Update on the Writers Strike

In case you’ve spent the last 48 hrs sheltered from all other news mediums, negotiations between the Writers guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have ended in an amicable agreement between the two that will bring the mediocre sitcom and drama programming that we’ve all missed back to prime time. 

According to an article distributed by the
AP, under the tentative agreement (which is good only until June), writers would get a maximum flat fee of about $1,200 for programs streamed on the Internet in the deal’s first two years and then get 2 percent of a distributor’s gross in year three — a key union demand.  Other provisions include increased residual payments for movies and TV programs downloaded from the Internet.  I wish them luck with tracking all of that.

 The strike that began Nov. 5 dealt a financial blow to a wide range of businesses dependent on work from studios.  Now that the writers are back to work, the studios are left with trying to backfill all of the unfortunate crew members that they laid off who have hopefully found new jobs since all production stopped last year. 

Economically speaking, according to a new estimate from Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp, this strike took a $3.2 billion toll in direct and indirect costs on the economy of Los Angeles County, the home of most of the nation’s TV and film production. 

On the bright side,
Internet video caught a healthy boost.