The DGA has announced that is has struck a new deal with the AMPTP which includes doubling the DVD residual for all Internet Downloads (such as iTunes), and a new residual for Internet Streaming (such as NBC.com).
While the internet streaming residual is likely lower than what WGA members were hoping for (2 payments of $600 -- first after 17 days, and again after 26 weeks), it is important, I think, to put this into perspective. This deal would give WGA jurisdiction over the internet, which has to be the number one concern at this stage. It also gives the Guild payments based on Distributor's Gross, which was key.
The most important thing to remember is that WGA could sign this deal now, and revisit the actual dollar amounts in three years. Hell, they could even strike again! (Note to WGA -- just because the previous strike was 20 years ago doesn't mean you HAVE to wait for 7 more contracts before using the Strike Threat Leverage again).
My initial reaction (which I'm sure is no surprise to anyone) is that this deal appears to be a good one. It is lower than what the Writers hoped for, I'm sure.
The question is, are they ready to stay out for another 6 months in order to get an extra $1200 or so per episode from the Studios?
I hope not.
11 comments:
here, here! good job BTL! i've loved all your updates and comments during this mess. so now.......listen up, all you writers: 6 days vs. 73 days. do everybody a favor and take the medicine.
From the amptp site today:
We hope that this agreement with DGA will signal the beginning of the end of this extremely difficult period for our industry. Today, we invite the Writers Guild of America to engage with us in a series of informal discussions similar to the productive process that led us to a deal with the DGA to determine whether there is a reasonable basis for returning to formal bargaining. We look forward to these discussions, and to the day when our entire industry gets back to work.
OK WGA they are ready to talk, are you ready to get back in there and try and deal NOW?
So what does distibutor's gross mean? Are they going to get a percentage of what Apple makes when a movie is sold through iTunes?
I'm becoming quite concerned about the WGA reactions I have seen so far. Most of them have been negative and some are extremely hostile. Mark Evanier's site now includes his preference for the strike to continue, presumably while he pursues his other careers in teaching and writing. The other hardliners are already discussing the DGA deal as a massive rollback that they have no intention of discussing. If this opinion holds sway with the WGA leadership, then we're not out of the woods yet. I truly hope that the extremists do not win the day on this one.
Hey Kev -
I would not get too worried about the crazed posters yet.
I'm pretty sure that the DGA knew the minimum requirements that the WGA leaders were looking for going in as they did consult with them before going to formal talks. They would not have settled so quick if they thought that the WGA negs would reject it. As far as we know the calls have already been made to sit back down.
The fever from the line will be tempered by the call to settle from the leaders. A ratifiacation vote by the WGA members could be close, but I think most of them just want to get back to work.
Plus a rejection would be a image nightmare for the WGA at this point.
BTL 399
The more I think about this, the more convinced I am that the Strike That Never Should Have Been really is coming to an end.
There will likely be some heated, even bitter, debate within the WGA about this deal, but in the end this is a contract which I believe they will be more than comfortable with.
Yes, there will be hardliners who will rail against this, but it will likely carry the endorsement of both Verrone and Young (as well as the rest of the NegCom), plus feature writers and showrunners will likely form a coalition (if necessary) to persuade a yea vote or risk a tide of FiCore defections.
It's not a slam-dunk that this is over, but I'd say it's got an 85% chance of a quick yea vote in both the DGA and WGA.
btl, I hope you're right. We'll know when the WGA issues a statement after they review the contract. I personally hope we hear something tomorrow, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't make any statement until next week. The tone of their initial response was not promising. It continues to restate WGA talking points rather than address the conciliatory tone the AMPTP was trying to bring to its request to reopen talks. I'm not convinced that Young and Verrone won't dismiss this as another 90% rollback, as several UH posters already have done.
I've also been seeing the sign in the hardline posts that could cause trouble - "If we've been out this long, the offer needs to be better than that." That's the sound of people who aren't ready to compromise, who are too polarized now to concede anything. If that emotion holds sway with the WGA leadership, we'll have the same situation as befell the June 16 offer back in 1988. (The WGA leadership recommended that the membership reject the offer, and the membership immediately did so, thus extending that strike an additional 2 months.) If that happens, I agree with you that we're looking at July or August before the sleigh ride stops.
