Sorry if this was already posted. I thought it was timely, with the rumors of a strike.
ON STRIKE!
By Sheri Goldberg
If you are a frequent viewer of soap operas, you probably have noticed changes in recent weeks. Perhaps the characters talk and behave differently. Maybe the scenes are too long, or there is too much action and not enough dialogue, or vice versa. Those changes are a direct result of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike currently in its fourteenth week as we go to press.
Of the nine thousand members of WGA, only two hundred to three hundred write for daytime dramas, but they have been greatly affected by the walk out. Consider these facts. A normal television season for a regularly employed nighttime writer is twenty-two weeks or twenty-two hour-long or half-hour episodes. But a daytime writer completes about sixty-five episodes every three months or approximately two hundred and sixty shows a year. That is why the daytime writer has already lost one-quarter of his or her yearly income as a result of this strike.
THE FACTS:
Why, What and How Much?
Exactly why are the writers striking? Their three-year contracts with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) expired March 1, 1988. Although negotiations for a new contract began last December, by March 1, no agreement had been reached, so the membership voted to walk off their jobs, which they did on March 6, 1998. While the writers agree they must strike, many daytime writers felt it was a more convenient time for the nighttime writers, since all of the prime-time series are currently on hiatus and are not due to resume production until late summer. Unfortunately, soap operas must continue to be written, so - unlike nighttime writers - soap scribes found their jobs were immediately taken over by someone else.
One of the principal issues of the strike is in the area of the one-hour residuals. For many years, the WGA contract has provided modest fixed residuals (income) for domestic reruns of television programs. This fixed formula has certain advantages for the members: certainty and policeability. The producers are now demanding a new "percentage-of-cash-flow" formula for residuals for all one-hour network shows going into syndication. And the producers want to police their revenues and the writers' residuals by themselves. The producers formula - which the writers rejected - would cut writers' residuals in the one-hour area an average of 35 to 50 percent and up to 80 percent in some cases. And the cash-flow formula forces the WGA to rely on the producer's own reports of revenues received from licensing sales of one-hour programs into syndication.
The second area is foreign residuals. No changes have been made in that formula since 1970. Since then, income from overseas syndication has skyrocketed, but the producers have offered no increases.
Another area that affects all writers regards the writers' Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA). The producers offer remains below the inflation rate by at least 2.2 percent and the writers have rejected it.
Also, daytime writers are currently employed for thirteen-week cycles. The WGA has asked that the producers guarantee any writers who has been employed for four consecutive thirteen-week cycles a guarantee of at least twenty-six weeks. The producers rejected that action.
In addition, the WGA asked that daytime writers receive on-air credits and increased minimums for daytime writers. At present, some writers' wages are so low that even after thirteen weeks of employment, they do not qualify for the Guild's Health and Welfare Plan. The producers said no.
Whom Does It Affect?
The last prolonged strike of the WGA was in 1981 when the writers stayed off the job for three months. That strike cost the three major networks millions of dollars in lost advertising revenues, lost audiences and time. This time, it could cost more because the networks are weaker. With so much alternative programming on cable and pay stations, and soaring video rentals, the audiences may lose interest.
Five daytime writers and one writer/director shared their thoughts on the strike with Soap Opera Digest Their candid comments on the strike were both enlightening and frightening.
(I will post those in the first message for the thread)
Sorry if this was already posted. I thought it was timely, with the rumors of a strike.
ON STRIKE!
By Sheri Goldberg
If you are a frequent viewer of soap operas, you probably have noticed changes in recent weeks. Perhaps the characters talk and behave differently. Maybe the scenes are too long, or there is too much action and not enough dialogue, or vice versa. Those changes are a direct result of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike currently in its fourteenth week as we go to press.
Of the nine thousand members of WGA, only two hundred to three hundred write for daytime dramas, but they have been greatly affected by the walk out. Consider these facts. A normal television season for a regularly employed nighttime writer is twenty-two weeks or twenty-two hour-long or half-hour episodes. But a daytime writer completes about sixty-five episodes every three months or approximately two hundred and sixty shows a year. That is why the daytime writer has already lost one-quarter of his or her yearly income as a result of this strike.
THE FACTS:
Why, What and How Much?
Exactly why are the writers striking? Their three-year contracts with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) expired March 1, 1988. Although negotiations for a new contract began last December, by March 1, no agreement had been reached, so the membership voted to walk off their jobs, which they did on March 6, 1998. While the writers agree they must strike, many daytime writers felt it was a more convenient time for the nighttime writers, since all of the prime-time series are currently on hiatus and are not due to resume production until late summer. Unfortunately, soap operas must continue to be written, so - unlike nighttime writers - soap scribes found their jobs were immediately taken over by someone else.
One of the principal issues of the strike is in the area of the one-hour residuals. For many years, the WGA contract has provided modest fixed residuals (income) for domestic reruns of television programs. This fixed formula has certain advantages for the members: certainty and policeability. The producers are now demanding a new "percentage-of-cash-flow" formula for residuals for all one-hour network shows going into syndication. And the producers want to police their revenues and the writers' residuals by themselves. The producers formula - which the writers rejected - would cut writers' residuals in the one-hour area an average of 35 to 50 percent and up to 80 percent in some cases. And the cash-flow formula forces the WGA to rely on the producer's own reports of revenues received from licensing sales of one-hour programs into syndication.
The second area is foreign residuals. No changes have been made in that formula since 1970. Since then, income from overseas syndication has skyrocketed, but the producers have offered no increases.
Another area that affects all writers regards the writers' Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA). The producers offer remains below the inflation rate by at least 2.2 percent and the writers have rejected it.
Also, daytime writers are currently employed for thirteen-week cycles. The WGA has asked that the producers guarantee any writers who has been employed for four consecutive thirteen-week cycles a guarantee of at least twenty-six weeks. The producers rejected that action.
In addition, the WGA asked that daytime writers receive on-air credits and increased minimums for daytime writers. At present, some writers' wages are so low that even after thirteen weeks of employment, they do not qualify for the Guild's Health and Welfare Plan. The producers said no.
Whom Does It Affect?
The last prolonged strike of the WGA was in 1981 when the writers stayed off the job for three months. That strike cost the three major networks millions of dollars in lost advertising revenues, lost audiences and time. This time, it could cost more because the networks are weaker. With so much alternative programming on cable and pay stations, and soaring video rentals, the audiences may lose interest.
Five daytime writers and one writer/director shared their thoughts on the strike with Soap Opera Digest Their candid comments on the strike were both enlightening and frightening.
(I will post those in the first message for the thread)