Print

Mail

wiki links

Writers starting to lose money with strike, studios say

Hollywood studios said on Friday that striking writers have now lost more in salary and benefits than they had hoped to gain by walking off the job.

In the message posted on its Web site and YouTube, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers claimed losses by writers in the eight-week strike have exceeded US$151 million.

That is the price tag the Writers Guild of America put on its proposed three-year deal with studios.

"The strike continues because the union's leaders are focused on jurisdictional issues that would expand their own power, at the expense of the new media issues that working writers care most about," the alliance said in a statement.

Compensation for work distributed via the Internet and other digital media has been central to the contract dispute. The guild also has called for unionization of writers working on reality shows and animation.

The union responded by saying the contract proposals by the big studios would cause writers even more economic harm in the future.

"To sidestep this fact, they erroneously claim we are focused on other issues," the guild said in a statement. "The conglomerates are responsible for creating the economic havoc. They should put their energies into making a fair deal with writers rather than issuing misleading statements."

The strike that began on Nov. 5 has also been costly for other industry workers. Production has been shut down on dozens of TV shows, with losses for crew members exceeding US$250 million, the alliance message said.

The alliance Web site features a constantly updated ticker with the studios' estimate of writers' losses.

Talks broke down on Dec. 7 after the union rejected an alliance demand that a half-dozen guild proposals be taken off the table, including jurisdiction over reality and animation writers.
This story has been viewed 1187 times.