The current Writer's Guild of America contract expires on May 1st. The WGA is currently in the midst of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to cut a new deal, but the two sides are still fairly far apart. Last week, 96% of voting members of the WGA voted to authorize a strike if negotiations break down. Here is what is at stake, according to Variety:
"Sources have indicated that when negotiators last met, the two sides had been closing some of the gaps in the area of adjusting compensation terms for writers working on short-order series. WGA has been seeing lost income and long production timetables for many cable and streaming shows, which produce fewer episodes than the traditional 22- or 24-episode seasons for broadcast network shows.
The two sides are facing complex bargaining over the WGA health plan, which has run a deficit during most of the past few years given the spiraling cost of health care. Producers were believed to be offering to increase contributions by $60 million while the WGA was asking for around $80 million to $85 million."
The last writer's strike occurred on November 5, 2007, and lasted for 100 days. A new strike would significantly impact late night shows immediately, and will have an effect on the start dates of Fall premieres, and even movie release dates.
Get that money, writers! And until you do, at least the rest of us have Netflix this time around.
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