Screenwriters optimistic but resolved over talks

A picket sign from the Writers Guild of America is seen as members protest in front of NBC studios in Burbank, California January 2, 2008. Striking Hollywood writers will meet face to face with studio executives this week for the first time since their contract talks collapsed on December 7, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Gloomy weather and an increasingly dreary economic climate did not dampen the resolve of picketing screenwriters, encouraged by the renewal of talks between their union and studio executives on Wednesday.

Representatives of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) met face to face for the first time since their contract talks collapsed on December 7.

The parties' "informal discussions" are aimed at laying the groundwork for official bargaining to resume, and the studios' recent labor pact with Hollywood directors is expected to be a centerpiece of those talks.

The directors' deal contains several key provisions to pay union members more for work distributed over the Internet, the chief sticking point in the studios' dispute with writers.

"We feel that the door's open," said Christopher Lloyd, a striking WGA member and executive producer of the new Fox network sitcom "Back To You," as he marched in the rain around Paramount Studios on Tuesday.

But he and other writers -- picketing on a day when U.S. stocks continued to reel on recession fears -- said they would not let economic worries or other factors pressure them into agreeing to a deal that falls short of their ideals.

"It doesn't help morale that the country's heading into recession, but everyone in this business is used to good times and bad times, and we're still focused on the main issue that Hollywood is in transition," Lloyd said.

Some 10,500 screenwriters walked off the job on November 5, throwing the U.S. television industry into turmoil, derailing a number of motion picture projects and idling thousands of Hollywood production workers.

Several writers said the growing economic fears actually strengthened their resolve to secure higher reuse fees for their work, payments called "residuals," which help to fund the guild's medical plan.

"It (economy) does make me more worried about things like health care. If we don't fight for good residuals now, I'll be begging on the street for health care when I'm 65," said Colette Burson, a film and television writer.

FIGHT OF A LIFETIME

Writers are seeking sharply higher residual rates for films and TV shows resold as Internet downloads, as well as new fees for advertising-supported online streaming of their work.

Burson said securing adequate rates is critical since she expects they will contribute more to writers' income as the industry migrates further onto the Web.

"The market fluctuations are happening now, but this fight is for our lifetime," she said.

It remained to be seen whether the Directors Guild of America (DGA) deal will be used as a template by the Writers Guild for its own deal. The new-media provisions in the DGA deal fall short of compensation sought by writers, but drew praise from past WGA president John Wells.

"This is a historic deal," Wells ("ER," "The West Wing") wrote in an e-mail posted last Friday. He credited the strike with putting the needed pressure on studios to make a deal that he called "very good ... for writers, for directors, for the future."

But some writers on the picket lines were less enamored with the deal and disagreed with Wells' assessment.

"Maybe we can build on that DGA deal, but I think there would be a backlash by members if the WGA just rubber-stamped it," Burson said.

"I think the first reaction to the DGA deal was very positive, but on second blush, many feel it doesn't address writers' needs," Lloyd said.

In a concession aimed at smoothing the path toward an eventual settlement, the WGA this week abandoned two union proposals seeking to expand its contract to reality TV and animation writers.

Some old-timers, like 89-year-old WGA member Bob Schiller, who picketed from his wheelchair in the rain this week, said the union needed to stick with its goals.

"You can always think of excuses for not paying writers what they're worth, but I'm not buying any of these excuses," said Schiller, whose credits include TV sitcom classic "I Love Lucy.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Todd Eastham)