Writers Meet to Decide Next Step

The membership of the Writers Guild of America meets Thursday night to decide their next move after talks with the major studios failed to produce a new contract. Talks between the WGA, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and a federal mediator broke off Wednesday, the last day of the Guild’s contract. The meeting at the Los Angeles Convention Center will “update everyone in person on negotiations and what our next options will be,” WGA President Patric M. Verrone write in an e-mail to the membership, the Los Angeles Times reported. In October, Guild membership overwhelmingly approved the union to call a strike if a new contract did not materialize. A key disagreement between the WGA and the Alliance is over the amount of residuals writers receive when their work appears in home entertainment formats an in new media streaming video, downloads, and mobile devices. A writers strike in 1988 lasted five months and brought a $500 million hit to the region’s economy.