WGA Files Lawsuit Against AMPTP and Begins Negotiating with Individual Companies

On Friday, December 7th, the AMPTP, or the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, walked out of negotiations with the Writers Guild of America. The AMPTP has refused to return to the bargaining table until writers completely take six bargaining points off the table.

One of the heated bargaining points surrounds the WGA's desire to include writers of reality shows and game shows in their new contract negotiations. The AMPTP has vehemently refused to do so.

Another hot topic surrounds Internet residuals. The AMPTP fears giving away too much leverage in an industry they know too little about. Their hesitance to even listen to negotiations surrounding this seems troublesome, especially when television will one day be routed through Internet. Currently Internet provides substantial money to studios, as was evidenced when Viacom sued Google for youtube videos seeking over $1 billion.

On December 13th, the WGA filed an unfair labor charge against the AMPTP. In a letter from the WGAw president, Patric M. Verrone, he made the statement that "their [the studios] unilateral walkout from negotiations last Friday, and their on-going refusal to bargain is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act."

In the mean time, the DGA has weighed in that they will begin negotiating with the AMPTP in the New Year. The direct result of the DGA and AMPTP could have lasting impact on the writer's strike. The DGA negotiating a deal could greatly impact the end result for the writers.

Because of the vast amount of people left unemployed this holiday season, the WGA has announced that they will begin bargaining directly with individual production companies since the AMPTP has refused to sit down to collective bargaining.

David Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, has already agreed to consider signing an interim agreement. David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, and Jay Leno have been very supportive of the writer's plight as they are too WGA members.