Show me the money!

On the 5th of November, members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which represents 12,000 screenwriters, went on strike. The walkout occurred after negotiations between the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents the studios, collapsed.

The walkout is largely due to deadlock over an agreement on higher fees for writers from sales of DVDs and contents streamed over the Internet. At the time of writing, the WGA and the AMPTP have agreed to reopen negotiations on 28th November, but the strike is expected to last a while longer.

Although many shows have stockpiled on scripts in anticipation of production delays from the strike, many daily talk shows (such as The Daily Show, and the Late Show with David Letterman) which rely on writers for topical jokes have shut down. Shows such as Heroes have also been affected, as writers are not able to do last-minute rewrites. The new season of 24 has been delayed for the foreseeable future, and Lost may see the same fate. Similarly, production on the 2008-2009 blockbusters such as Angels and Demons and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows may have to be pushed back.

The last WGA strike took place in 1988 and lasted five months, costing over US$500 million. The current strike is expected to result in about US$1 billion of losses.

Tangent’s take:

• (can someone knowledgeable in labour economics please comment?)
• There has been a show of solidarity across the industry, with many 'writers-producers' / show-runners (basically the head writer/ boss) joining the strikes. What would happen if these show-runners decide to go back to work...?
• If the WGA's strike is successful in getting the AMPTP back to the negotiation table, would other guilds, like the Screen Actors' Guild or the Directors' Guild of America, likely follow suit?
• Why? Why Lost???

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Picture again from flickr, here. Again, nonderiv, attrib license.