Today is Day 30 of the Writers Guild of America's (WGA) strike for a bigger share of the new media revenue pie, and while both sides have continued sniping at each other's motives, there is some movement in a positive direction, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

A new contract offer from the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) is prompting the Writers Guild of America to counter-offer. A key component of that offer: a fixed $250 payment to a writer for one year's use as streaming content for TV episodes and theater content, in lieu of residuals. WGA initially balked at the idea, while the AMPTP pointed out that it was intended as an initial offer to be negotiated, not a final offer.

Another possible sidestep around a sticky issue: AMPTP has offered to tie compensation to licensing fees, rather than advertising streams. This gambit is designed to budge the discussion away from the no-pay "promotional window" the studios had been demanding for online content.

However, the WGA West board is concerned that writers of Internet-only content would see a significant rollback in pay under this plan. It will be interesting to see how the WGA counters to address this apparent inadequacy.

While there's no reason to hope that the strike and negotiation process may be nearing an end, this is at least a step in the right direction---toward a resolution that, we all hope, will satisfy writers' demands and studio/producer concerns alike. Failing that, a new factor will come into play soon: The looming conclusion of the Directors Guild of America's (DGA) contract with the AMPTP, which arrives June 30, 2008. Early contract talks with DGA may begin soon, which could pressure both sides in the AMPTP-WGA negotiations to resolve differences.
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