Category: Business

’30 Rock’ rolls ads into story lines
In the Nov. 15 episode of NBC’s “30 Rock,” Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey, in their roles as Jack Donaghy and Liz Lemon, sang the praises of Verizon Wireless before Fey looked right into the camera and asked, “Can we have our money now?”
At least in this case, art did indeed imitate life. Verizon said it handed over an integration fee to NBC, in addition to some marketing support, for the mini-commercial within one of the network’s hottest shows.
The scene in question featured Jack saying, “These Verizon Wireless phones are just so popular. I accidentally grabbed one belonging to an acquaintance.” Liz responded, “Well, sure that Verizon Wireless service is just unbeatable. If I saw a phone like that on TV, I would be like, ‘Where is my nearest retailer so I can get one?’ ” She then broke the fourth wall and addressed the camera with the plea for cash.
“We talk with NBC on a consistent basis about opportunities,” said Lou Rossi, director of media and sponsorships at Verizon Wireless. “We had engaged them to think about some ways we could help increase our presence in the marketplace, and they came back to us with the ’30 Rock’-specific opportunity.”
Rossi declined to disclose how much Verizon paid for the “30 Rock” integration but said that in addition to fees, it provided marketing support for the show with a co-branded ad in Maxim magazine and promotional content on VerizonWireless.com. “We want an integration to be as organic and natural to a show as it can be,” he said. “Certainly with the ’30 Rock’ humor and writing, this type of integration just works well for them and for Verizon Wireless as well.” NBC declined comment on the financial terms of the deal.
It’s not the first time the irreverent NBC comedy has made a joke of the increasingly common practice of product integration while at the same time plugging a network advertiser. In fall 2006, there was a similar spoof with Snapple in the episode “Jack-Tor,” which featured Lemon and the show-within-a-show’s other writers protesting a directive from GE and Donaghy to write product placement into the show all while talking about how much they love Snapple. The dialogue included lines like “I only date guys who drink Snapple” and ended with Donaghy saying, “Yes, everyone loves Snapple. Lord knows I do.” There was even a guy in a Snapple suit who walked out of the elevator asking for the human resources department.
Snapple’s integration was part of its media buy on the network, a company spokeswoman said.
Despite the integration deals, “30 Rock” has made it onto Nielsen’s list of the top 10 shows with product placement only one time since the fall season started. “The Office,” another NBC show known for cutting major integration deals with advertisers in the past but which insists it no longer is involved in any such deals, turned up on the Nielsen top 10 list for four of the first five weeks of the fall season.
Through Nov. 18, Nielsen tracked 142 placements this season for a total of 779 seconds, or nearly 13 minutes, for “30 Rock,” compared with 381 occurrences for a total of 2,505 seconds, or nearly 42 minutes, for “Office.” From Sept. 24-Nov. 11, there were more than 80 brand mentions on “Office,” according to Nielsen. But sources at Reveille and NBC insisted the placements were all scripted and viewed as adding to the humor of the show rather than emerging from any media buys or integration deals with NBC Entertainment or Reveille.
“Office” showrunner Greg Daniels has said that the show is no longer doing product integration because he “found it pretty impossible to balance the desires of the ad agencies and their clients with the creative needs of the show.”
Among the brands with the most frequent or longest-lasting placements in “Office” this season are Hewlett-Packard, Boise Paper, Cisco Systems, Ever apparel, Microsoft, Vizio televisions, Toyota, Ford and Office Depot.
Staples, which cut a major integration deal with “Office” last season, had only three placements this season, lasting a total of nine seconds, compared with 56 occurrences lasting 334 seconds, or 5 1/2 minutes, in the full 2006-2007 season through Sept. 23, including repeats.
All of last season, including repeats, “Office” tallied 1,463 placements — 427 verbal and 1,086 visual — for a total of 9,110 seconds, or slightly more than 2 1/2 hours.

