Negotiations are underway; so are plans to picket

With a strike deadline looming, negotiators for Hollywood's film and TV writers and major studios remain hunkered down in last-minute talks to avert a debilitating walkout that would begin Monday.

The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are making a last-ditch effort to reach a deal. The two sides sat down at 10 a.m. Sunday morning, and talks have continued into the late afternoon. Negotiations between the parties broke off last week when the writers' three-year contract expired.

Negotiations are at an impasse largely over sharing revenue from DVDs and shows distributed on the Internet and other new media platforms. Elsewhere, the WGA was organizing efforts to get members out on the picket lines early Monday morning. The strike is set to begin at 12:01 a.m. Monday,  although picketers aren't scheduled to fan out across the county until 9 a.m.

Guild members are being asked to sign up for a shift beginning at 9 a.m. or 1 p.m. and will be given signs, chants and red T-shirts emblazoned with "United We Stand" when they arrive on site, captains said. Each member was expected to picket four hours every day. Pickets were also planned for New York.

"These are some of the most important issues writers have faced in many years," said Dan E. Fesman, a writer for "NCIS." "If we don't get these protections now, then we don't know what our futures are going to be."

"It's the middle class versus the CEOs -- maybe the middle class can win one this time," said Sivert Glarum, who has written for shows such as "Rules of Engagement" and "King of the Hill."

More news on the strike

Richard Verrier

Photo credit: Associated Press

Comments

[Michael Snyder]

Those who are tuned into the financial news may feel Wall St. is actually looking forward to this strike. I'm a bit gob-struck by how much studio executives behavior resembles the very people they've made a crusade of prosecuting these past few years. Can anybody tell me the essential difference between "file sharing" copyrighted material and re-selling a product into a market you haven't compensated the originator for? The MPPA wants to be paid per play, but they want to pay but a pittance; if at all for the product that produces their wealth. ( Somehow I knew we would never recover from Clinton's definition of sex.)
The MPPA has had their own way with their divide and conquer strategy of staggered contracts since the last depression. They're betting by the time the DGA contract is due the WGA and DGA will be at each other's throats. Come time for the Teamster then the IATSE's contracts they'll take a pay cut just to go back to work. This is Wall St. at its' best.
Meantime the housing market will continue to tank along with the dollar. More production will "run away" from L A further hampering recovery efforts after the strike. For those who think that has no effect on them, I'd check the numbers. That little cafe you love on the corner may go under because of this strike. Every mom & pop shop lost takes us closer to living in "Wally's World", a homogenized America dependent on Chinese goods and credit from our Landlords in Dubai.
Come Monday we'll see how little backbone Entertainment Unions have and how quickly they'll sell each-other "down the river." Although there's no love lost among the members of the MPPA they've only got to head for the golf course to win this one.

[Dan]

NBC is now reporting today's talks came to nothing and the strike is still on for tomorrow.