Writers Guild Votes To Ratify Three-Year Contract
HOLLYWOOD — Writers Guild of America members overwhelmingly approved a new three-year contract yesterday, officially ending a labor dispute that resulted in Hollywood's biggest strike in two decades.
More than 90% of the 4,060 members who cast ballots in Los Angeles and New York voted in favor of ratifying the contract, a show of support that was widely anticipated after guild leaders touted the pact as a landmark agreement.
"This contract is a new beginning for writers in the digital age," the president of the Writers Guild of America, West, Patric Verrone, said.
The ratification comes two weeks after writers voted to end a 100-day strike that shut down more than 60 television shows and put thousands of people out of work.
In a statement, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said: "Now that our industry is back in business, our goal is to collaborate with everyone ... to produce the highest-quality entertainment products without any further interruption."
Modeled on a pact negotiated by directors and studios last month, the contract gives writers a larger stake in the revenue generated when their movies, television shows, and other creative works are distributed online.
The contract doubles the rate that writers are paid for movie and TV shows sold online, establishes the union's jurisdiction over programming created for the Internet (above certain budgets), and secures payments for entertainment streamed for free on Web sites.
Writers previously received nothing when hit TV shows were streamed for free on network Web sites, fueling much of the tension that sparked the November 5 walkout.
Some writers, however, were unhappy with the contract, which retroactively takes effect February 13 and runs through May 1, 2011. Among other things, they complained that it exempts low-budget Internet shows from the union's coverage and gives networks too long a promotional window for streaming shows online before residual payments kick in for writers.
