Petition to Support WGA

As many of you know, I have been covering the WGA strike over the past few months. As an actor, and with many friends as writers, I've taken particular interest in this cause. California's economy has taken a severe blow and thousands of people have been left without work.

A fellow Associated Content writer asked that I please post a link for anyone that care to sign the Petition established by United Hollywood and the Writer's Guild of America. It is being presented to the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Production.) Here it is...

www.petitiononline.com/WGA/petition.html

Currently, negotiations are at a halt. The AMPTP walked away from the tables and have refused to continue until the WGA pulls several key points off the table. The WGA has refused to do so. Most points surround the WGA wanting to include writers for reality shows and news programs in the negotiations and all points surrounding Internet residual income.

The AMPTP professes that Internet is not a viable source of income, however if media continues to evolve, all cable and television feeds will exist through Internet connection, thus leaving the writers, actors and directors with absolutely no residual income aside from DVD sales, which are currently extremely low. Viacom recently sued Google over lost money on www.youtube.com for over $1 billion dollars, yet the AMPTP continues to state that Internet is not profitable.

Most recently, SAG has announced that actors have decided to not attend the Golden Globe Awards. How this will effect the Oscars in late February is undecided.

Most people involved with the studios and Writer's Guild all wish to see this strike resolved. If interested in signing a petition supporting the writers, please follow the link above. For more information on the strike, please feel free to visit the following websites.

www.wga.org
www.unitedhollywood.com
www.sag.org
www.amptp.org