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WGA Denies Request for Awards Show Waivers

Posted on: Tuesday, 18 December 2007, 09:00 CST

The striking Writers Guild of America turned down a request for a waiver that would allow members to write for the Golden Globes awards show.

The WGA said it also denied an appeal from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a waiver in connection with the use of clips from films and past Oscars shows for use during the upcoming Academy Awards presentation.

The guild has been on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers since Nov. 5. The AMPTP broke off talks earlier this month and no negotiating sessions have been scheduled.

The two sides are at odds regarding compensation for material distributed through new media such as the Internet.

In letters to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which distributes the Golden Globes, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which bestows the Oscars, WGA West President Patric M. Verrone said: "Writers are engaged in a crucial struggle to achieve a collective bargaining agreement that will protect their compensation and intellectual property rights now and in the future.

We must do everything we can to bring our negotiations to a swift and fair conclusion for the benefit of writers and all those who are being harmed by the companies' failure to engage in serious negotiations.

The guild also said on its Web site the signatories producing the Golden Globes and the Oscars are West Coast signatories. The WGAW's Board of Directors concluded, reluctantly, that granting exceptions for the Golden Globes or the Academy Awards would not advance that goal.

Dick Clark Productions, which produces the Golden Globes telecast, issued a statement suggesting it would try a different tact in negotiating an agreement with the guild.

Source: United Press International

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