If a deal between the Director Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Televison Producers is indeed “imminent” — a term used in a 1.15 story by Hollywood Reporter‘s Carl DiOrio, and perhaps referring to next week, which is when the next negotiating session is set to take place — will the Writers Guild negotiators take this deal also, which will bring the strike to an end?
DiOrio wrote that “Hollywood has the collective sense that the DGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) will quickly hammer out a new contract to replace the pact set to expire June 30.”
Doesn’t the Apple TV idea — digitally providing movies straight to the tube via a high-speed internet connection — open things up considerably? The whole world, I mean? DVD and Blu-Ray are now looking at the end of the road. In ten years or so (perhaps sooner) it’ll all be digital downloads straight to your television. WGA and DGA members now receive penny-ante payments from the number of DVDs sold to retailers…right? Shouldn’t everyone be looking at rates based on digital downloads on this or that film? Won’t this be the basic commercial magilla sooner or later?
It’ll all come down to how insultingly low a revenue percentage will the AMPTP offer the WGA. Probably something between 1% and 2%, I’m guessing. If the DGA takes something along these lines, the WGA will have to go with this also…no?