New WGA Deal Contains Changes In Options & Exclusivity Rules, Increases In Compensation Rates & Cable Script Minimums, 0.5% Pension Increase, No Rollbacks

With the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and TV Producers reaching an agreement on a new three-year contract late last night, the union this afternoon filled in its members  on what actually is in the deal via an email (see below) from Negotiating Committee Co-Chairs Chip Johannessen and Billy Ray out of the “complicated and protracted” negotiations ”The three-year deal features increases to our minimum compensation rates, increased contributions to our Pension Plan, minimums for subscription video-on-demand programs, increased residuals for ad-supported streaming, outsized increases in script minimums for one-hour basic cable writers, and a doubling of the theatrical script publication fee,” said the message to members.
Perhaps the biggest step forward in the new agreement is in the issue of options and exclusivity, a stickler for the WGA during these contract talks. Starting New Year’s Day 2015, writers who earn less than $200,000 per contract year will no longer have to be exclusive to a network or company except “during periods when the writer is being paid for his or her writing services” and  ”the Company may not hold a writer for more than 90 days under a negotiated option agreement without paying a holding fee of at least 1/3 of the MBA minimum for the writer’s services.” Additionally, Johannessen and Billy Ray say that the producers’ pre-talks request for $60 million in rollbacks from the health and pension plans, residuals and targeted screenplay minimums were ... Read More »

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