WGA issues demands

It's the first step in what promises to be contentious negotiations with movie and TV producers this fall. Topping the list is a new structure for compensating writers for content distributed on the Internet and other types of new media. The Writers Guild also wants DVD and videocassette payments to be upped - something that the union made little headway on during contract talks three years ago. "It is reasonable to expect that we will defend our income, based on royalty models the companies have endorsed in the past," said John Bowman, chairman of the WGA negotiating committee. "If they get paid, we get paid. If they don't, we don't. This strikes me as perfectly reasonable. It's sane. We expect the companies to negotiate in similar good faith." Guild members must still sign off on the list of demands. THR