Producers Back Down as Guild Ramps Up

If the negotiations between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) were a game of chicken, then the AMPTP just hit the brakes by taking the “Residual Payment Point” proposal off the table — which would have withheld residuals until production costs had been recouped — just days before the strike authorization vote is due to be announced.

AMPTP President Nick Counter remarked in a press release that the proposal was removed — not because it didn’t make economic sense — but because the organization decided that no agreement could be reached over a contract in which it was included. He also vowed to keep pushing for the proposal to be included in future contracts:

[T]he changing economics of an industry confronted by rapid and still-evolving technological change, shifts in audience taste and viewing habits, and the emergence of competitors in new media whose cost structure bears no resemblance to our own warrant the continued pursuit of this proposal.

“We welcome that, and hope it means the companies are ready to begin serious negotiations,” said WGA spokesperson Gregg Mitchell in the official response, which called on members to maintain their collective “resolve” in order to win more concessions on the rollbacks proposed by the studios.

One area where the AMPTP will hold the line is with respect to the residual increases the WGA is demanding for DVDs, VHS tapes and digital downloads. The genesis of the demands was a spat that developed last year over digital download rates where networks wanted to pay the lower, home-video rates instead of the higher, pay-TV rates. Members met with some success, securing the pay-TV rate forLost mobisodes.

Past Precedent

The low home-video rate was negotiated in the 1980s, when studios claimed that the technology was unproven, according to Variety. It’s the same stance the studios are taking on online distribution today, selling rosy stories of growth to investors while crying poverty to guild negotiators. And it explains why the WGA is concerned that production cost accounting in a profit-based residual system will stall negotiations. (WGA member Terry George, a member of the negotiating committee, characterized studio accounting as ““beyond mafia bookkeeping.“)

The WGA’s framing of this dispute as an “us (the writers) vs. them (the distributors)” struggle seems to suggest that a potentially egalitarian venue such as the developing world of online media could be an effective alternative outlet for writers to continue to work. However, instead of encouraging writers to be an active presence in the development of new broadcast media, the WGA seems intent on stopping writing of all kinds. Last week, the WGA broadened their ban to include “new media”, dashing the hopes of a flood of talented writers who are coming to online video at a crucial moment in the medium’s development.

While the WGA would want to avoid AMPTP-affiliated new media projects, banning guild and non-guild members from writing for all new media seems to be an attempt to carpet bomb an entire mode of expression and communication. “You cannot wait for [the WGA] to extend their power over the Internet. They must not be allowed to increase their jurisdiction,” William Richert, WGA member and plaintiff in a suit against the guild, told NewTeeVee in a phone interview. “We’ve got to keep our right to speak. We’ve got to keep our right to put our work and thoughts out there.”

The results of the strike authorization ballot are due to be announced on Friday. Anything less than a 90 percent count in favor could be seen as a lack of solidarity. And while a strike might be an opportunity for Hollywood’s new competitors online, the WGA’s efforts to wrangle in new media mavens by demanding a work stoppage by even non-members in the online space could backfire by fomenting antipathy toward the guild amongst the tech savvy — a group not exactly predisposed to favoring organized labor.

Additional reporting by Craig Rubens.