So here’s a no-brainer news story for you: studios are taking issue with the pending writer’s strike. Duh! Of course they are against the potential strike – it’s their money that’s being risked here, and that, of course, is part of the reason for the strike.
Now, to be fair, it isn’t just the strike that has studios upset, but the instructions being laid down by the Writer’s Guild (WGA) – particularly the WGA’s desire to know the status of all unproduced material that’s been written for the studios, should the strike occur. The WGA insists the demand is in the interest of writers. By knowing the status of these scripts, the WGA can keep track of what changes have been made and whether scab writers have been brought in to make those changes. Unfortunately for the WGA, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers are viewing the request as an illegal move that breaches corporate secrets.
Universal and New Line have responded with a statement that writers alerting the WGA of project statuses will be in breach of contract, with more studios including Fox, Warner Brothers, Paramount, and Dream Works contemplating similar action.
According to Variety, the letter from Universal to writers reads as such: ”Pursuant to the agreement between you and Universal, you may not provide or discuss with the WGA any information concerning scripts owned by Universal, including the status of such scripts, the identity of the author thereof, whether or not a rewrite or other writing services are being performed and, if so, by whom, nor supply copies of any such scripts (including spec or sample scripts) to the WGA.” New Line’s letter is reportedly a bit more strict.
While negotiations are currently still underway, the strike could occur as early as Thursday, and ugly feuding like this indicates the chance of a strike could be higher than we’ve been lead to believe. The notion that talks are still ongoing typically infers that both parties are working toward an agreement, but it’s hard to believe any compromise will be made if those involved are fighting over script validation that is only needed should the strike happen.
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