NBC Mulls Late-Night Replacements
Layoffs at NBC’s late-night staples could begin this week — or the network could keep at least “The Tonight Show” on the air with guest hosts later this month.
Those are two of the possibilities the networks is considering for its top-rated late-night lineup, which was in repeats last week as a result of the Writers Guild strike and will be again this week. “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno and “Late Night’s” Conan O’Brien, both of whom also write material for their shows, have refused to cross picket lines. The same is true of CBS’ “Late Show” and “Late Late Show” and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
Because the shows are idle, NBC has informed the non-writing employees of both shows that layoffs could begin as soon as Friday. The folks at “Last Call” are in the same boat, according to a number of news outlets.
NBC is also, however, considering bringing at least “The Tonight Show” back onto the air, with guest hosts filling in for Leno, Broadcast & Cable reports. A guest-hosted show — one still without writers — could get on the air as soon as Monday, Nov. 19.
“All sorts of things are being discussed, including guest hosts,” “Tonight Show” executive producer Debbie Vickers says in a statement. “Our preference is that we return to production of ‘The Tonight Show’ with Jay as host as soon as possible. We want to protect the staff, who have been loyal to this show for decades, in the same way that Johnny Carson reluctantly returned without his writers in 1988.”
Carson returned to “Tonight” during 1988 writers strike, thereby providing work and a paycheck to the camera crew, grips and other staff members of the show. David Letterman followed suit, famously filling time during one writerless show by getting a shave.
If NBC does decide to go the guest-host route, the not-insignificant question will be who would cross the picket line to fill Leno’s chair. No names have been floated yet.

Writers strike sends shows into reruns
LOS ANGELES – Americans may be getting more sleep after Hollywood writers went on strike Monday and forced the nation’s late-night talk shows to start airing reruns.
NBC said the “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” will immediately air repeats.
Still, Leno made an appearance at the Burbank studio, arriving on a motorcycle to visit strikers walking a picket line.
CBS said “The Late Show with David Letterman” will also offer repeats all week. The list of casualties included every other major late-night show.
The first strike by Hollywood writers in nearly 20 years got under way with noisy pickets on both coasts after last-minute negotiations on Sunday failed to produce a deal on payments to writers from shows offered on the Internet.
No new negotiations were scheduled, although the Writers Guild of America negotiating committee was set to meet Monday afternoon.
Nick Counter, chief negotiator for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, said he expected a long standoff.
“We’re hunkered down for a long one,” he said. “From our standpoint, we made every good faith effort to negotiate a deal and they went on strike. At some point, conversations will take place. But not now.”
The strike will not immediately impact production of movies or prime-time TV programs. Most studios have stockpiled dozens of movie scripts, and TV shows have enough scripts or completed shows in hand to last until early next year.
Disruptions by strikers ended filming at a Studio City cafe being used as a location for the CBS show “Cane.”
Tom Hogan, a location manager for the show, said he had hired two off-duty Los Angeles police officers in addition to five private security guards to maintain order during the shoot.
He said the filming began hours before the 20 pickets arrived and involved a script that was finished several weeks ago.
No other major problems were reported at studios or filming locations.
At the CBS lot in Studio City, about 40 people hoisted signs and applauded when picketing began.
Robert Port, a writer for the TV show “Numb3rs,” said he was as ready as possible for what could be a long walkout.
“We live in Los Angeles, your bank account can never really be ready for this,” he said.
Only about half of the pickets wore their official red strike T-shirts.
“Writers aren’t the easiest cats to corral,” said Don McGill, another writer for “Numb3rs.”
The first noisy strikers appeared outside the “Today” show set at Rockefeller Center in New York, where NBC is headquartered. The show is not directly affected by the strike because news writers are part of a different union.
A giant, inflated rat was displayed, as about 40 people shouted, “No contract, no shows!”
“They claim that the new media is still too new to structure a model for compensation,” said Jose Arroyo, a writer for “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.”
