Guilds Win A Major Round
Posted by Kassia Krozser in Mediacratic on Apr 26, 2006
It’s being reported today that SAG and WGA have achieved a major victory with regard to upcoming mobisodes of Lost. ABC and Touchstone have agreed to pay actors and writers according to the Pay Television formula for residuals instead of following the rather dated video/DVD formula.
Now, since this agreement means the shows will have increased costs, the fact that the producers agreed to the higher rate means, well, they’re expecting a nice chunk of cash to change hands. No problem there.
Of course, this also creates a precedent for future deals — and make no mistake about it: the guilds will press their advantage. The studios have been on shaky ground for years. It’s not likely they will get away with basing residuals on 20% of net revenues for much longer. The fight over DVD residuals was a textbook case of brinksmanship with one side blinking. I can’t see the guilds letting the formula stand as online media gains in popularity.
In other news, I’m pretty sure we’ve suckered Kirk into playing the Lost game.
Does anybody else have an issue with the word “mobisode?” Shouldn’t that really be reserved for shows like The Sopranos??