Strike Clock Still Ticking

Although the contract between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Hollywood studios ran out at midnight yesterday, both parties announced that they would continue to work towards a resolution beyond the deadline.

The contract between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) expired at 12:01am PDT, May 2. The contract remains in effect even though it has elapsed and talks between the two parties are continuing under the previously-established media blackout.

"At this hour the talks are continuing, and we're working very hard to reach an agreement. That's it," said Cheryl Rhoden, spokesperson for the WGA. Both Rhoden and AMPTP representative Barbara Brogliatti declined to comment further.

Soon after, at 3am PDT, Rhoden told reports that talks had ended for the night, and would resume on Wednesday morning. When asked why the talks had gone on for so long, Rhoden said that "quite a few issues are being discussed."

If negotiations do break down, a strike authorization vote must first be held to validate the walkout. This would involve the participation of all 11,500 members of the WGA, and could take up to five days to organise. The previous strike, held in 1988, lasted for 22 weeks, and impacted many major television series, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, then embarking on its second season. The producers were forced to turn to previously unproduced scripts from Star Trek: Phase II in order to continue production of the series.

Talks between the two parties resumed on April 17 after a six week break in an attempt to resolve the conflict before the May 1 deadline (story). The fact that the discussions have continued past this is "a sign that progress is being made," a studio source told Inside.com. The negotiations have centred around the issue of residual payments for writers in secondary markets, such as video rentals and overseas distribution. When talks resumed, the two sides had a $100 million gap to close between their respective offers. Both parties have been adamant that they would not meet half-way.

There is still no word on the status of the Screen Actors Guild negotiations, tentatively set to resume on May 10. Richard Riordan, mayor of Los Angeles, has warned that lay-offs from the studios as a result of back-to-back strikes could send the city's economy spiralling into recession. Certainly, both these strikes would threaten all television series and films currently in production, as well as newer projects such as Series V and Star Trek X.

The full report can be found in this Reuters article.

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