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What started as a fight over 4 cents has become a debate over $100 million. The AMPTP says their residuals offer would net writers $130 million over three years; the WGA says the studios’ math is wrong, and by their calculations, the deal is worth only $32 million. Yesterday, in response to a WGA counterproposal that would peg online residuals to the number of streams, Variety reports “the studios and nets offered conceptual questions about structure and measurement of streaming usage — in other words, they didn’t reject the proposal out of hand.” The Hollywood Reporter’s optismism over these new developments is barely contained in the headline, “It’s a holiday miracle: Sides ‘actually talk.’”
Scott Kirsner reports from the just-concluded International Film Festival Summit for Variety. My favorite takeaway is this dry observation: “Sessions on selling sponsorship and working with the media were packed with attendees. Less full was a session led by two independent filmmakers, who advised fest organizers to drop their entry fees, supply free travel and housing and make sure that filmmakers could gain entry to the best parties.”
Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns gave a speech yesterday indicating that the company is interested in maintaining a financial standing that would allow them to acquire a content library, should such an opportunity present itself; this was apparently code for, “We wanna buy MGM, y’all!“