What's this "2007 Writers Guild of America strike" thing?!
Question: The Writers Guild of America is a union representing professional Hollywood writers - including all the fictional TV shows and films you enjoy, as well as some game shows too.
The contract they had with the AMPTP (Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers) expired on Halloween. This contract stipulates some basic things - the base pay level for writers on a given type of project, how much they are paid per TV showing or DVD sale - and notably lacked any provision for how writers are compensated for internet use, since the contract was drawn up some years ago.
Unlike, say, book authors of musical lyricists, screenwriters do not own their material. Once it is sold and turned into a show or movie, they lose all rights. One way that the Guild negotiated for writers to continue to share in the profits is the payment of residuals every time the property is used. So when a movie re-airs on TV, or sells a DVD, the writer gets a cut. (At this point, a tiny cut - on a $20 DVD the writer gets about 4 cents.)
Since the current contract expired, the Writers Guild authorized a strike and they walked out. That means no writers are working on TV shows, or writing or revising movie script. They are trying to get, among other things, a bigger cut of DVD profits - and trying to get any payment at all for internet use. When you buy something off iTunes, or watch it on a network site, the writer gets nothing.
The AMPTP, meanwhile, is acting like this Internets Thingy is way too new for them to know if any money can be made...so how can writers ask for a cut of the profits?
Basically, the WGA has walked out and are continuing now almost two months of a strike asking for a small but fair cut of profits and proceeds from DVD sales and Internet usage. The AMPTP has refused to negotiate in any way, basically, and are continuing to play hardball as we enter almost eight weeks without new movie scripts, new TV shows or payment of any kind for any screenwriters...
Answers: The Writers Guild of America is a union representing professional Hollywood writers - including all the fictional TV shows and films you enjoy, as well as some game shows too.
The contract they had with the AMPTP (Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers) expired on Halloween. This contract stipulates some basic things - the base pay level for writers on a given type of project, how much they are paid per TV showing or DVD sale - and notably lacked any provision for how writers are compensated for internet use, since the contract was drawn up some years ago.
Unlike, say, book authors of musical lyricists, screenwriters do not own their material. Once it is sold and turned into a show or movie, they lose all rights. One way that the Guild negotiated for writers to continue to share in the profits is the payment of residuals every time the property is used. So when a movie re-airs on TV, or sells a DVD, the writer gets a cut. (At this point, a tiny cut - on a $20 DVD the writer gets about 4 cents.)
Since the current contract expired, the Writers Guild authorized a strike and they walked out. That means no writers are working on TV shows, or writing or revising movie script. They are trying to get, among other things, a bigger cut of DVD profits - and trying to get any payment at all for internet use. When you buy something off iTunes, or watch it on a network site, the writer gets nothing.
The AMPTP, meanwhile, is acting like this Internets Thingy is way too new for them to know if any money can be made...so how can writers ask for a cut of the profits?
Basically, the WGA has walked out and are continuing now almost two months of a strike asking for a small but fair cut of profits and proceeds from DVD sales and Internet usage. The AMPTP has refused to negotiate in any way, basically, and are continuing to play hardball as we enter almost eight weeks without new movie scripts, new TV shows or payment of any kind for any screenwriters...
The writers of American entertainment have formed a union, so what one does they all have to do.
Right now a few of them have decided that they aren't getting paid enough, so all of them are refusing to work, as a flock, until they all get paid more money (or whatever it is they are complaining about). If one guy stopped working because he didn't like something, it wouldn't be a big deal, so they all conspired to stop at the same time, so the companies will listen to them. It's kind of like a school walk-out.
A union is when a group of people who have the same job ban together, and when they all stop working at the same time, the companies they work for are forced to do what they want, like pay them more, or give them better health insurance, etc.