the press. One of the most salient points made was by a writer quoting a report by the now former investment Bear Stearns which stated that the cost of the gap between the WGA and AMPTP was around 120 million. He went on to say that for paramount to cave into every one of the WGA’s demands would only cost 4.66 million dollars; “That’s half the amount it takes to get Reece Witherspoon into a movie, what is more important for a movie, a script or half of Reece Witherspoon?” On February 2nd 2008 despite a news blackout there were many reports in the media of significant progress being made in drawing up a new deal. (New York Times, February 2nd 2008) Some members were concerned about reports that the offer would include a 17- to 24-day free usage window for promotional purposes. February 5th 2008 the WGA scheduled a meeting for members to be held on Saturday the 9th to get feedback and discus the new contract offered by the AMPTP (Variety, February 5th 2008), For many people the most important line in the proposed contract was this one: “The WGA is recognized as the exclusive bargaining representative for writing for new media (such as Internet or cellular technology)”.

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This means that if a professional writer, defined as anyone with a solo TV or screen credit, 13 weeks of employment as a writer in TV, film or radio, a professionally produced stage play credit or a published novel, writes new programming for non traditional distribution such as the internet the work would be covered by the guilds MBA but only if they met budget requirements which are relatively low compared with normal television production; the program would have to be over 15 thousand dollars per minute of screen time, 300 thousand dollars per single production and 500 thousand dollars per series. Some writers criticized these levels as high, but there is argument that studios which provide original new media content and operate on low budgets have to compete with the likes of youtube.com and Dailymotion.com which utilize free user generated content. It can be argued that MBA coverage in these situations would impede producers. It should also be considered that many feel as the internet becomes a more important avenue of distribution Budgets as a whole will increase making these limits more attainable for normal shows. Works for new media which are derivative of existing media such as spin offs from TV shows will also be covered by the MBA regardless of their budget level, The contract included relatively low minimum rates of pay for writing for-new media productions on a per minute basis, ranging from $618 for derivative dramatic programs up to two minutes, plus $309 for each additional minute, $360 for comedy-variety and daytime serials programs up to two minutes, plus $180 for each and $309 for all other derivative programs up to the two minute limit and $155 for each minute after that. (WGA Deal summary) The rates of pay quoted are not great in TV terms but are a welcome change when it’s considered that writers would normally be compelled by producers to write this

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content for free. The deal would also provide provisions for writers credits on made for new media productions, a writers credit would have to appear on screen or via a link if any one else receives a credit. In the new agreement payment of residuals would be handled for Made-for new media productions would work in the following way. For original works, writers pay would cover 26 consecutive weeks of consumer paid exhibition and ad supported streaming, which would mean no residual payments until after the 26 weeks when writers receive 1.2% of the distributors gross. However, if that program is budgeted below 25 thousand dollars per minute of screen time no residual is payable. When original new media programs are reused on television, residuals for television programs would apply but with some modifications. For derivative made for new media productions Initial compensation covers 13 consecutive weeks of ad-supported exhibition and 26 consecutive weeks of consumer-paid exhibition. After that reuse on ad-supported platforms before one year of expiration of the 13 week period requires payment of small fixed residuals; after the one-year period, the rate is 2% of the distributor’s gross. When the material is repeated on consumer-paid platforms after the 26 week period, the rate is 1.2% of the distributor’s gross. When derived new-media programs are repeated on television, the residual rates for television programmes apply. Now to one of the most critical aspects of the new deal, the re-use of television programs and movies in new media,

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When a viewer downloads a show or movie, essentially buying it to keep, a residual of 0.36% of the distributors gross for the first 100,000 downloads of television programs and the first 50,000 of a feature. For downloads in excess of these figures a residual of 0.7% applies for TV and 0.65% for feature films. The thresholds are high with the market as it is but as downloads become more popular as both the WGA and AMPTP expect, those levels will become more attainable. Residuals would be paid at 1.2% of the distributors gross for download rentals where the viewer pays to have access to a show for a limited amount of time, Download rentals for example. (WGA Deal summary) All advertising supported streaming of feature films produced after July 1st 1971 would be subject to the same residual of 1.2% of distributors gross. Where television programs made after 1977 are streamed a residual of 2% of distributors gross would be payable, however this only applies to literary material written up to the 13th of February 2008. Material written after that date is covered under Television Ad-Supported Streaming for New Programmes. In this instance There would be an initial “streaming window” of 17 to 24 days where no residual is payable. This is of course a problem for writers, because most viewing will happen just after the show is premiered, since viewers are unlikely to wait 2-3 weeks before they watch programs they missed at the time of broadcast, or as is becoming more common they choose to download the show as it premieres. After the 17 to 24 day streaming period, a residual would be payable. For prime time network shows, the formula would work in the following way: in the first year or second year of the 3 year WGA contract the residual paid is a percentage of the applicable TV

