PC, have you been reading Variety? They have given up all pretense of actually reporting news.

Heh, I don't read it regularly or anything. Just when it's linked.

I don't know about "pissed off". Home entertainment operates on a lag just like features. TV folks are still the only ones really feeling it from my limited perspective.

The L.A. Times says:

In a new three-year contract, directors negotiated a better deal than what studios had initially offered writers, including higher royalties for online sales of their movies and TV shows.

But still no specific details.

Interesting. So what is the catch?

They don't go on strike.

bah-dum-bum.

NY Times says:

The accord achieves a breakthrough for union members by doubling compensation for television shows that are downloaded via the Internet, and raising by 80 percent the rate for movie downloads. In addition, directors — for the first time — will be compensated for advertising-supported streaming of shows.

Over all, the agreement was designed to reflect the directors’ belief, bolstered by an independent study of industry economics, that digital media will render the companies a negligible amount of revenue during the life of the contract, and will become significant only after 2010.

Um, isn't that the sort of thinking that ended up getting everyone fucked over by VHS/DVD?

Um, isn't that the sort of thinking that ended up getting everyone fucked over by VHS/DVD?

Seems that way. I don't think I'm going to actually get anymore work done today.

T, I didn't mean so much pissed off now - I mean longer term.

Seems that way. I don't think I'm going to actually get anymore work done today.

It's just like...do they think the AMPTP is going to be more willing to give them a better cut once they actually see the shitload of revenue they can keep for themselves?

Hollywood Reporter says:

Whether WGA brass will feel similarly positive about the terms the DGA secured is another matter. But on Thursday, the directors announced a new three-year tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture of Motion Picture & Television Producers that would deliver:

-- Increases in wages and residual bases for each year of the contract.

-- DGA jurisdiction over programs produced for distribution on the Internet.

-- New residuals formula for paid Internet downloads (electronic sell-through) that essentially doubles the rate currently paid by employers.

-- Residual rates for ad-supported streaming and use of clips on the Internet.

Key new-media provisions appear substantial.

The agreement more than doubles the current residual on downloads of TV programming and boosts film residuals on downloads by 80%, officials said. A roughly $600 payment for ad-supported streaming kicks in after the first 17 days of streaming, followed by additional payments after 26 weeks totaling $1,200 for a year's worth of streaming.

"Two words describe this agreement -- groundbreaking and substantial," said Gil Cates, chair of the DGA's Negotiations Committee, in announcing the terms of the new agreement. "The gains in this contract for directors and their teams are extraordinary -- and there are no rollbacks of any kind."

(Thanks to wga_supporters for the postings.)