TV Writers Rebut Producers’ Ads
Writers Guild Issues Rebuttal to Claims From Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 11/15/2007 7:45:00 AM
In the latest salvo in an ongoing battle, the Writers Guild of America issued a blow-by-blow rebuttal Thursday to ads that the studios ran regarding the union’s demands for new-media residuals.
The WGA, which went on strike Nov. 5, point by point addressed the assertions made by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers in what the guild alleged were “misleading” full-page ads Thursday in The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
“Nice try, AMPTP,” the WGA said in its statement. “In the words of the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. The AMPTP’s paid and patronizing advertisement in today’s New York Times and Los Angeles Times is guilty of what most charitably could be called sins of omission.”
In its ad, the AMPTP said that the TV and films writers were “seeking at least a 700% increase over what writers currently receive, and more than a 200% increase over what they receive for Internet ‘pay per view.’”
In its response, the WGA claimed that these increases represent mere pennies.
“In our abandoned negotiations, the AMPTP insisted that the residual rate for digital downloading be pegged to the current rate for DVDs, a penurious third of one cent on the dollar,” the WGA said. “Let’s repeat that: A third of a penny!!”
According to the guild, “The 700% increase they refer to roughly translates as 2.1 cents, the 200% as 2.5 cents. The AMPTP, as the saying goes, uses numbers the way a drunk uses a lamppost – more for support than illumination. Do the math and you’ll see what we’re asking for is nothing more than a small, fair respectful share of revenues.”
In its ad, the AMPTP also said that it “has offered to pay writers a percentage of the revenues the producer receives from licensing streamed content on the Internet.”
The WGA countered by claiming that the studios’ offer would allow them to continue to air the streamed content for free for the first six weeks after its initial broadcast release.
“In other words, the time period during which there would be the most demand from the public and the most bang for the advertising buck,” the WGA said in its response. “After that time is over, they would throw us a fraction of the bone of whatever’s left.”
Finally, the AMPTP said in its ad that “no labor agreement in history has given writers, actors or directors a portion of advertising dollars,” claiming the WGA was seeking a split of ad revenue from video streaming.
In response, the WGA said, “As their own ad notes, technology is rapidly changing the way our business works. They themselves admit, ‘There’s a paradigm shift in how entertainment is distributed and consumed.’ They offer streaming video for free, but make millions for the copious advertising that accompanies the content. It’s only fair that the creators, the storytellers that make those revenues possible, get a tiny taste of the pie.”
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