USA Writers' Residuals Secure

Reuters reports the studio executives dropped a proposal to overhaul residual payments during the writers' contract negotiations in Hollywood yesterday.

"In the overriding interest of keeping the industry working and removing what has become an emotional impediment and excuse by the WGA not to bargain, the (studio negotiating team) withdrew its recoupment proposal," said Nick Counter, head of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

But he added that the studios and networks would stand firm against demands by the union to increase residual payments for DVDs, pay television, basic cable or reruns on two fledgling broadcast networks, the CW and My Network TV.

Higher residuals for DVDs has been a major demand of the guild, along with greater compensation for writers whose work is distributed through the Internet and other digital platforms. Residuals for various kinds of digital media were not explicitly mentioned in the studios' statement.

The WGA said it welcomed the studios' move to withdraw the new plan, but maintained its resolve to press forward on the other issues. "The remaining rollbacks would gut our contract and will never be acceptable to writers," the guild said in a statement.