LOS ANGELES – Highlights of the tentative contract agreement between Hollywood writers and producers:
FINANCIAL:
- Total payments to writers will increase by nearly $41 million over three years.
- A 3.5 percent raise in minimum payments for TV shows or movies, amounting to an increase of $29 million over the life of the contract.
- Residuals for made-for-pay cable programs like HBO’s “The Sopranos” and “Sex in the City” will increase from under $300,000 per year to almost $4 million per year.
- Fox will now be characterized as a full-fledged network and pay full fees to writers, rather than a discounted rate reserved for new companies like UPN and the WB.
- Foreign TV residuals will increase by about $1.3 million over the term of the contract.
- DVD and home video releases will result in bonus pay of $5,000, an increase of nearly $1 million per year by the end of the contract.
- Internet writers gain new protections under the plan, including health and pension benefits and intellectual property pay if the show is later used on TV or in a movie.
CREATIVE RIGHTS:
- New guidelines allow writers to attend script read-throughs and visit production set during filming. Writers also must be invited to premieres and press events.
- The original writer of a script must be consulted whenever a new writer is hired for revisions.
- Directors are now required to discuss the production with the writer prior to the start of filming. Before, a writer could lose control of a project once the director was hired.
- The guild agreed to drop its objection to the so-called possessory film credit — often given to directors in the form of “A film by …” on credits. Writers say this credit minimizes their contribution, but writers guild officials decided it would be better to pursue the matter another time than let it jeopardize a settlement.
