The writers, they are striking.  Right now, WGA members are meeting to determine when and where the strike will begin, with the "when" being as soon as Friday morning.  The major stumbling block in negotiations has been the so-called "DVD formula," which means writers get paid pennies or even fractions of pennies for the sales of DVD boxed sets.  (When Greg Weisman says he doesn't get any money from the sales of Gargoyles DVDs, he's not kidding.)

What's more, writers are asking for compensation for digital media such as Internet-based webisodes, cell phone content, and so on.  Episodes of series streamed for free online (and paid for by advertising streams) aren't paying royalties to the people who wrote them, not to mention the actors, directors, and everyone else.  The folks who complain in front of movies about illegal downloads with the "You're hurting my job" spiel are going to strike over what the producers are doing to them legally.

The producers however won't budge.  J. Nicholas Counter, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, said Wednesday, "The magnitude of that proposal alone is blocking us from making any further progress.  We cannot move further as long as that issue remains on the table. In short, the DVD issue is a complete roadblock to any further progress."

The writers of course see it differently.  Writer Mark Evanier has summarized the situation on his blog: "There's a ton of money being made in DVDs and other forms of home video and these amounts are expected to skyrocket.   For as long as possible, the Producers want to keep as much of it as possible for themselves."

Live talk shows such as The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and the Tonight Show will be hardest and most-quickly hit by the strike.  These shows require daily writing sessions, whereas most scripted television will have a four to five week cushion of already-written material.

We need more fanfic.

(Source: CNN)