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As Writers Fight, Reruns Rule

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 6, 2007

Who is on strike?

The nearly 12,000 members of the Writers Guild of America on the East and West coasts. The group includes writers of movies and TV shows, including soap operas, sitcoms, prime-time dramas and late-night talk shows.

Why are they striking?

Writers want to double the amount of money they receive from DVDs but have said they were willing to drop that demand. They also want more money from shows offered on the Internet and cell phones.
Producers say it's too early to know how successful such digital distribution will be. They want to pay the current DVD rate for digital downloads on the Web and cell phones.

What is a residual?

Writers and actors get paid when they sell a script or act in a show or movie. They also get paid residuals each time a TV show is rerun or when an episode or movie is sold on DVD or on Internet sites.

At any given time, many actors and writers are unemployed and depend on residual payments to survive between jobs.

What is the impact of a strike?

Late-night talk shows will go into reruns. Soap operas might run out of scripts by the end of the year. Prime-time shows could revert to reruns by January. Most 2008 films are well along in production with finished scripts. Movies set for release in 2009 could run into trouble.

What about reality shows?

Most reality TV shows do not use union writers, although some do. If the strike drags on, networks are prepared to air more reality shows, news programs and reruns.

How long will the strike last?

No one knows, of course. A previous strike in 1988 lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry $500 million. Producers said they were prepared for a strike of similar length this time.

The Associated Press

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