Did WGA Write a Twist Into SAG Script?

UPDATED: An earlier post indicated that the WGA had not received residuals from the sale or rental of electronic downloads of content created between 1971 and 2008. In fact, the dispute is over the rate at which those residuals have been and should be paid.

SAG just might have received a huge burst of momentum for its long-stalled contract talks late yesterday when the WGA filed for arbitration against the AMPTP. The writers allege that they have not been given the new-media residuals they were promised under the TV/film contract signed last February that ended a bitter, 100-day strike.

The actors have not been able to reach a new agreement on their TV/film contract, because of a fight over new media. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), SAG and the AMPTP are scheduled to meet today with federal mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez, who has conducted separate meetings with actors and producers since late October. Today will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two sides since mid-July.

The WGA's bid for arbitration could change the tenor of the meeting.

According to a WGA news release, writers are to receive residuals under a new formula for any movie sold via electronic download made after July 1, 1971, and for any television program made after 1977. The new formula essentially doubles the old home-video formula (for VHS and DVDs). According to the AMPTP, however, writers are only to get residuals under the new electronic sell-through (EST) formula for content created after Feb. 13, 2008. (According to the AMPTP, writers have been receiving residuals for electronic sell-through for content made before 2008, under the old, lower formula.)

A source close to producers sent what appears to be the relevant portion of the new contract:

"The following shall apply to motion pictures released after February 13, 2008:

"If the consumer pays for an EST copy of a theatrical motion picture, the Company shall pay residuals to the credited writer(s) at the rate of 1.8% of 20% of Company's "accountable receipts," as that term is defined in Paragraph 3 below, for the first 50,000 units and 3.25% thereafter.

"If the consumer pays for an EST copy of a television motion picture, the Company shall pay residuals to the credited writer(s)at the rate of 1.8% of 20% of Company's "accountable receipts," as that term is defined in Paragraph 3 below, for the first 100,000 units and 3.5% thereafter."

The WGA has not yet responded to two requests by Strike Watch for comment.

The WGA and SAG huddled for much of 2007 as they planned their strategy for renegotiating their respective contracts. There were rumors in the first half of that year that the writers would work under an expired contract and wait for SAG's deal to come due (in June 2008); then, this thinking went, the two guilds would walk out together. That didn't happen. The writers struck in November '07 and struck till early February '08.

After members of AFTRA--SAG's estranged sister union and onetime bargaining partner--ratified their own deal with producers in July, SAG appeared to lose a lot of its leverage. Added to that was the split in the guild between the more aggressive Membership First faction in Hollywood and the moderates in the New York and regional branch divisions. After moderates gained a slim majority of the national board in the September elections, it looked as if the Hollywood stalwarts were out of options for getting more favorable terms in new media.

Until Wednesday. If the WGA can effectively claim that the AMPTP has reneged on the new-media terms it has worked out with the DGA, the WGA, AFTRA and, now, IATSE, it may be enough to galvanize the guild, or at least its rank and file. Currently, SAG is working with Gonzalez to bring about a settlement. If those efforts fail, the SAG national board has indicated it would send a strike-authorization referendum to members. If 75 percent of voting members approve the measure, the national board will then have the authority to call a strike. Before last night, it was not at all certain that SAG leaders would get the requisite 75 percent. It's too early to tell how much the WGA announcement will ignite call for a strike, but it is a little more likely than it was 24 hours ago.

At first glance, it seems as if the WGA announcement late yesterday was a carefully coordinated move between the leadership of the guilds to shake up the meeting today among SAG, the AMPTP, and Gonzalez. If so, this stalemate is a long way from conclusion.

--Andrew Salomon