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residual base, (WGA Deal summary) Which roughly translates into a fixed residual of $700-$800 annually for half-hour shows and $1400 for hour long shows. In an interview conducted later signed Michael Winship head of the WGA commented about the 17-day window agreement stated in the contract: “We would have liked to have closed that window completely. That is one of the things we did not achieve in this contract and something we will be working on going forward. The important thing is that we got jurisdiction in new media, we got jurisdiction in the Internet and we got a percentage of the distributors’ gross. These were our major goals and we achieved those.” (Inside Cable News, February 11th 2008) In the third year of the new deal, the residual payable would be 2% of distributor’s gross, However distributor’s gross is fixed at a maximum of 40 thousand dollars for one-hour programs and 20 thousand dollars for half-hours, which actually results in a fixed residual of $800 for hour long shows or $400 for half hour shows. (Digital Media Law, February 21st 2008), As part of the deal the AMPTP and Networks would increase funding for this programme to: $225,000 for year one of the MBA; $150,000 for year 2; and $150,000 for year 3. (WGA Deal summary) The new deal also featured provisions for Transparency; the agreement specifies that studios and networks would have to provide the Guild with new media contracts and distribution statements, without deletions, and usage data. New media residuals based on transactions which happen between different branches of the same business would have to be based on the fair market value.

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However these concessions may sound many elements of the new deal were notable by their absence, the issue of jurisdiction over reality and animation writers had been dropped in January (TVoholic.com, January 23rd 2008), WGAE head Patric Verrone commented on the exclusion of animation and reality TV writers; “We certainly heard from them and it was a heartbreaking thing for me as an animation writer…Those writers are more or less the sweatshop writers in this industry and our hope going forward is that we can improve that situation and get coverage from them.” (Inside Cable News, February 11th 2008) The proposal to double DVD residuals seemed to have been taken off the table as early as November when it was provisionally removed by the WGA. These major concessions coupled with a very small raise for writers working for basic cable, mean the guild had to pay dearly to win its fight for jurisdiction over the internet. The small rise for basic cable writers is unfortunate considering how much more scripted material is used on cable when compared to network broadcasts which are more prone to rely on reality productions. (PaidContent.org, February 9th 2008) On February the 10th the guild initiated a 48 hour vote for guild members on a motion to end the strike. On the 12th WGAE president Patric Verrone announced that 92.5% of members voted to end the strike. On February the 26th another vote was held and approximately 93% of the guilds members voted to accept the new 3 year contract. The next day Verrone and Michael Winship were interviewed on Fox business news, Winship addressed concerns that distributors would simple not repeat programs after the 17 day window has expired;

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“I think that they will (repeat the shows) because they’ll recognize the value of those programs being on beyond that window.” With the gory details of the strike and its eventual resolution behind us we can examine the success of the strike. To do this we’ll need to consider a number of aspects; in moral terms many members felt that the strike was worthwhile in securing social justice for writers by getting WGA jurisdiction over new media. When based upon this principal the strike worked and the WGA represented writer’s interests well. In a New York Times article Tony Gilroy, the writer and director of “Michael Clayton,” expressed what many beleaguered writers felt about the strike. “As writers and directors, we have our nose in the tent for real for the first time…. …. There are question marks about how it will be implemented, but there is no one who can argue that the strike was not necessary. We would never be in the position we are without it. Anybody who says the strike was a bad idea is dead wrong.” (New York times, February 12, 2008) However this is just one aspect of the strike, in financial terms the strike had no winners. In a Newsweek article just after the strike S.Mark Young who is a business professor at the University of Southern California predicted the loss to the economy of California to be 3.5 billion dollars; “We know restaurants have lost business, laundry services are hurting, limo drivers aren't driving nearly as much. Also, the Milken study assumed the Screen Actor's Guild would

