For someone in the midst of negotiations that will decide the financial future of 12,000 people, David N. Weiss is surprisingly upbeat.
A break in those negotiations might have come last night as the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers presented a sweetened contract offer to striking film and TV writers. The offer would deliver more than $130 million in additional compensation to the writers, the producers said in a statement.
The $130 million sum appeared to be an annual figure, but it wasn't clear from the brief statement whether it was per year or over the life of a proposed new three-year agreement.
Negotiators requested a four-day recess to consider it, meaning the talks will resume Tuesday, the statement said.
There was no immediate comment from the Writers Guild of America.
On Wednesday, Weiss, the vice president of the Writers Guild of America West, was in Baltimore to speak to the Jewish community at the Etz Chaim Center before heading back to Hollywood for further talks.
Weiss, 48, was co-writer of Shrek 2 and the Oscar-nominated Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius and received an Emmy nomination as one of the head writers of the Rugrats series. He was elected vice president of the WGA West in 2005 and has been a member of the negotiating committee since the strike began. He talked about the strike and bargaining issues such as DVD and Internet residuals in an interview before his Etz Chaim appearance.
What is being focused on at the negotiating table right now?
The item that remains is the Internet and streaming [videos]. We're debating what the formula will be. Studios are acknowledging that they have to pay us something. ... The bigger issue that has galvanized people is the claim that writers shouldn't be paid any more than what we negotiate for individually. So executives could create something for the Internet, migrate it to television and then claim that [the writer] doesn't get anything for it. It's pretty nefarious.
Has this strike illuminated anything apart from Hollywood?
This strike and the [Broadway stagehands'] strike in New York are waking up America to a reality that most of middle America has been feeling already: the reality that it's hard to get health care and a pension and to find job security. While there are some superstar writers, most of the rank-and-file are just getting by.
What's the range in screenwriter salaries?