“We say give us a percentage so if they make money, we make money,” Arroyo said.
Starting TV writers earn about $70,000 per season for full-time work on a show. Veteran writers who move up to a story-editor position make at least a low six-figure salary, with a “written by” credit on an hourlong script paying an additional $30,000 plus residuals.
Diana Son, a writer for “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” said she has three children and getting residuals was the only way she could take time off after giving birth.
“It’s an extremely volatile industry,” Son said. “There’s no job security. Residuals are an important part of our income. There’s no cushion.”
Millie Kapzen of Memphis, Tenn., who watched the New York pickets from across the street, said she was “disgusted. … I really think they should try harder to negotiate.”
Kapzen said she sells advertising for radio stations. “We’ve already had cancellations of sweeps weeks ads” by the networks, she said.
Writers have not gone on strike since 1988, when the walkout lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry more than $500 million.
The battle has broad implications for the way Hollywood does business, since whatever deal is struck by writers will likely be used as a template for talks with actors and directors, whose contracts expire next June.
Talks began in July and continued after the writers contract expired last Wednesday.
Producers said writers were not willing to compromise on major issues.
Writers said they withdrew a proposal to increase their share of revenue from the sale of DVDs that had been a stumbling block for producers.
They also said proposals by producers in the area of Internet reuse of TV episodes and films were unacceptable.
In Los Angeles, writers planned to picket 14 studio locations in four-hour shifts from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day until a new deal is reached.
Networks said other late-night show bound for reruns included “The Daily Show,” “Colbert Report,” “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “Last Call with Carson Daly.”
Ellen DeGeneres was a no-show Monday for filming of her daytime talk show on NBC.
“Ellen did not go to work today in support of her writers,” said Kelly Bush, her publicist.
New episodes of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” that were filmed before the strike were set to air Monday and Tuesday. But it was unclear what might happen with the show later in the week, Bush said.
“Dancing With the Stars,” one of the country’s highest-rated prime-time shows, would air as planned on Monday, ABC said.
One key factor that could determine the damage caused by the strike is whether members of a powerful Hollywood Teamsters local honor the picket lines.
Local 399, which represents truck drivers, casting directors and location managers, had told its members that as a union, it has a legal obligation to honor its contracts with producers.
But the clause does not apply to individuals.
Steve Dayan, business agent of the local, said Monday he had heard of no problems on the picket lines involving his members.
He did not know if members were honoring the lines or crossing them.
“Our members have a choice whether they want to honor it or not,” Dayan said. “I’m sure there are people honoring and some that are crossing. It’s their individual right.”

Hollywood writers begin strike
LOS ANGELES (AP) ó Film and TV writers resolved to put down their pens and take up picket signs after last-ditch talks failed to avert a strike.
The first picket lines were set to appear Monday morning at Rockefeller Center in New York, where NBC is headquartered.
In Los Angeles, writers were planning to picket 14 studio locations in four-hour shifts from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day until a new deal is reached.
The contract between the 12,000-member Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producer expired Oct. 31. Talks that began this summer failed to produce much progress on the writers’ key demands for a bigger slice of DVD profits and revenue from the distribution of films and TV shows over the Internet.
Writers and producers gathered for negotiations Sunday at the request of a federal mediator.
The two sides met for nearly 11 hours before East Coast members of the writers union announced on their Web site that the strike had begun for their 4,000 members.
Producers said writers refused a request to “stop the clock” on the planned strike while talks continued.
“It is unfortunate that they choose to take this irresponsible action,” producers said in a statement.
Producers said writers were not willing to compromise on their major demands.
Writers said they withdrew a proposal to increase their share of revenue from the sale of DVDs that had been a stumbling block for producers. They also said the proposals by producers in the area of Internet reuse of TV episodes and films were unacceptable.
“The AMPTP made no response to any of the other proposals that the WGA has made since July,” writers said in a statement.
The strike is the first walkout by writers since 1988. That work stoppage lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry more than $500 million.
