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The 2007/2008 writers strike is a strike organized by american writers who are members of either the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW). Both the WGAE and WGAW are writers unions for writers in the film,radio, and television industries in the United States. Although the strike was not called until November 2th 2007 and did not begin until November 5th of 2007, there have been signs of trouble for the last few years.
As a result of the strike, the vast majority of shows have halted production. Many shows such as Heroes had to end their seasons pre-maturely due to the strikes. While scripted shows have been on hold, most reality shows and some talk shows have continued as normal.
The main reasons for the strike are due to writers feeling that they were not given a fair share of royalties, especially when it came to home releases on formats such as DVD. The writers guild has requested a doubling of their current residual rate from four cents to eight cents per DVD. The writers rely on their residual pay as a part of their income, and to help them through periods of unemployment which are frequent in the writing industry.
The AMPT has continually claimed that the current DVD sales scheme is neccesary because of the rising counts in advertising and production. The AMPTP has also been trying to use the same residuals for other digital formats besides DVD's, such as the internet. Naturally, the WGA has been opposed to this as well.
The Writers guild claims that their strike will be a marathon, but the AMPTP negotiator Nick Counter has said there would be no further negotiations until the striking has ceased.
Currently there are over 12,000 writers on strike which has cost the industry an estimated $1 Billion so far. The last strike in 1988 lasted for 21 weeks and 6 days and had cost the industry an estimated $500 million, which would be the same as $870 dollars today.
Although the production of the majority of scripted television shows have been halted due to the strike, some Late Night talk shows such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno have recently begun producing new episodes again, with Jay Leno writing and delivering his own jokes. Despite Leno being a member of the writers guild, he is able to get around the strike due to him writing the jokes for himself to perform. Although Jay Leno has been one of the most vocal supporters of the strike, his decision to return to work on his show has angered a number of guild members but it is unlikely they will seek to revoke his membership.
The Pepperdine University poll conducted from November 7th to the 9th have found that 84% of people polled were aware that the strike was in progress.While most were unconcerned about the strike, nearly two thirds sided with the writers. Only about 4% of those polled sided with the AMPTP. ©2007-2008 HeroesFanatics.com - All Rights Reserved
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