WGA Votes to Accept Deal

As art trips forward into the uncharted world of new media, it's incumbent on all of us to find the balance between enjoying the greater dissemination of work technology offers and ensuring that artists are properly compensated for monies derived from work accessed through new media. If you have been following the Writers Guild of America strike over the past few months, you know that new media has been touted as one of the largest sticking points (as closed door negotiations keep the media from knowing the exact nature of the issues on the table).

This weekend, the WGA East and West voted to approve the current deal offered, that was largely modeled after the deal that was approved by the Directors Guild of America in January.

Both deals essentially double the rates paid for TV shows and films sold as Internet downloads, once certain break-points are reached. And they require studios to work with union talent on content produced specifically for the Web, though lower-budget productions are exempt.

Both pacts also set new "residual" fees for ad-supported online streaming of TV shows. But the WGA gained a modest improvement over the directors' deal in the form of a higher potential residual in the third year of its contract.

Excerpt quoted from Reuters, February 10, 2008.