Hollywood writers and producers ended their contract talks Saturday night with no new deal, but both sides pledged to extend negotiations even though the existing agreement has expired.
The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers met Saturday for the sixth straight day to try to resolve their differences over writers’ efforts to gain a larger share of profits from the $15 billion DVD market.
Both sides declined to comment.
Producers likely want a contract in hand to show advertisers by May 17, when the sale of time for TV commercials begins for the next season. The contract covering 11,000 TV and movie writers was set to expire at midnight.
“Obviously the potential of a strike underlies any of our negotiations,” WGA West President Daniel Petrie Jr. wrote Thursday in a message to members.
In a recent mailing to members, the union said a typical DVD sells for $16. The studios make a $10.55 profit on the sale, while writers get 5 cents, the union said.
Producers concede they have reaped millions of dollars from home video sales and that DVDs have become a major source of revenue.
They argue that on the TV side, DVD revenue is merely replacing money that had come from international markets that have dried up, syndication deals and licensing fees that had been increased after shows became hits.
A number of creative issues are also on the table, including rewrites. The WGA wants to banish the “one draft deal,” in which a screenwriter gets paid for a first draft and is expected to deliver numerous rewrites for free.
The last strike in 1988 delayed the start of the fall TV season. This season, however, thanks to the success of series such as “The Apprentice,” networks might be able to compensate by offering more unscripted reality shows.