Real Estate Blog - It Appears the Writers' Strike is About to be Settled!

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It Appears the Writers' Strike is About to be Settled!

It looks like the Writers' Strike is about to end.

Spokesmen for the Writers' Guild of America (WGA) have announced a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

The settlement means that writers will be returning to work throughout the entertainment industry. The proposed contract would run for three years and would provide a minimum increase in the basic scale of 3.5 per cent for radio and television work.

Perhaps the biggest achievement by the striking writers was the crafting of language in the agreement which governs new media uses, including Internet delivery of movies, television programs and other broadcast media.

The strike was costly for both sides. It lasted over three months and cost both writers and producers hundreds of millions of dollars.

This was perhaps the most successful strike ever by an entertainment union. The WGA did a fabulous job of securing the assistance and support of television personalities such as David Letterman. From a PR standpoint, WGA scored a victory. The writers emerged from this strike with the majority of the viewing public expressing generally favorable opinions of their efforts to secure improvements in compensation.

You can read the details by visiting the WGA East website here, or by visiting http://www.wga.org.

Posted by Eric Kodner, Lake Minnetonka Homes & Madeline Island Real Estate on 02/09/2008 10:34 PM

Comments (6)

writers guild of america

Post is included in group: Wrong Right Turn

6 Comments on It Appears the Writers' Strike is About to be Settled!

Eric, just when you thought it was safe to go back to reading....the writers stop striking. Can't wait to see new editions of "Family Guy" and all the other great shows.

02/09/2008 10:43 PM

by Matt Grohe CRS, GRI, ABR (Remax Real Estate Concepts)

Hi Eric,

Thanks for the update on this matter.

Darn, just when I was getting used to reruns and other boring broadcasts. Oh well.....just kidding of course. This is good news. That industry works very hard and they deserve to be compensted fairly.

It's about time.

http://davidmccloskey.tarbell.com

02/09/2008 10:45 PM

by David A. McCloskey (Tarbell, Realtors)

Matt -- Yeah, it will bring a lot of us back to the tube. Just in time for the nationwide conversion to digital TV..what a coincidence!

02/09/2008 10:48 PM

by Wayzata Lakes Realty: Eric Kodner Sells Luxury Homes

David, I was impressed by how well the WGA played the public relations angle during the strike. AMPTP really misread the public's reaction to this strike.

02/09/2008 10:49 PM

by Wayzata Lakes Realty: Eric Kodner Sells Luxury Homes

I was actually pleasantly surprised that the writers were able to get something worthwhile out of it. I was really concerned that the strike was a long shot. After all, without the writers - not much can happen, yet they were very poorly compensated.

03/15/2008 11:42 PM

by Ruthmarie Hicks (Keller Williams Realty)

Ruthmarie - The WGA pulled off a brilliant public relations campaign against the producers. You're correct that not everyone who belongs to the Writers' Guild is well-compensated. And one of their biggest victories was the recognition of "new media" uses of their work, including rights to use on the Internet.

Take a look at this post and the comments contributed to it:

http://activerain.com/blogsview/355715/Writer-s-Strike-Why

The author expressed a lot of genuine sympathy for the poor Hollywood producers who are losing money because of all those evil script writers! And the comments which blame the striking writers for damaging the California economy. It seems some of our AR members have a very uninformed perspective on what caused the WGA strike in the first place!

03/16/2008 02:45 AM

by Wayzata Lakes Realty: Eric Kodner Sells Luxury Homes

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