Why won't AMPTP settle with WGA and what will happen if they don't?!
Question: Will there never be another contract? Will more statistics pop-up that lead to more negotiations?
These two sides need to get their 'acts' together. I don't want to watch reality tv all the time come Spring '08.
Answers: Will there never be another contract? Will more statistics pop-up that lead to more negotiations?
These two sides need to get their 'acts' together. I don't want to watch reality tv all the time come Spring '08.
The last major WGA strike lasted 22 weeks and supposedly cost the industry about $500m. There's no telling how long this one would last or what the effects would be.
I think the door's still cracked for negotiation, but the AMPTP's refusal to deal with the DVD/Home Video formula and internet downloads in any meaningful way is the main problem. It didn't help that the AMPTP's opening serve (since discarded) was that writers give up residuals until a project has recouped its costs. Since --- according to studio accounting, anyway --- even THE SIMPSONS is in the red, it's pretty easy to see how the WGA could see through that and get pretty riled up. Residuals are the cornerstone of many writers' incomes.
As to the two sides "getting their act together," I think one of them already has. I'm proud of the WGA for standing firm, and strike or no strike (no strike would mean that writers would continue to work under the existing contract), I hope to see both sides hammer out something amenable by Christmas.