Striking writers get support in Europe

European film and TV writers demonstrated Wednesday in support of their striking U.S. colleagues.

In London, several dozen writers rallied in front of the headquarters of Britain’s main union federation holding red-and-black placards saying: “We Support the Writers Guild of America.”

Mark Burton, a British writer whose credits include “Madagascar” and “Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” said the issue at stake was “how you pay creative artists in the digital world.”

The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since Nov. 5, halting production on many TV shows and movies. The main issue: payment for work shown on new media outlets such as the Internet and mobile phones.

In Paris, a few dozen screenwriters and others joined a march from the Opera Garnier to the Trocadero Plaza across from the Eiffel Tower in support of their American counterparts. In Berlin, about 30 scriptwriters and actors gathered in front of the Brandenburg Gate.