Striking writers and studios are talking again
Los Angeles, January 23, 2008 The announcement came the day nominations were announced for the
Academy Awards, raising the prospect that the Feb. 24 ceremony
might proceed without the threatened union picketing that derailed
the Golden Globes.
In a goodwill gesture toward another big ceremony Tuesday, the
guild said it had decided against picketing the Feb. 10 Grammy
Awards.
Recording Academy President Neil Portnow said in a statement
that his organization was pleased with the decision and that the
awards "will focus solely on the great music, artists and
charitable work resulting from our show."
An interim agreement allowing writers to work on the show would
be welcome and might yet occur given the "fluid situation,"
Portnow told The Associated Press. But the performance-driven
Grammys can still be "a complete show" without it, he said.
Contract talks between the guild and studios broke down Dec. 7
after the companies demanded that a half-dozen issues be dropped,
including calls for the unionization of reality and animation
shows. The guild rejected the demands.
The guild agreed Tuesday to withdraw those two issues to "make
absolutely clear our commitment to bringing a speedy conclusion to
negotiations," union executives Michael Winship and Patric Verrone
said in an e-mail letter to members.
But organizing efforts for guild representation in those genres
will continue and will be discussed more fully in the next two
weeks, said Winship and Verrone, presidents of the East Coast and
West Coast guilds, respectively.
Compensation for movie and TV projects distributed over the
Internet are considered to be the central contract issues. Both sides said a media blackout would be in place during the
discussions.
On Tuesday, guild leaders met with studio chiefs to help get the
negotiations back on track, according to a person familiar with the
bargaining strategy who was not authorized to publicly comment and
asked for anonymity.
The new approach mirrors a series of meetings held by the
Directors Guild of America and studio heads before they began
formal talks and reached a tentative deal last week after less than
a week of bargaining.
The writers strike started Nov. 5. When the directors guild
announced its deal with the alliance last week, studio heads urged
the writers to join informal talks that could lead to the
resumption of their negotiations.
In its deal with producers, the directors union reached
agreement on the new-media compensation issues that also were key
to their members, including compensation for movie and TV projects
delivered over the Internet.
The studio executives said the deal established a precedent for
the industry's creative talent to "participate financially in
every emerging area of new media."
The directors won several key contract points, including union
jurisdiction over programs produced for distribution on the
Internet and payments for downloaded TV programs and movies based
on a percentage of the distributor's gross.
But the writers guild was seeking 2.5 percent of such grosses -
about three times what the directors' deal provides.
Interim deals made by the writers guild with several individual
production companies provide 2 percent compensation on downloaded
films and 2.5 percent on TV programs, the guild has said.
AP Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody contributed to this report.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)