Screenwriters on Strike Over Stake in New Media

SCREENWRITERS ON STRIKE OVER STAKE IN NEW MEDIA
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Michael Cieply, David Carr, Brooks Barnes]
The writers strike began after producers made a number of steps toward the writers in the course of an 11-hour session, and writers countered by abandoning their demand that DVD residuals be doubled. The guild said the companies had dug in their heels by, among other things, refusing to grant the unions jurisdiction over most writing directly for new media, and insisting on the right to offer promotional showings of movies and television shows in new media and elsewhere without paying an additional fee. The companies have also insisted on pegging residuals payments for downloaded movies and shows at the same rate historically used for DVDs and videocassettes — a formula writers have regretted almost since the moment they negotiated it two decades ago. In effect, the sides finally got down to what they were really fighting about: who will get what from the media of the future.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/business/media/06strike.html?ref=today...
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