WGA Board Approves Contract

Writers Guild of America board members on Tuesday unanimously approved a proposed three-year contract with producers.

The next step toward full contract ratification is a vote by the guild’s 11,000 members.

Guild members will be able to cast their ballots in person or by proxy at a June 4 meeting at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills or by mailed ballot delivered by that date. A simple majority of the full membership will determine ratification.

The guild’s East Coast and West Coast governing bodies met simultaneously in Los Angeles and New York, signing off on a package agreed to Friday by union negotiators, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the major television networks.

The two groups, composed of 19 directors in Los Angeles and 23 council members in New York, were linked for Tuesday’s meeting by a video conference.

The guild estimates the package will bring writers an additional $41 million over the contract’s three years, but it falls short of an early goal to revamp the formulas that establish how writers are paid.

Still, the deal lifted the threat of a writers’ strike that could have hobbled the economy of Los Angeles.

Other highlights of the deal include:

* The Fox television network would lose its second-string status in two years. Fox would begin paying 80% of what the other networks pay writers when the new contract is ratified. Next year, it would pay 90% of that full rate and 100% in 2003, the final year of the contract.

* Existing residual payments would remain for foreign television; however, writers would receive an additional 1.2% of revenue above a certain threshold. The previous residual cap would be eliminated.

* For Internet downloads and streaming video, writers would be paid at a rate of 1.2% of total revenue. The groups would continue to negotiate payments for evolving markets.