THE STRIKE QUESTION: WAS IT WORTH IT? (VAR, THR, LAT, NYT)

By Nancy Vialatte

Internet ink is flowing today in response to the impending end to the writers strike. Variety takes a look at whether or not the walk out was financially worth it - The Los Angeles Times says “yes” - while The Hollywood Reporter puts the cost to Hollywood at $2 billion. The New York Times, meanwhile, says that at least the threat of an actors’ strike this summer is now less likely.

For the writers, the strike was worth it, says Variety. But when it comes down to dollars and cents, the victories in new media that may pay big dividends in the future have come at a high price in the here and now.

The contract agreement between the WGA and the AMPTP includes precedent-setting deal points and establishes residuals formulas for the first time in the uncharted waters of new-media reuse - gains that most likely would not have been achieved had the work stoppage not occurred.

For the WGA, it was all about setting precedent and cementing the idea that scribes deserve to be paid for Internet exploitation of their work. More specifically, they wanted a deal that paid them a percentage of distributor's gross, on the principle that "when you get paid, we get paid." (VAR)

But the cost of achieving that principle through a strike has been considerable -- particularly for the busiest and most successful WGA members with the most to lose. Meanwhile, the money to be made through the hard-fought new-media residuals is not exactly eye-popping. (VAR)

A TV writer, for example, will earn about $1,400-$1,600 a year for each streamed episode on which he is the credited writer -- while some showrunners may have lost as much as six figures from unproduced episodes. Screenwriters will probably earn less from this new income source, as Web streaming of movies is not nearly as ubiquitous as streaming of TV programs. Meanwhile, pic scribes have lost out on assignments and on rewrite and polish deals, and they will face the intangible costs of having lost the momentum a project may have had before the strike -- momentum that may or may not be regained. (VAR)

Meanwhile, the tally of a $2 billion loss to the industry – four times what the 1988 strike cost - was felt largely by independent contractors, small-business owners and others whose TV production crews are favored customers.

The Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. estimates that while $733 million in production spending has been lost, another $1.3 billion came from the pockets of the caterers, florists, valets, hotel operators, restaurant workers, costume-house employees and others, notes THR.

For example, Alan Shanedling, president of the Greater California Livery Assn – and whose Fleetwood Limousine lost $200,000 in revenue in January alone – told THR, "I don't know a lot about the details of the strike. But I blame both sides. Nobody wins during a strike. History keeps proving that."

The LAT, however, feels the writers can claim a victory:

Against formidable odds, some well-earned skepticism and endless carping from nonwriting workers who viewed themselves as collateral damage in a provincial border war, guild officials stuck to their guns and negotiated a contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that, while maybe not a historic win for labor, improves some terms from the recent Directors Guild of America contract, offers a blueprint for future payouts on digital media and even eases some of the pain of the oft-lamented 1988 contract, in which writers failed to achieve their objectives despite a five-month walkout. (LAT)

“There comes a time in any strike when it is time to settle, and that time is when the pressure is greatest on both sides,” David Young, executive director of the WGAW, said at a news conference Sunday.

The NYT points out that the prospect of a writers’ settlement has already changed a complicated power equation that has kept a strike-weary business on edge about a possible walkout by perhaps 150,000 actors when their own contract expires, on June 30.

With writers pointed back to work and directors having settled their new contract weeks ago, the actors would stand alone if they pressed for gains larger than those just achieved by their colleagues, especially in the contentious area of new media. (NYT)

But there was enough sweetness and light in the air by Sunday afternoon to make the prospect of more conflict seem remote, says the Times. One top executive said his lesson from the last few months was, “People should talk to each other.”

Even Patric Verrone, the president of the West Coast writers’ guild, was joked Sunday about the joys of returning to the grind. “Writers can be back at work on Wednesday,” even as his recorded voice was going out to writers on robocalls, talking up the deal and describing the vote. “Or even Tuesday night if they want to go to the office really, really late.”