Negotiations Continue with the Writers Guild of America

Reuters reports that negotiations in Hollywood continue over the contract between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which expired Thursday at midnight. The WGA threatened a strike if an agreement was not met at the time the contract expired, unless negotiations continued, which they have.

According to Reuters, the major point of contention for the two parties is the digital download business and how much revenue the writers will receive for their talent. Whether or not this is a valid point of contention to begin with has been intensely debated.

However, to the WGA it is an important issue given their previous mistakes in the DVD arena. Twenty years ago, writers struck a deal with producers that gave them the short end of the stick for DVD revenues, and they want to make sure that the same thing doesn't happen in the new arena of digital downloads. The WGA is looking to double the formula of their current deal with DVD's.

While many analysts say that digital downloading is on the rise and will continue to be, there are several others who contend that DVD sales will far surpass digital downloads, as they are today.

Time will tell how likely the strike will be and how long it could last. The last Writers Guild of America strike was in 1988, and it caused huge financial losses for the entire industry. For weeks, Hollywood has been preparing for another strike.