CONTRACT TALKS WITH WGA TO BEGIN ON MONDAY

Contract negotiations between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) are set to begin on Monday, with a likely focus on cable-TV payments and residuals. A breakdown in talks over cable-TV issues resulted in a 14-week strike that paralyzed Hollywood in 2007 and 2008. At the time, however, few original programs were produced for cable and those that were had budgets that were a fraction of those for broadcast TV. The Wall Street Journal observed today that times have changed and “as cable shows proliferate and occasionally draw network-size audiences, cable is helping generate a growing share of writers’ pay.” Currently, it noted, writers working on a half-hour show for a cable network earn about 30 percent less than their broadcast network counterparts.