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WGA responds to the AMPTP newspaper ad

A segment of the response from WGA West's website:

"WGA Statement in Response to AMPTP Newspaper Ad

LOS ANGELES, NEW YORK -- The Writers Guild of America (Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West) issued this statement today in response to the AMPTP's misleading newspaper ads:

Nice try, AMPTP. In the words of the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. The AMPTP's paid and patronizing advertisement in today's New York Times and Los Angeles Times is guilty of what most charitably could be called sins of omission.

The AMPTP maintains, “It is important to make clear that writers currently do receive residuals for digital downloading (regardless of whether the download is temporary or permanent)... The Guild is seeking at least a 700 percent increase over what writers currently receive, and more than a 200 percent increase over what they receive for Internet 'pay per view.'”

FACT: In our abandoned negotiations, the AMPTP insisted that the residual rate for digital downloading be pegged to the current rate for DVDs, a penurious third of one cent on the dollar. Let's repeat that: A THIRD OF A PENNY!!

The 700 percent increase they refer to roughly translates as 2.1 cents, the 200 percent as 2.5 cents. The AMPTP, as the saying goes, uses numbers the way a drunk uses a lamppost - more for support than illumination. Do the math and you'll see what we're asking for is nothing more than a small, fair respectful share of revenues."

Read a lot more here.

- Sujewa

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