The first casualty of the strike would be late-night talk shows, which are dependent on current events to fuel monologues and other entertainment.
Daytime TV, including live talk shows such as “The View” and soap operas, which typically tape about a week’s worth of shows in advance, would be next to feel the impact.
The strike will not immediately impact production of movies or prime-time TV programs. Most studios have stockpiled dozens of movie scripts, and TV shows have enough scripts or completed shows in hand to last until early next year.
One key factor that could determine the damage caused by the strike is whether members of a powerful Hollywood Teamsters local honor the picket lines.
Local 399, which represents truck drivers, casting directors and location managers, had told its members that as a union, it has a legal obligation to honor its contracts with producers.
But the clause does not apply to individuals, who are protected by federal law from employer retribution if they decide to honor picket lines, the local said.
The battle has broad implications for the way Hollywood does business, since whatever deal is struck by writers will likely be used as a template for talks with actors and directors, whose contracts expire next June.
“We’ll get what they get,” Screen Actors Guild president Alan Rosenberg told The Associated Press.
The guilds have been preparing for these negotiations for years, hiring staff with extensive labor union experience, and developing joint strategies and a harder line than producers have seen in decades.
“We haven’t shown particular resolve in past negotiations,” said John Bowman, the WGA’s chief negotiator.

Hollywood set for last-ditch labor talks
LOS ANGELES – A federal mediator was scheduled to meet with Hollywood writers and studio representatives at an undisclosed neutral location Sunday in a last-ditch effort to prevent a strike.
Both sides agreed to the meeting a day before writers say they will picket studios and movie locations. The writers’ contract expired Oct. 31.
The writers want more money from the sale of DVDs and a share of revenue generated by the sale of TV shows and films over the Internet. The studios say the demands are unreasonable and would hamper attempts to experiment with new media.
The last time writers went on strike was in 1988. The walkout lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry about $500 million.
Writers Guild of America board members voted unanimously Friday to begin the strike at 12:01 a.m. Monday unless studios offered a more lucrative deal. The two sides have been meeting since July.
“The studios made it clear that they would rather shut down this town than reach a fair and reasonable deal,” Patric Verrone, president of the western chapter of the guild, said at a news conference.
The union said it would stage its first pickets in New York and Los Angeles.
J. Nicholas Counter, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, called the writers’ strike “precipitous and irresponsible” in a prepared statement.
Producers believe progress can be made on other issues but “it makes absolutely no sense to increase the burden of this additional compensation” involving DVDs and the Internet, he said.
The first casualty of the strike would be late-night talk shows, which are dependent on current events to fuel monologues and other entertainment.
“The Tonight Show” on NBC will go into reruns starting Monday if last-ditch negotiations fail and a strike begins, according to a network official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person lacked authorization to comment publicly.
Comedy Central has said “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” would likely go into repeats as well.
Daytime TV, including live talk shows such as “The View” and soap operas, which typically tape about a week’s worth of shows in advance, would be next to feel the impact.
The strike would not immediately affect production of movies or prime-time TV programs. Most studios have stockpiled dozens of movie scripts, and TV shows have enough scripts or completed shows in hand to last until early next year.
Talks between writers and producers will likely affect upcoming negotiations between the studios and unions representing actors and directors.
All those unions believe revenue from content offered on the Internet, cell phones and other platforms will grow tremendously in the years ahead, even though it’s now minuscule compared to DVD sales.
Consumers are expected to spend $16.4 billion on DVDs this year, according to Adams Media Research. By contrast, studios could generate about $158 million from selling movies online and about $194 million from selling TV shows over the Web.
Studios argue that it is too early to know how much money they can make from offering entertainment on the Internet, cell phones, iPods and other devices.
Producers are also uncertain whether consumers prefer a pay-per-view model over an advertising-supported system. They want the economic flexibility to experiment as consumer habits change in reaction to technology.

