Writers Strike Looms Over Hollywood

The Writers Guild of America is announcing Friday when the 12,000 film and television writers that make up its membership will go on strike. That could be as early as Monday. Carl DiOrio says there are two major issues in the talks — how the writers are compensated for DVD sales and the distribution of content over the Internet. The writers want their DVD compensation doubled from the 4 cents per DVD they receive now. The studios have balked at the request. For now, DiOrio says, the writers are not asking for compensation from content distributed on the Internet. But they want a deal in place for when the studios figure out how to make a profit on the Internet. The studios don't want a deal in place until they begin turning a profit.

If the strike takes place, in case of movies, the effects will be less obvious in the short run, since big-screen production takes longer. The strike probably won't affect what you see at the multiplex for more than a year. But the immediate effects will be apparent on TV, some networks will show reruns, while some are looking at programming that hasn't been on their air before.