On the eve of negotiations between Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Writers Guild of America, some high-level entertainment execs created a burst of publicity by holding a rare on-the-record briefing to lay out their case. CBS chief Leslie Moonves, Disney’s Anne Sweeney, Warner Bros. chairman Barry Meyer, and chief studio negotiator Nicholas Counter explained why they want to defer the decision on the pivotal issue of multi-platform pay by doing a study.
The working idea now would be to extend the current pay model built around residuals based on reuse and format to new-media platforms with the negotiating centered on how much. But Meyer and company argue that would be a mistake and that a study to find the best way is in order. Meyer, via Hollywood Reporter: “Talking about the ‘reuse’ of programming is something that we have to stop talking about. There are no ancillary markets anymore. There are no supplemental markets anymore. It’s all just one market.”
Mooves: “It is a time of great experimentation — that’s the key word. We don’t know yet where this is heading. A year ago, it looked like VOD was going to be more important than advertising-based. Now it has shifted.”
AMPTP even handed out material, as HR puts it, “purporting to show member studios’ combined theatrical slates failed to reach profitability the past five years.”
According to the AP, guild chief negotiator John Bowman dismissed the study notion as “crazy rhetoric” that “pretends this isn’t an enormously profitable place for them to be doing business.” Instead, he said, the delay would just allow more digital content to be disseminated without compensation.” Bowman told HR one problem with the idea of profit-based compensation is “our members can’t rely on Hollywood accounting.”
Talks start Monday. The current WGA film and TV contract expires Oct. 31. Both sides are preparing for a strike if a deal isn’t reached.
NYT: “The executives stopped short of saying they would demand an immediate end to residual payments in the upcoming, probably difficult negotiations with writers, actors and directors. But they were emphatic in calling for the dismantling of a system under which specific payments are made when movies and shows are released on DVD, shown abroad or otherwise resold. Instead, they want to pool such revenue and recover their costs before sharing any of the profit with the talent.”
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