WGA Sets Up Picket Lines At Disney Store
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 11/14/2007 3:47:00 AM
Targeting The Walt Disney Co., the striking Writers Guild of America East was set Wednesday to picket outside the World of Disney store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
The union, which went on strike Nov. 5, will be handing out leaflets, “an open letter from America’s TV and film writers,” on the street outside the store.
The leaflet says that according to Disney president Robert Iger, his company is generating $1.5 billion in revenue from digital. The writers’ share of that is “$0,” the pamphlet claims.
“We only asking for our fair share,” the flier says. “In fact, we’re barely asking for anything: 2.5% of whatever money the studios make off our work on the Internet or digitally – the delivery systems of the future.”
Officials at Disney couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday morning.
A new blog started by WGA strike captains, Unitedhollywood.blogspot.com, contains videos with clips of various media titans -- not only Iger but Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone and News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch – boasting about how much money their companies are making off of digital and new media during past TV interviews.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers recently ran an ad stressing that studios already do pay writers residuals on digital downloads, and claiming that there was an offer on the table regarding payment for video streaming when talks broke down Nov. 4.
Also on Wednesday, WGA East president Michael Winship issued a statement in response to news that Ellen DeGeneres has decided not tape her shows in New York City on Nov. 19 and 20.
"We’re delighted that Ellen DeGeneres has decided not to come to New York to tape her program,” Winship said. “She knows that the Writers Guild East would have been there to protest her lack of solidarity, not only with her Guild writing staff but all the striking members of the Writers Guild, of which she is a member. We will be even more delighted if she does not cross the Guild picket lines at the NBC Studios in Burbank, where her show usually is produced.”
The WGA and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists have clashed over DeGeneres’ decision to continue doing her syndicated show during the strike. AFTRA maintains that DeGeneres is legally required, because of a no-strike clause, to report to work and perform her AFTRA-covered duties.
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