The release of the official Pattern is the guilds' next constitutionally required step in the process in preparation for the July 16 start of talks with the AMPTP and major networks before the guilds' current Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) expires on October 31, 2007.

“The Negotiating Committee is comprised of working writers in television and film who know the Internet is the distribution channel of the future. We have families, and a significant portion of our income is dependent upon the reuse of our services. It is reasonable to expect that we will defend our income, based on royalty models the companies have endorsed in the past. If they get paid, we get paid. If they don't, we don't. This strikes me as perfectly reasonable. It's sane. We expect the companies to negotiate in similar good faith,” commented John F. Bowman, chair of the WGA's Negotiating Committee.

 “We look forward to bargaining a contract that benefits all writers. As new creative opportunities and income streams emerge in the entertainment industry, we must ensure that writers get their fair share of revenue generated by the content they create,” said WGAW President Patric M. Verrone.
 
“This negotiation is the most important negotiation in the last 20 years. Our members recognize that our bargaining issues will shape their economic lives well into the future. Our job is to make sure that every time a writer's work is watched or heard, the writer is fairly paid. If ever there was a negotiation that really counts, it's this one,” said WGAE President Chris Albers.

The WGA's Pattern has been unanimously recommended by the guilds' Negotiating Committee and has been presented for membership approval by the WGAW's Board of Directors and the WGAE's Council. While not venturing into specific detail on various proposals related to collective bargaining, the latest Pattern aims to inform an engaged and active WGA membership of the general demands that will be put on the table in the upcoming contract negotiations.

One of the key issues addressed in the Pattern of Demands - and on the minds of the guilds' over 12,000 members - involves the rapidly emerging area of new media, including negotiating residual formulas that properly compensate writers for the reuse of traditional material online, as well as defining terms for writing new material for non-traditional media platforms. The WGA also seeks to expand its current jurisdiction in areas where writers have been traditionally unrepresented or under-represented, including reality television, animation, game shows, and other non-fiction programming.

Other important issues include improving residual formulas that do not accurately reflect the current marketplace, most notably the DVD formula, concerns over the rise of product integration in TV and film, late-pay penalties, and improved compensation at new networks such as The CW and MyNetwork TV.

The WGA's 2007 Pattern of Demands outlines several critical areas currently at stake during this round of contract negotiations, including:

• Fair initial compensation and residuals for writing for the Internet and other non-traditional media.
• Increased initial compensation in all areas.
• Increased minimums and residuals for The CW.
• Increased DVD and videocassette residual payments.
• Expanded WGA coverage of reality programs and animation.
• Address product integration.

The guilds' Pattern caps a year of unprecedented interaction and dialogue with WGA members on both coasts, as leadership and staffs of both WGAW and WGAE have held a record number of member outreach meetings, special events, zip-code meetings, and show visits in the U.S. and abroad, including several cast-and-writing staff visits together with Screen Actors Guild (SAG) representatives, as entertainment industry talent guilds discuss shared issues and concerns.

The members of the WGA Negotiating Committee are: John F. Bowman, chair; Neal Baer, Marc Cherry, Bill Condon, Carlton Cuse, Stephen Gaghan, Terry George, David A. Goodman, Carl Gottlieb, Susannah Grant, Brian Koppelman, Carol Mendelsohn, Marc Norman, Shawn Ryan, Robin Schiff, Melissa Salmons, and Ed Solomon.

In addition, WGAW President Patric M. Verrone, WGAE President Chris Albers, WGAW Vice President David N. Weiss, WGAE Vice President Tom Fontana, WGAW Secretary-Treasurer Elias Davis, and WGAE Secretary-Treasurer Gail Lee serve as “ex-officio” members of the Negotiating Committee.

For more information about the Writers Guild of America, West, please visit www.wga.org; for more information about the Writers Guild of America, East, please visit: www.wgaeast.org.

The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) represent writers in the motion picture, broadcast, cable, and new media industries in both entertainment and news.