WGA Approve New Contract

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Writers Overwhelmingly Approve New Contract WGA Says 94 Percent Approve Of Deal

Posted: 7:37 am CST February 27, 2008
Updated: 7:59 am CST February 27, 2008

LosOS Angeles -- The Writers Guild of America said its members have voted overwhelmingly to approve a new contract with Hollywood studios that increases payment for shows offered on the Internet.

The guild said that the deal was endorsed by almost 94 percent of those who voted in Los Angeles and New York.

The contract was approved through a mail-in ballot that came after members were briefed two weeks ago on the deal and voted to end the 100-day strike that devastated the entertainment industry.

Under the contract, writers will get a maximum flat fee of about $1,200 for programs streamed on the Internet during the deal's first two years and then get 2 percent of a distributor's gross in year three.

It's hard to tell if those who didn't vote were protesting the contract or if they just didn't bother to vote.

"This contract is a new beginning for writers in the digital age," said Patric M. Verrone, president of WGA West. "It ensures that guild members will be fairly compensated for the content they create for the Internet, and it also covers the reuse on new media platforms of the work they have done in film since 1971 and in TV since 1977."

The term of the three-year deal runs from this Feb. 13 to May 1, 2011.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.