After four days of secret talks in the much hyped latest round of negotiations in the writers strike in Hollywood, the WGA (Writers Guild of America) and the AMPTP (Association of Motion Picture & Television Producers) are still nowhere near settling on the issue of residuals relating to DVD sales and Internet downloads.
The month long strike has crippled production in Hollywood, with sitcoms, dramas and even feature films put on hold. Television networks have turned to reality programmes to fill the gap in their schedules.
According to Studio Briefing, the AMPTP (which comprises studio bosses and executives) proposed a “New Economic Partnership’ whereby writers would receive more than $130m in additional compensation over three years. The WGA claims that this would mean writers would receive a single fixed payment of less than $250 for a year’s reuse of an hour-long programme streamed on the Internet and nothing at all for streamed theatrical movies. In the WGA’s proposal, the studios would pay $151m over three years.
Talks are scheduled to resume on 4 December.
