WGA Gets Ready to Rumble

Posted on September 23, 2006

The Writers Guild, led by new president Patric Verrone, marched on CBS last week in a show of solidarity for the upcoming negotiations with television networks about a number of issues that are crucial for screenwriters, as well as writers for reality TV shows. On the table for discussion will be TV residuals, pension benefits, health benefits and those sticky DVD and internet residual issues.

With more than 500 supporters cheering, Writers Guild of America, west, President Patric Verrone threw down the gauntlet to the major media companies Wednesday morning. "Every piece of media with a moving image on a screen or a recordable voice must have a writer and every writer must have a WGA contract," Verrone said at a spirited rally held at Pan Pacific Park in the Fairfax District.

The WGA's current minimum basic agreement contract expires at the end of next year and the guild's new aggressive leadership believes the most important bargaining session of their time lies ahead. WGA members from prime-time scripted shows, reality shows, daytime soaps, game shows, animated programs and movies converged for more than two hours chanting slogans, waving signs and all wearing matching red T-shirts. They were joined by members of sister unions Screen Actors Guild, Director's Guild of America, and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, among others.

"We intend to send a message of unity to the community," Verrone said before the group marched down Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Street around CBS studios. Phil Alden Robinson ("Field of Dreams") said the WGA is "at one of the watershed moments of our history," which he compared to the advent of television in the 1950s and home video in the '80s. He said a lack of guild unity resulted in about $2 billion in lost home video residuals. "We can stand united and win or we can be divided and lose," Robinson told the crowd. "What the companies want to give us is a poor deal that only covers some writers. What we want is a good deal that covers all writers."

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"Desperate Housewives" creator and head writer Marc Cherry, who brought his entire writing staff to the rally, said that due to the "ebb and flow" of the entertainment industry, residuals and benefits are of vital importance to writers. After Cherry ended a three-and-a-half year stint as a writer on "The Golden Girls" in 1993, he hit a dry patch until "Housewives" got the greenlight in 2004. "When I was really unemployed, the things that really kept me going were residuals and health benefits," Cherry said. "This is a rough town."

Writers marching in the streets. It's mind-boggling, really. At least all the signs and placards were spelled correctly, which has to be a first for a large rally.

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