Ah, that makes more sense, Polgara. If you are gonna strike, you should at least do it in a way which fucks things up. The NYT article is certainly something to chew over, Tom.

Rob Thomas actually talked about this in a recent interview:

Ok, so shifting gears a bit, everyone right now is talking about the potential writer’s strike. Do you think it’s going to happen and how do you think it would affect TV this season?

I think it will happen, and I’m not sure anyone knows how it will affect TV. It depends on how long the strike lasts. You know, if the strike is a couple of weeks, no one will even feel it. If it’s three months it means, look for a lot of repeat and reality on television.

Do you think that there’s any way that they would allow it to go that long?

Um... Yeah, I mean, we are far far far apart on the issues. It could be pretty contentious.

And what exactly are the issues? I know it has stuff to do with the online rights and stuff.

Yeah, you know, their -- the studios’ current position is that writers would not receive any residuals for any new media, ala iTunes and downloadable content. And they want to rollback our already miniscule DVD residuals. And then there are other issues like bringing reality under the Writers Guild tent, which, strange as it sounds is actually good for writers because people are certainly writing reality shows and constructing stories on those and yet they get paid so much less than we do, which makes those shows cheaper and it also makes it easy for networks to overwork and underpay those people.

And then there are other issues like bringing reality under the Writers Guild tent

I'd been kind of assuming this was inevitable, but I'm not surprised it's also a very contentious issue.

I think the quote means to say that the studios' position is that the writers would NOT receive any residuals for any new media...

I think the WGA is asking for 8 cents per DVD instead of the current 4 cents as well.

I think the quote means to say that the studios' position is that the writers would NOT receive any residuals for any new media...

Yeah, that makes more sense to me. I was reading it again and not seeing the sense. Probably a transcription error. Because it doesn't make any sense for writers not to get residuals off that, as it's no different from getting DVD residuals.

Hollywood Producers Drop a Key Demand

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 16 — Trying to break a three-month impasse in contract negotiations with Hollywood’s screenwriters, producers withdrew a contentious proposal on Tuesday that would have retooled the entertainment industry’s decades-old practice of paying so-called residuals for the reuse of movies and television programs on DVD and elsewhere.

So they've decided not to decrease the DVD residuals, but they've also said they won't increase them, if I read that right.

Writers not being paid for new media stuff is shit. That's why the BSG webisodes got killed, from memory.

Writers not being paid for new media stuff is shit.

If I understand correctly, the writers get paid for what they write; they just don't get residuals. Which is a big "just", but I wanted to clarify.

As I understand it -- and I could well be wrong -- there's been situations where companies have claimed new media stuff comes under promotion, so the payment differs (or doesn't appear at all).