Hollywood writers call Monday strike
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The union representing U.S. screenwriters called for a strike against film and TV studios starting Monday in a move giving negotiators one last weekend to reach a contract deal or shatter 20 years of Hollywood labor peace.
The strike deadline was issued on Friday, a day after a three-year contract covering the 12,000-member Writers Guild of America expired, and it follows months of talks that deadlocked over the union’s demands for a greater share of DVD and Internet revenues.
Both sides have accused the other of stonewalling and refusing to budge from unreasonable proposals.
The union’s negotiating panel unanimously urged a walkout during a boisterous membership meeting Thursday night, and the Writers Guild’s governing board voted to ratify that recommendation.
No further contract talks were immediately scheduled, but union leaders said at a news conference there was still time to avoid a confrontation that, if prolonged, could cost hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenues and wages.
“We have 48 hours, and what we really want to do is negotiate,” said John Bowman, chairman of the union’s negotiating committee. He said that while reluctant to go on strike, the Writers Guild felt it had to act decisively.
“We have to inflict as much damage as quickly as possible in order to get this thing over,” Bowman said.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the bargaining arm of the studios, offered only a brief, terse statement by group president Nick Counter.
“We are very disappointed with their press conference and the action they took,” he said, accusing union leaders of “falsehoods, misstatements and inaccuracies.”
He added, “We’ll respond at an appropriate time.”
Union officials said the strike would begin at 3:01 a.m. EST and picket lines would go up in Los Angeles and New York City.
$1 BILLION AT RISK
The last major Hollywood strike was a Writers Guild walkout in 1988 that lasted 22 weeks, delayed the start of the fall TV season and cost the industry an estimated $500 million. Los Angeles economist Jack Kyser said a strike of the same duration today could result in at least $1 billion in economic losses.
Movie and TV audiences would notice little impact at first. The screenplay pipeline of the film studios is well-stocked through 2008. And producers of prime-time sitcoms and dramas are said to have stockpiled enough advance episodes to keep their shows on the air until January or February.
But late-night talks shows will go off the air almost immediately since they rely on a daily supply of topical jokes. On his CBS show on Thursday, David Letterman described the producers as “cowards, cutthroats and weasels.”
Prime-time schedules will start filling up with more reruns and game shows after the networks have burned through fresh episodes. The new shows fighting to hold viewers’ attention in the first few weeks of the new season face a grim future if they have to leave the schedule for an extended period.
Negotiations on a new writers contract began in July and the two sides have remained far apart. They brought in a federal mediator this week to try to break the deadlock on the key issue issues of compensating writers for the reuse of their work in various digital formats.
The studios have said union demands for higher residuals on DVDs and Internet downloads would stifle growth at a time of rising production costs, tighter profits and piracy. They insist digital distribution of movies and TV remains largely experimental or promotional and new media is just developing.
The union accuses studios of pleading poverty and argues that writers have never gotten a fair deal on lucrative DVDs. They also see more film and TV migrating toward the Web and wireless platforms and want a bigger share of that revenue.

Do superstars still need record labels?
LOS ANGELES – Prince freed himself from record labels years ago. Paul McCartney, Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have followed. Now the Material Girl appears to be kissing her big-name record company goodbye for a cool $120 million.
Could U2 be next? Justin Timberlake? Coldplay? Do superstars even need traditional multiyear album contracts when CD sales are plummeting and fans are swiping tons of music for free online, or tuning in to their favorite bands via YouTube, MySpace and other Internet portals?
“There’s a prevailing wisdom that many established acts don’t need a record label anymore,” said Bruce Flohr, an executive at Red Light Management, which represents artists such as Dave Matthews Band and Alanis Morrissette, and ATO Records, home to David Grey, Gomez and Crowded House, among others.
“This is the new frontier. This is the beginning of a new era for the music business,” Flohr said.
Executives at the four major record labels would not comment on the record for this story. But several noted privately that their companies are still the best at artist development, promotion and physical distribution of their product ó something even big acts can’t entirely do without.
