Cherry: Pony Up for Scripted Product Placement

[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Ben Grossman]
While Writers Guild of America, West President Patric Verrone said recently that securing compensation for writers who pen shows that include product integration was not part of his agenda, Desperate Housewives executive producer Mark Cherry apparently feels differently. Speaking at a Tuesday luncheon in Beverly Hills hosted by the Hollywood Radio and Television Society, Cherry said he wants his show to be compensated if he and his staff have to take the time to write a product into a scene. “I'm all for product placement if I can get some of the money, but if it just all goes to the company, then we'll just put the car in the parking lot behind the characters,” he said. The guilds took on the product-integration issue with a code of conduct released on Nov. 14. The code comprises four points: the visual and aural disclosure of product integration deals at the beginning of each program, limiting integration within children’s programming, including writers in decision-making regarding integration, and extending product integration regulation to cable TV.
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