WGA STRIKE UPDATE: WGA Cool on AMPTP Proposal
WGA West President Verrone, WGA East President Winship: AMPTP's 'New Economic Partnership' a 'Massive Rollback'
By B&C Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/29/2007 9:58:00 PM
The Writers Guild of America issued a statement in response to a proposal on digital content from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which broke the news blackout Thursday evening on the fourth day of resumed talks.In a joint statement, WGA West president Patric Verrone and WGA East president Michael Winship lamented that the news blackout "has left a vacuum of information that has been filled with rumors" before dismissing the AMPTP proposal as "a massive rollback."
"Among the rumors was the assertion that the AMPTP had a groundbreaking proposal that would make this negotiation a 'done deal,'" Verrone and Winship said. "In fact, for the first three days of this week, the companies presented in essence their Nov. 4 package with not an iota of movement on any of the issues that matter to writers."
They continued, "Thursday morning, the first new proposal was finally presented to us. It dealt only with streaming and made-for-Internet jurisdiction, and it amounts to a massive rollback."
The statement went on to detail the studios' proposal for residuals on streaming television episodes, made-for-Internet content and paid downloads, as well as the guild's economic justification for its own proposals.
"The AMPTP says it will have additional proposals to make but, as of Thursday evening, they have not been presented to us. We are scheduled to meet with them again on Tuesday," the two presidents said.
To read the full statement from the WGA, click here.
For full coverage of the WGA strike, click here.