The four majors are Warner Music Group Corp., Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, EMI Group PLC, and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG. They accounted for more than 88 percent of all U.S. music album sales this year.
Still, some headliners are becoming convinced they have the clout to change the rules.
Madonna is said to be close to signing a recording and touring deal with concert promoter Live Nation Inc. after turning down an offer from her longtime label at Warner Music Group Corp.
Under terms of the new 10-year deal, Madonna, 49, would receive a signing bonus of about $18 million and a roughly $17 million advance for each of three albums. Live Nation also would have to pay $50 million in cash and stock to promote each Madonna tour.
Warner Music just couldn’t afford to pay that much to re-sign Madonna, Michael Savner, an analyst with Bank of America, said in a research note.
Meanwhile, Radiohead created a stir ó and plenty of publicity ó when the British rockers disclosed last week they would bypass signing a new deal with a record label and make their new album available online, letting fans decide how much they wanted to pay to download it.
Earlier this year, Paul McCartney signed with Hear Music, a startup label launched by coffee retailer Starbucks Corp. and Concord Music Group, rather than going to a major.
Even the Eagles are going it alone with their upcoming album, “Long Road Out of Eden.” The group, which has sold more than 120 million albums worldwide, will release the album exclusively through Wal-Mart stores.
The trend had Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor exulting over being “free of any recording contract with any label” in a recent post on his Web site.
“I have been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very different, and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate,” he wrote.
Music industry insiders say the bids for independence only make sense for the most popular acts or those with devout fans who fill concert seats, buy T-shirts and seek out their music.
“These artists are in the position to basically set their own rules and set their own course,” said Ted Cohen, managing partner of media consulting firm Tag Strategic and a longtime record label executive.
Meanwhile, social-networking sites and Internet distribution are making it possible for lesser-known and unsigned bands to boost their profiles and sell CDs.
“The game used to be really simple,” Flohr said. “You get your record played on radio, you get your face on Rolling Stone (magazine), and you get on ‘Saturday Night Live.’
“Now, it’s you put your video on YouTube, you get your MySpace page happening, you do your deal with Facebook, you tour … all these things add up, hopefully, to a successful record.”
Some established major acts are using the same tactics as their new albums post lackluster sales but their concert tours keep selling out.
The strategy doesn’t help record companies. The industry has seen a 14 percent drop in the number of CDs sold in the U.S. compared with the same time last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Sales of digital tracks online are up 46 percent over the same period, but have yet to offset the industry’s losses during the past decade.
To adapt, the major labels are trying to cut deals with artists that go beyond album sales and encompass income from concert tickets, T-shirts, music publishing and other sources.
New bands with their eyes on superstardom still need the deep pockets of the major labels to pay for the promotion, marketing and distribution necessary to get heard above the din of countless other acts.
Even superstars can use the boost.
Take Prince. Famous for scribbling “slave” on his cheek during a bitter dispute with Warner Bros. Records in the early 1990s, he has released most of his music over the Internet during the past 10 years while striking CD distribution and marketing deals with different major labels to get copies of his albums in stores.
Radiohead has said they want to get their latest album in stores in a few months and are said to be shopping for a possible major label distribution deal, if not a multiple album contract.
And it’s widely expected that Live Nation will have to strike a distribution deal with an established label to handle promotion and get Madonna’s upcoming albums in stores.
In theory, that could lead Live Nation back to Warner Music, home of Warner Bros. Records, where Madonna signed as a new artist in 1984.
“It comes down to, do you need a label? Possibly not. Do you need the expertise that a label traditionally brought? Absolutely,” Cohen said.
Despite the turmoil in the industry, the major record companies continue to exert considerable influence in the marketplace.
Major labels are not likely to disappear or become irrelevant, although the role they play might change as digital music overtakes CDs and other physical formats, Flohr said.
