An Interview with Tony Bui on the WGA Strike

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) continues to strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).   The strike began on November 5, 2007 over the new Minimum Basic Agreement contract between the AMPTP, which includes studios and networks, and the WGA, which is composed of writers. The Minimum Basic Agreement includes various issues under contention.   The issues in debate include DVD residuals, union jurisdiction over animation and reality program writers, and compensation for “new media,” particularly the content written for or distributed through the Internet and other forms of technology.
On November 26, 2007, AMPTP agreed to meet with WGA for a negotiation.  However, on December 7, AMPTP stopped negotiations.
VAALA interviewed Tony Bui, a writer for film, television and Internet video games and WGA member for five years, to understand the purpose of the strike and show its support.

VAALA: Is it correct that the strike is in regard to AMPTP's new  Minimum Basic Agreement contract?  What are the key issues in contention?
Bui:     The WGA members are striking over one main area of contention: New Media—Internet, phone content, etc.  The Internet is really what the focus of the strike is about.  As of now, the studios/networks are saying that the Internet is too new, and that there is no proven business model and real money to be made right now from the work of writers [for] film, TV shows, etc. shown on [the Internet], thus they can’t be locked down to sharing the profits.  However, numerous printed studies and articles have shown otherwise—that the majority of media and entertainment is shifting over to the Internet and a lot of money is currently being made in this domain, and will grow significantly.  A lot of YouTube postings have shown clips of studio moguls claiming huge profits and a bright future for distribution on the Internet to shareholders, but then turn around and say there is no money to be made to the WGA. 
To put the above in historical perspective, 20 years ago, the WGA went on strike over the “new media” of that time—home video and DVDs.  The studios/networks at the time also claimed this “new” medium was too uncertain and fresh, thus writers should not be paid much.  The writers caved in, and agreed to a horrible deal that still exists to this day —4 cents for every video or DVD sold, [this] hasn’t increased in 20 years.  To put it in perspective, that is less than one-third of 1 percent.  To put it in further context, it costs more to package the DVD with plastic, ink and paper, than to pay the writer.  The WGA today wants to make sure the same mistake will not be duplicated for the “new media” of our time, the Internet.
In short, the studios/networks and the WGA disagree about what is fair pay for work distributed over the Internet.  Since Internet distribution will eventually replace DVDs, a bad rate would result in a great lost of income for all writers, and enormous profits for studios/networks.  This is what the strike is about, and [is] why it is so important.  How these negotiations end up will affect writers for the next 20 years.

VAALA: What do you and other members of the WGA hope to achieve with the strike?
Bui:     We all hope the strike will be as strong and as effective as possible in shutting down new films and TV shows from being produced for the studios/networks (if there are no writers, there will be no films or TV shows), thus forcing the studios/networks to quickly negotiate a fair deal and end the strike as soon as possible.  In other words, the more effective the strike, the more studios/networks lose money, the shorter the strike will be.  What we ultimately hope to get out of it is a fair contract that will allow writers to receive residuals for their work when it is shown on the Internet and other emerging media platforms.

VAALA: Do you have anything else you would like to say?
Bui:     This is the most important fight for writers in 20 years.  And how the writers do will not only affect WGA members today, but also future generations of writers.  As past writers sacrificed and fought for current writers to have pension, health care, etc., the writers of today are fighting for a fair deal and treatment that will affect writers tomorrow and beyond.  But the issue is even bigger than the livelihood of writers.  The outcome of this will affect all artists because – if the studios/networks which are run by a handful of mega-corporations win – then they will not surely stop at the WGA.  Numerous other unions and organizations will be next, and will lose as well.  We are all in this together, and the success of our union and our strike will help ensure a template for the success and fair compensation of all artists in our industry.