“The Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America, West and the
Council of the Writers Guild of America, East, acting upon the
authority granted them by the members, have voted unanimously to call a
strike effective 12:01 AM, Monday, November 5.
As many of you know, three weeks ago the Members of the Writers
Guild of America voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if we could
not reach a fair and reasonable deal with the Alliance of Motion
Picture and Television Producers.
To avoid this outcome, we have been engaged in negotiations for more than three months to resolve our differences.
Over that time, we dropped nine of our proposals in the interest of reaching a resolution.
However, the studios have 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.
In recent years, these conglomerates have enjoyed tremendous
financial success off the backs of literally tens of thousands of
people – including members of the creative community. One part of that
community is the writers, whose work serves as the blueprint for
programs and movies.
And, although the industry’s pie is continually growing, our share continues to shrink.
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. This past Wednesday, the AMPTP called a halt to
talks by demanding that the Guild accept the extension of the current
DVD formula to new media.
This is not an action that anyone takes lightly. But it slowly
became apparent that the studios are not prepared to deal fairly with
writers and the rest of the talent community.
The companies have refused to agree that writers must receive fair
compensation when the writers’ work is broadcast on the Internet or
downloaded on iPods and cell phones.
The companies are seeking to take advantage of new technology to
drastically reduce the residual income that sustains middle class
writers and keeps them in the business. Their proposals would destroy
the very pool of creative talent that is the basis of their immense
revenues and profits.
Twenty years ago, the companies forced writers to accept an unfairly
low residual for home videos so that the market could grow. And, even
though those markets did grow to become an extremely profitable revenue
stream, the residuals never did.
The fact is there was no need for conflict on this issue – the
companies are doing very well in the marketplace. As the chairman of
one of the Big Six media conglomerates recently stated, the Internet is
a source of additional income. Television and film sales to the
Internet have not to date cannibalized viewers from broadcast and
cable. And the economics of digital distribution are even more
favorable than the economics of DVDs. Digital has no hard media costs,
no boxes, no marginal extra shipping and handling. The only substantial
economic issue for Internet reuse is the residual payment to directors,
actors, and writers.
That is why our position is simple and fair: when a writer’s work
generates revenue for the companies, that writer deserves to be paid.
For the creative community, for the city of Los Angeles, and for all
viewers who have come to appreciate our work product, we are sorry that
the studios have put us where we are.
We are committed to seeing this through and are willing to engage in any further discussions if the studios so desire.”
