On November 5, 2007, The Writer’s Guild of America went on strike after three months of failed negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. At the heart of the matter are the issues of doubled DVD residuals, union jurisdiction over animation and reality program writers, and compensation for “new media” including shows available on the Internet and video-on-demand distribution services. As of December, several attempts at negotiations have broken down, causing problems for those in the industry forced to choose one side of the picket line or the other. The strike had an immediate effect upon shows written and broadcasted daily, such as late night talk shows. Once networks run all currently written and filmed episodes of their regular shows, they will feel the pressure as well and be forced to either renegotiate, or consider more reality shows as solutions. Writer’s Guild of America West president, Patric M. Verrone, issued the following statement:

In recent years, these conglomerates have enjoyed tremendous financial success off the backs of literally tens of thousands of people––including members of the creative community.  Our part of that community is the writers, whose work serves as the blueprint for programs and movies. And although the industry’s pie is continually growing, our share continues to shrink… this is not an action that anyone takes lightly.  But it slowly became apparent that the studios are not prepared to deal fairly with writers and the rest of the talent community.  The companies have refused to agree that writers must receive fair compensation when the writers’ work is broadcast on the Internet or downloaded on iPods and cell phones.  The companies are seeking to take advantage of new technology to drastically reduce the residual income that sustains middle class writers and keeps them in business.  Their proposals would destroy the very pool of creative talent that is the basis of their immense revenues and profits.

The last similar strike occurred in 1988 over the home video market, and it lasted 22 weeks, costing the American entertainment industry roughly 500 million dollars.