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also strike. They haven't. So, taking that into consideration, after almost four months, we're looking at somewhere around $3.5 billion.”(Newsweek, February the 13th 2008) Young’s comments about job opportunities also seem to indicate bad news for writers as well as other production staff, who often get a lot of their work from ‘pilot season’. He suggested that major networks would be reconsidering how they'll select programming for the all important ‘fall season’ where new shows are presented. Historically, there's a pilot season that goes on for the first four months of the year where initial ‘pilot’ episodes of the programs are made and tested with audiences. It’s an expensive process and one which typically requires all the same crew and budget as a normal episode. Young indicated that because of the strike the major networks would start to ask for shorter lower budget pilots; “In some cases they'll call for demos, where you use existing sets, and [shoot just] 10 to 15 minutes instead of the full 22 minutes that a sitcom runs. If you begin to cut pilots by 50 percent, right out of the gate a lot of these folks that would normally be trying to write for pilots are not going to have that opportunity anymore. And once it's gone it could be a permanent change in the landscape. So those folks are going to be out of work” (Newsweek, February the 13th 2008) It can be argued that the strike enabled the guild to demonstrate after nearly 20 years that it was capable of striking, showing a united front to producers, and establishing jurisdiction in new media which the guild can expand upon, it can also be said that if the guild were not willing to strike they may have lost a lot more. However only history will tell how good or bad the deal the writers got after 3 months of strikes, both in the way that new media

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develops as a monetised distribution system in the next few year and in the strength of the deal the WGA can get when contracts expire in 2010 and negotiations start again. Word count: 7800

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BBC News, February 13th 2008, Q&A Hollywood writers strike http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7092571.stm

New York Times, February 12th 2008, Writers vote to end strike, Michael Cieply http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/business/media/12cnd-strike.html?_r=1

Bloomberg, February 13th 2008 Hollywood Writers Return to Work After Ending Strike, Michael White and Andy Fixmer http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aKdwR9oC54WM

Multimedia and Entertainment Law Online News, January 22, 2008, Film/TV Business: Writers' Strike Pt. 2, Howie Cockrill http://beatblog.typepad.com/melon/2008/01/filmtv-busine-1.html

Variety, December 16th 2007, WGA seeks to avoid AMPTP: Writers try one on one talks http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117977822.html?categoryid=2821&cs=1

A Brief History: A look back at how the WGAE came to be. http://www.wgaeast.org/index.php?id=318&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=499&tx_ttnews% 5BbackPid%5D=109

Historical timeline of the WGAW

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http://www.wga.org/history/timeline.html

CBS News, November 25th 2007, A writers tale of picket lines past, Mark Evanier http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/20/opinion/main3528835.shtml

New York Times, April 20th 2004, Studios Rush To Cash In On DVD Boom; Swelling Demand for Disks Alters Hollywood's Arithmetic, Sharon Waxman http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/20/movies/studios-rush-cash-dvd-boom-swellingdemand-for-disks-alters-hollywood-s.html

New York Times, august 8th 1988, Writers ratify contract, ending longest strike, Aljean Harmetz http://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/08/movies/writers-ratify-contract-ending-longeststrike.html

New York Times, September 1st 2007, To strike or not? Hollywood’s Next Drama http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/01/movies/01labo.html?_r=4&oref=slogin&oref=slogin &oref=slogin

Los Angeles Times, October 20th 2007, Writers guild votes 90% in favour of strike, Richard Verrier http://articles.latimes.com/2007/oct/20/business/fi-ballot20

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USA Today, 8th October 2006, Picket line, Not Catwalk, at ‘Top Model’ http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-08-10-reality-tv-strike_x.htm

Multimedia and Entertainment Law Online News, January 21, 2008, Film/TV Business: Writers' Strike Pt. 1, Howie Cockrill http://beatblog.typepad.com/melon/2008/01/filmtv-business.html#more

Variety, November 2nd 2007, Writers call for strike: Union, Producers to resume talks Sunday, Cynthia Littleton, Dave McNary http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117975256.html?categoryid=10&cs=1

Variety, December 19th 2006, Studios brace for life without scribes, Dave McNary http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117956115.html?categoryid=18&cs=1

WGA Contract 2007 Proposals http://www.wga.org/contract_07/proposalsfull2.pdf

Broadcasting and Cable, 5th November 2007, Strike Begins: WGA to Picket Monday after Sunday-Night talks break off, Ben Grossman & John Eggerton http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/111060STRIKE_BEGINS_WGA_to_Picket_Monday_After_Sunday_Night_Talks_Break_Off.php

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Los Angeles Times, November 1st 2007, show tracker: what you’re watching: a line in the sand http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2007/11/their-entire-st.html

Writers Guild of America, November the 4th 2007, The latest word – Negotiations update http://www.wga.org/subpage_member.aspx?id=2540

Variety, November the 9th 2007, Writers stage big rally, Dave McNary http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117975682.html?categoryid=2821&cs=1

Youtube.com, November the 9th 2007, WGA strikes! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPXI5vKzQys

Media Daily News, December 24th 2007, Report Puts Another Digit On TV Writers Strike, But Main Issue Is Digital, David Goetzl http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=73247

