The 2007-2008 writers strike was a strike which lasted from 5 November 2007 to February 12, 2008 for two trade unions, the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW). The two unions represent film, television and radio working in United States writers. More than 12,000 writers took part in the strike.
The strike is directed to Alliance films and television producers (AMPTP), industrial organisation which represents the interests of 397 u.s. producers of film and television, including: News Corp, NBC Universal (headed by Jeffrey Zucker), CBS (headed by Les Moonves), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (headed by Harry e. Sloan) / FOX (headed by Peter Barnes), Paramount Pictures (headed by Brad Grey), Sony Pictures Entertainment (headed by Michael Lynton), The Walt Disney Company (headed by Robert Iger) and Warner Bros. (headed by Barry M. Meyer).
The two unions have argued that the strike will be a “Marathon”, while the negotiator of the AMPTP, Nick Counter, said that not dear negotiations provided that continue the strike, stating “we will not negotiate while a weapon we have in our heads, that is simply silly”.
The last strike in 1988 lasted 21 weeks and 6 days, costing approximately 500 million dollars (870 billion $ in 2007) to the entertainment industry.
Every three years, the Writers Guild negotiated a new contract, known as the minimum basic agreement with the AMPTP, by which its members are used. During the negotiations in 2007, reached a stalemate. As a result, the Writers Guild members authorized the Board to declare a strike, which was released on November 2.
There are several particularly contentious issues in the contract. In particular, the writers want a higher percentage of the sales of DVDs, Union jurisdiction over the writers of reality and animated programs and digital content sales compensation benefits