“I don’t think this is the death of anything,” Flohr said. “I actually think this is the rebirth of all of us.”

Hollywood studio rep sees ‘disaster’ after talks break off with writers
Negotiations have broken off again between the union representing Hollywood writers and the studios, with both sides blaming the other for the lack of movement.
“We have had six across-the-table sessions and have been met with only silence and stonewalling,” said J. Nicholas Counter III, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
“We are farther apart Ö than when we started, and the only outcome we see is a disaster.”
The Writers Guild of America has been in talks with the alliance since July.
The two sides are scheduled to return to the bargaining table on Tuesday but it remains to be seen whether they can continue talking, as Friday’s meeting lasted only one hour.
In statements released Friday, both sides accused the other of inflexibility and expressed frustration at the slow pace of negotiations.
The guild mailed ballots to its members Oct. 1, asking them to authorize a strike. The union gave members until Oct. 18 to decide. The writers’ contract expires Oct. 31.
Studios and networks have hastened the filming of shows and movies while also stockpiling scripts. The last strike was in 1988 and that lasted 22 weeks, costing the industry an estimated half billion dollars.
The two sides are far apart on issues such as pay for TV reality shows and work distributed over the internet and cellphones. In addition, the studios would like to delay paying residuals on shows and movies until producers have recouped their costs.
“The entertainment industry is successful and growing like never before. Writers, whose creativity is at the heart of that success and growth, are committed to sharing in it,” said the guild in a statement released on Friday.

Hummingbird Centre renamed Sony Centre
TORONTO (CP) – Toronto’s Hummingbird Centre, originally known as the O’Keefe Centre, has a new name and a new title sponsor – Japanese electronics giant Sony.
The storied arts centre on the eastern edge of Toronto’s downtown theatre district has been renamed the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in a $10 million, 20-year title sponsorship.
The 47-year-old building will undergo an interior renovation beginning in June 2008 that will transform it into “a state-of-the-art versatile, multimedia theatre and concert venue,” the centre said Friday.
“Sony Canada’s investment in our theatre signifies the importance of Toronto as a major centre for arts and creativity,” centre chief executive Dan Brambilla said in a release.
“We strategically approached Sony as the naming sponsor of our venue because of their commitment to continually provide the very best entertainment experience. We see this partnership as a collaboration between a leading entertainment company and a live entertainment venue.”
As part of the renovation, the centre will be fitted with “the most technically advanced audio and video Sony products” the company said.
“The Sony Centre for the Performing Arts will offer the highest quality live entertainment, performing arts and multicultural programming which will raise the profile of this unique centre for the City of Toronto,” said Sony Canada president and CEO Doug Wilson.
The theatre, the brainchild of beer magnate E.P. Taylor who headed the O’Keefe Brewing Co. and Argus Corp. opened in 1960 with the pre-Broadway premiere of the Lerner and Loewe musical Camelot, starring Richard Burton, Julie Andrews and Robert Goulet.
Software company Hummingbird Hummingbird Ltd. bought naming rights to the theatre in 1996. Last year Hummingbird was acquired by rival Open Text Corp.

Jim Carrey Deal — Unmasked
Jim Carrey, the first movie star ever to command a salary of $20 million per picture, has signed a deal with Warner Bros. in which he will receive no upfront cash and no percentage of the gross for the upcoming film Yes Man.
Instead, he will receive a so-called cash-break deal on 36.2 percent of the back end — that is, the amount the studio holds onto after it recovers its production, prints and advertising costs.
In her Deadline Hollywood blog, writer Nikki Finke remarks that this “could just turn out to be the worst talent deal ever” for a major star.
“The conventional wisdom in Hollywood is always to get as much fixed compensation as you can upfront because you’re never going to see the back end thanks to the studios’ creative accounting,” Finke wrote.
She quoted one unnamed talent manager as saying, “Let me put it this way: if his reps were a hospital, they would be shut down for malpractice. This is a new kind of Hollywood stupid.”