Their contracts are up at the end of this month and the writers are looking ahead, trying not to get fleeced by the digital age.
Oh yes. I applaud their actions. It was years ago that I worked as a stringer for the local papers here in southern California. I was paid fairly, I guess, for the area, but when it came to their developing an online paper, I was handed a contract. Not only were they changing my fee scale (based on how many people I contacted for the piece--as if that was relevant to the 1500 words I submitted on a regular basis for the last EIGHT YEARS) but they also wanted to inform me in unequivocal language that I would receive no further compensation when it appeared online or in ANY OTHER MEDIA THEY DEEMED NECESSARY. Stuff that. I had no bargaining chip. Not only was I a freelancer where the fees were individually negotiated rather than going by a set and fair pay scale, but there is no reporter's guild as such to protect my interests. Writers in general have no guild. They can submit stories to magazines who pay them in magazine copies. It's a way to get into print but it's a sucky way. It's taking advantage of the fact that writers--indeed, most artists--need to produce, must. The Muse is a tireless slave driver.
But it doesn't mean we don't need monetary compensation any less than anyone else.
Anyway, the story from the LA Times reports:
...Studios have held the line on the union's other key demands, such as granting residuals for shows streamed over the Web free and giving writers a bigger cut of home video sales.
"A strike authorization vote is a pro forma tactic used by every union in the country, and usually the vote is overwhelmingly in favor of a strike," said Nick Counter, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
"We are not surprised with the outcome of this vote, given reports of how this election was conducted. Our focus is on negotiating a reasonable agreement with the WGA."
Writers have rallied behind a theme that might best be summed up by the Who's hit song "Won't Get Fooled Again." Writers maintain they were shortchanged years ago when they agreed to a discounted pay formula for home video sales, only to see that business take off. And they're determined not to make the same mistake again as the digital revolution upends the entertainment industry.
"The guild made a bad deal 20 years ago and they've been angry ever since and they don't want to do it again," said Jonathan Handel, an entertainment industry attorney with TroyGould in Los Angeles and a former associate counsel for the Writers Guild. "That's why we're seeing a line drawn in the sand."...
You can read the whole article here.
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