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Hollywood’s Dilemma Essay After two decades of labor peace, Hollywood is now facing a major dilemma as movie and television writers embark on an industrywide strike. The walkout brought the first widespread shutdown of the entertainment industry since the 1988 writers’ strike which lasted five months and cost the industry more than $500 million. The call for strike resulted after more than three months of contentious negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the 12,000-member Writers Guild of America (WGA) whose contract expired last October 31. The dispute sparked after the writers demanded that they be given a bigger slice of DVD profits and revenue from the distribution of films and TV shows over the Internet. Producers however brushed off the writers requests, arguing that industry economics and still-shifting technology made accommodation impossible. The series of negotiations began as early as July with a demand by the producers that compensation for the new media be postponed until an industry group could study the matter. It also demanded that writers accept a radical restructuring of the residuals system, under which companies would make payments only after they had recouped the cost of movies and programs. Both demands were rejected by the writers. The producers then withdrew their demands but refused to grant the writers’ requests. Failures to come up with a compromise led to writers’ warning that would stage a strike if their demands would not be met. The writers’ guild drew up an aggressive set of strike rules that forbid members from working during the walkout. In response, producers published on their website a road map for writers who might want to invoke their rights under federal labor law to keep working during a strike. Other last-ditch talks occurred but these failed to avert the strike. The strike began after the failed negotiation talk on November 4. Writers in Los Angeles started picketing 14 studio locations in four-hour shifts from 9a. m. to 5p. m. On the other hand, 50 striking writers wore red strike T-shirts at Paramount Studio’s gate. In front of NBC studios at Rockefeller Center in New York, strikers used a giant rat to impersonate network executives and chanted, â€Å"No Contract, No Shows. † Unlike the 1988 writers’ strike which led to flourishing of reality television, cheaper production costs, and decent ratings for broadcast and cable networks, this year’s strike seems to result to more negative effects to the entertainment industry. The first casualties are the late-night talk shows which depend primarily on current events. Also expected to feel the strike’s impacts are the daytime television shows and soap operas which usually tape about a week in advance. Production of movies and primetime TV programs shall also be affected though the effects will not be immediate as most of the studios have stockpiled dozens of scripts which could last until early next year. The strike really has great implications not only in the entertainment industry but in the country’s economy as well. It affects not only the 200,000 workers in the movie and television industry but other industries as well. It also threatens to affect the economy of Southern California. The entertainment industry contributes an estimated $30 billion annually, or about seven percent to the economy of Los Angeles County. The local tourist economy shall likewise be affected as there is a tendency that tourists who observe that the entertainment industry is shut down will conclude that the economy is also weakening. In conclusion, the two parties must give way to each other’s demands and come into compromise for the sake of the industry itself and the national economy. After all, strikes or its any other forms are useless if none of the parties involved would find way to compromise. Works Cited Cieply, Michael. â€Å"Hollywood Producers Drop a Key Demand† The New York Times. October 17, 2007 â€Å"Hollywood Writers Strike† Ohio. com. November 5, 2007 http://www. ohio. com/news/break_news