D-Day Arrives With No Strike Called — Yet!

Into the wee hours of the night talks between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) quickly unraveled and came to an end without resolution. The one sticking point was the issue over DVD profit distribution, which AMPTP president Nick Counter has indicated strongly, is a dead, non-negotiable issue from the studio’s point of view.

The old 1985 DVD formula states that payment is made based on 20% of wholesale revenues with writers getting about 4¢ for each disc sold. The WGA is wanting its members to receive double the old rate saying that the old standard hasn’t been adjusted for changes in the market for the last 22 years allowing studios and networks to grow very fat off the backs of product creators.

That being said, there are no picket lines today from any of the 12000 members of the WGA, even though their contract with studios and networks expired at one minute past midnight. Guild negotiators fell short of calling for the approved walk-out to begin today but also gave no indication when they would be willing to return to the negotiating table with the Feds acting as mediator of the conflict.

While the WGA did call for calm and said it would be willing to wait until next week if necessary to order a full-scale walk-out, however, things could change tonight depending on the climate from a membership meeting being held in Los Angeles. Writers have been told to take home all their personal stuff from their offices and desks, just in case.

Another sticky point will be how many unions will honor the WGA’s picket lines? We already reported that The Teamsters Union that handles certain services such as Hollywood drivers, location managers, casting directors, and such will honor the strike, however, other Hollywood unions such as SAG, the DGA, AFTRA and IATSE have reminded members of the “no-strike” provisions of their contracts and noted that they must live up to any agreement they’ve made to work, according to a statement issued in Variety this morning.

“If you are going on strike, you really need the support of your fellow unions,” said labor attorney Michael Asensio of the Baker Hostetler law firm. “I think the WGA is woefully short of that at this point.”