Striking Writers Drop Two Key Demands
Hope Rises as Guild Yields on Animation, Reality Fare
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 1/22/2008 11:48:00 PM
In key concessions that may unjam stalled negotiations, the Writers Guild of America Tuesday dropped two major demands that the studios have claimed were untenable.
In a letter to members the WGA, on strike since Nov. 5, said it was no longer demanding jurisdiction over animation and reality programming.
The union, however, still has to resolve its demands for residuals on new media use of content with the studios.
The union said that it was r
esuming informal talks Wednesday
with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The talks broke off on Dec. 7.
“In order to make absolutely clear our commitment to bringing a speedy conclusion to negotiations we have decided to withdraw our proposals on reality and animation,” WGA East president Michael Winship and WGA West president Patric Verrone said in a joint letter. “Our organizing efforts to achieve Guild representation in these genres for writers will continue. You will hear more about this in the next two weeks.”
And seemingly trying to bring down the tension level in a dispute that’s been bitter and public, the WGA said both sides had agreed to a complete news blackout during talks.
“We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period,” the WGA wrote said in its letter.
The WGA West also announced that its board voted not to picket the Feb. 10 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. “Members of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) face many of the same issues concerning compensation in new media that we do,” the WGA said in its letters to members. “In the interest of advancing our goal of achieving a fair contract, the WGAW Board felt that this gesture should be made on behalf our brothers and sisters in AFM and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).”
At a press conference earlier Tuesday
, Winship said that the WGA was still planning to picket and boycott the Feb. 24 Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, and was getting the support of the Screen Actors Guild to do the same.
