the writers back to work? Options

[supershannon77]

I dont know if anyone was following the writer stike but i was here and there looks like we will be getting our shows back soon enough....Just in time for Eriks new tv. Its a lot to read hope the deal goes through.

Writers, producers reach tentative deal
By Liza Foreman

The Hollywood Reporter

UPDATED 5:33 p.m. CET Feb. 9

BERLIN -- Striking WGA members could be back to work by Monday if a tentative agreement, reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, is embraced by members in key meetings scheduled for later Saturday.

A four-page summary of the agreement was e-mailed to the WGA's 10,500 membership at 3 a.m. Saturday ahead of the meetings in New York and Los Angeles.

The WGAE is set to hold a meeting to review the tentative pact with members at 2 p.m. ET at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in New York, and the WGAW is meeting with its members at 7 p.m. PT. The WGAE council and WGAW board were set to meet Sunday, potentially to approve the pact and end the more than three-month writers pact.


The e-mail from WGA West president Patric Verrone and WGA East president Michael Winship, said the deal "protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery."

A summary was posted on the WGA's Web site early Saturday of the deal, which covers the resumption of work through May 1, 2011. According to reports, lawyers were still fine-tuning the language late into Friday evening when a breakthrough was reached on key issues involving the Internet and pay TV.

The terms are very similar to terms in the recently reached DGA agreement now out for ratification by directors, with the notable exception of the writers getting sweeter deals on TV content that is streamed over the Internet.

In the third year of the proposed three-year WGA contract, writers would get a straight 2% of the distributor's gross on such content in all years that the content is streams. That's likely to be a bit more lucrative than the roughly $1,200 payment writers will get on such content in the first year of stream during the first two years of the contract. The DGA has the $1,200 first-year streaming compensation written into all three years of its tentative pact.

Like the DGA, the WGA has a 17-day window placed on all streamed content, during which studios can stream content for free without making payments to writers.

Key points in the deal include:

-- An increase in minimum rates of 3.5% each year. Exceptions include network primetime rates and daytime serial script fees, which will increase 3% per year. Program fees and upset price increase once by 3% in the second year; and clip fees increase once by 5% in the third year.

-- Made-for pay TV residuals: An annual residual payments' increase from $3,000 to $3,500 for a half-hour program and from $5,000 to $6,000 for an hourlong program.

-- Residuals of 1.2% of distributor's gross receipts for download rentals where the viewer pays for limited new media access.

-- Residuals for ad-supported streaming of feature films produced after July 1, 1971, payable at 1.2% of distributor's gross receipts.

-- Television ad-supported streaming (library) for programs produced after 1977, payable at 2% of distributors' gross receipts.

-- For download sales (electronic sell-through) where the viewer pays for permanent use of a program, residuals are to be paid at 0.36% of distributor's gross receipts for the first 100,000 downloads of a television program and the first 50,000 downloads of a feature. After that, residuals are paid at 0.7% of distributor's gross receipts for television programs and 0.65% for feature films.

-- Ad-supported streaming of television programs payable at 2% of distributors' gross receipts one year from the end of an initial streaming window.

-- Residual payments for network primetime where in the first and second years of a contract, after the initial window, for network primetime television programs, a fixed residual of 3% of the residual base ("applicable minimum") will be paid for each of up to two 26-week periods. The agreement also calls for in the third year of this contract that 2% of the distributor's gross formula is applied immediately after the initial streaming window.

-- Residual payment (all other programs): After the initial streaming window, a fixed residual of 3% of the residual base (the "applicable minimum") is paid for each of up to two 26-week periods in the first two years of this contract. In the third year of this contract, the payment rate rises to 3.5% of the residual base.

-- The agreement also covered a definition for fair-market value on new-media residuals; access to information, clips and promotions; and health and pension fund rates.

The Internet residuals agreement stipulates that initial compensation covers writing services and 13 weeks of availability in new media when the viewer does not pay and 26 of availability in new media when the viewer pays.

Industry players at the Berlin International Film Festival said Saturday that they had seen a deal being reached as a given for the past several days.

"I personally had bet on (the strike being settled) next week, but this is great, of course, it means projects that we have been talking about for a long time will now pick up speed," said Henning Molfenter, head of production at Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures. "The strike slowed everything down, meant projects that were in development didn't progress. So we are happy it's over."

For more information, visit WGA.org. and UnitedHollywood.com