Hollywood writers weigh a fade to black
The contract for Hollywood writers expired at midnight, and the Writers Guild of America is considering a strike. Scott Jagow examines the role of download revenue in negotiations.
A typewriter and crumpled-up ideas (iStockPhoto.com)
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Scott Jagow: The people who write TV shows and movies might put away their pens and keyboards for a while. The contract for Hollywood writers expired at midnight. They meet today to consider a strike.
Writers Guild President Patric Verrone says writers want a better cut of DVD sales and a small percentage of download revenues.
Patric Verrone: We're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars over a long period of time, and within a business that makes hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
But the studios aren't ready to hand over Internet revenue until they figure out how much money downloads can make.
Nick Counter heads the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:
Nick Counter: Our position is that we know what the compensation models are. We're not gonna add additional burden to our deficits that we have on regular TV and movies themselves.
Right now, there are no talks scheduled between the two sides.