Kevin,
I agree, the scariest reaction so far is that suddenly common refrain, "we didn't strike this long to get that deal."
First, the deal is hardly a stinker. The numbers aren't as high as the Writers wanted, but the jurisdiction and distributor's gross models are both huge wins.
Second, as I point out in the post "If This Deal Was On The Table In October", rudimentary economics tells us that the proper measure of continuing an action is not the price already paid, but the price yet to be paid.
In other words, what gains could the WGA get by rejecting this deal? And what are those gains worth today?
Is it worth sitting out for 6 more months to get a bump in streaming residuals, or is it better to work for three years, then threaten another walkout to get the same (or better) bump in residuals?
------
I'd like to note, too, that I posted a comment to that effect on the UH post about Agencies Conferring over the deal (Thursday, around 8:30pm).
The post was not published.
So the comments you are reading over there are more moderated than usual and probably do not reflect an accurate sample of UH readers, much less an accurate sample of WGA Members.
Robert,
Distributor's Gross refers to the money generated by the seller of the product.
So, yes, if the Writers negotiate a residual based on Distributor's Gross of Electronic Sell Thru, then their residual for iTunes Purchases would be based on the money Apple earns for selling the show.
Note that this does not mean that Apple would pay the money. The Studio still pays the Writer. But the check would be based on the gross receipts reported by Apple.
The idea is to keep the accounting above board.
Just checked the UH site to see if there had been any movement. They have their own analysis up, which is admittedly fairer than the responses they are getting. But the responses are actually getting scarier. One post from yesterday referred to ADs (my profession) as "interchangable drones", and one from today made another crack about ADs making a living by repeating the obvious ("we're cutting", "we're rolling", "camera reloads"). Once I recovered from that sting, I noted that out of, say 24 responses to their analysis, around 2 were fair and reasonable. The remaining 22 ranged from dismissing the deal out of hand to calling the deal a "trap" or a "turd" to some posts that went even farther with the hostility.
I remain quite concerned that this is the attitude that David Young and Patrick Verrone are bringing to their own response. Young's intransigence throughout this process (refusing to negotiate early, having a confrontation over chairs, gloating to the LA Times, refusing to compromise re animation and reality, etc) has encouraged the most hardline elements to harden their position. Verrone's public statements have been similarly obstinate. It's telling to me that Chernin chose not to call either of those guys and instead approached John Bowman.
I understand that the DGA negcomm was in contact with Young and Verrone, as well as with Alan Rosenberg, to at least have an idea of what the minimums were that the other guilds could live with. But the WGA behavior has not been consistent enough for me to rely on it. One minute, David Young tells the WGA membership that there will be no deal with Worldwide Pants as there's no upside to it. The next minute, he's celebrating the strategic victory of making a deal with them. One minute, the WGA is offering their "fair and reasonable" contract to anyone who wants it, like UA or Weinstein. The next minute, they're saying no to Dick Clark Prods and to AMPAS. One minute, the WGA tells the public that these side deals are new contracts that get the WGA everything they wanted. The next minute, the WGA tells its own membership these are not contracts so they don't get to vote on them. One minute, the WGA insists that it is simply waiting "with the rest of the whole town" for the AMPTP to come back to the table. The next minute, the WGA sends someone down to the LA Dept of Public Works on a doomed effort to block film permits. None of this behavior indicates a stable or reliable mindset. I think it's entirely possible that Young and Verrone gave one figure to the DGA, but after seeing the negative response they are likely to get from the hardliners, may choose to change their position to save face. None of their choices so far have done anything to prepare the WGA membership for the compromises they must make.
I hope that I'm mistaken here. I hope that the WGA decides they've done enough damage and that it's better to live to fight another day than go down like this.
Kevin said
"One post from yesterday referred to ADs (my profession) as "interchangable drones", and one from today made another crack about ADs making a living by repeating the obvious ("we're cutting", "we're rolling", "camera reloads")."
This is business as usual at United Hollywood and one of the reasons that I hate them as much as I do. They've shown a great deal of disrespect for those below the line from the very beginning. I'll pretty much always think they are scum from here on out.
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