RedOrbit, 21st of November 2007, Various labor unions join WGA rally http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1152529/various_labor_unions_join_wga_rally/i ndex.html

La Weekly, November 22nd 2007, Secret Agent Men, Nikki Finke http://www.laweekly.com/2007-11-22/news/secret-agent-men/

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Variety, November 16th, Writers, studios agree to talk, Dave McNary http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117976211.html?categoryid=2821&cs=1&nid=2854

CBC News, 16th of December 2007, U.S screenwriters guild to negotiate with individual companies http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2007/12/16/writers-union-companies.html?ref=rss

Youtube.com, February the 12th 2008, Writers vote to end WGA strike http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3GDcoBonr4

Youtube.com, November the 5th 2007, why we fight, WGA America http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ55Ir2jCxk

Variety, February 5th 2008, WGA schedules Saturday meeting, Dave McNary http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117980231.html?categoryid=2821&cs=1

Variety, February 3rd 2008, Strike: an end in sight?, Dave McNary http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117980100.html?categoryid=2821&cs=1&nid=2565

New York Times, February 2nd 2008, Progress toward ending writers strike, Micheal Cieply http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/business/media/02cnd-writers.html?_r=1

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BBC News, Tuesday 13th march 2008, Viacom will sue youtube for $1bn http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6446193.stm

Huffington Post, December 27th, 2007, WGA Strike primer: Alec Baldwin swings and misses http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-j-elisberg/wga-strike-primer-alec-_b_78424.html

UPI.com, January 22nd 2008, WGA, Producers set to begin informal talks http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2008/01/22/WGA-producers-set-to-begininformal-talks/UPI-98791201048779/

Inside Cable News, February 11th 2008, FBN on the WGA settlement http://insidecable.blogsome.com/2008/02/11/fbn-on-the-wga-settlement/

Guardian.co.uk, 30th January 2008, Writers Guild to put words in Grammy presenters mouths, Sean Michaels http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/jan/30/film.news

TV by the numbers, February 14th 2008, the “strike effect” through February 4-10, 2008, Bill Gorman. http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/02/14/the-strike-effect-through-february-4-10-2008/2666

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TVoholic.com, January 23rd 2008, WGA takes animation and reality jurisdiction off the table! http://tvoholic.com/news/wga-takes-animation-and-reality-jurisdiction-off-the-table/

Huffington Post , December 19th 2007, WGA Strike: A more optimistic scenario, Jonathan Handel http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-handel/wga-strike-a-more-optim_b_77615.html

Digital Media Law, December 17th 2007, WGA Strike: How to restart the talks, and why, Jonathan Handel http://digitalmedialaw.blogspot.com/2007/12/wga-strike-how-to-restart-talks-and-why.html

BBC News, December 21st 2007, Daily show to return in January http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7155335.stm

BBC News, February 13th 2008, Writers prepare to return to work. Peter Bowes http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7242232.stm

Mock AMPTP website, http://www.amptp.com/

Official AMPTP website http://www.amptp.org/

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NPR, December 21st 2007, Daily show to resume Despite writers strike http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17494992

Youtube.com 24th January 2008, Daily Show & Colbert Report Writers in Mock WGA Debate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-xU-4dI1JM

Campus Progress, January 24th 2008, State of their union, Bobby Allyn, Zach Pentel, and Brendan Polmer http://campusprogress.org/fieldreport/2440/video-state-of-their-union BBC News, November 13th 2007, producers speak out over strike http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7092201.stm

The Daily Show, January 7th 2008, introducing a daily show http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=147108&title=Introducing-ADaily-Show

BBC News, November 22nd 2007, Striking US Writers Get creative, Neil Smith http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7105994.stm

Youtube.com, November 14th 2007, Not the daily show, with some writer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzRHlpEmr0w

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PaidContent.org, February 9th 2008, WGA tentative Agreement: language on new media http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-wga-tentative-agreement-language-on-new-media/

Digital Media Law, February 21st 2008, WGA deal details, Jonathan Handel http://digitalmedialaw.blogspot.com/2008/02/wga-deal-analysis.html

WGA.org, February 21st 2008, Tent Summary PDF, http://www.wga.org/contract_07/wga_tent_summary.pdf

Variety, February 10th 2009, Industry vets reflect on WGA strike, Dave McNary http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117999950.html?categoryid=1066&cs=1

New York Times, February 12th 2008, Who won the writers strike?, David Carr http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/arts/television/12strike.html?_r=1

BBC News, November the 3rd 2007, Strike set to silence talk shows http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7074306.stm

Newsweek, February the 13th 2008, Striking numbers, Jennifer Ordonez http://www.newsweek.com/id/110892

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