• Business Week, Thursday, December 13, 2007 10:45 AM

The Writers Guild of America is losing ground in its bid to extract a better compensation arrangement from the big media companies. After seven weeks, the studios look content to wait out the Hollywood union strike, leaving consumers stranded, forced to watch reruns and reality shows that no self-respecting cable channel would dare offer under normal circumstances.

A new demand over those very reality shows might have turned the tide in the studios' favor: WGA wants to extend its membership to include those who "write" for reality TV. That might be one demand too far; reality shows, while certainly manipulated, aren't exactly scripted. Inviting reality TV writers into the guild would certainly undermine the studios' negotiating power during strikes. The proposal was met with a resounding "no way" last week, the Alliance for Motion Picture & Television Producers calling it "an absolute roadblock to any further progress in these negotiations."

The union's power grab is a bad move by the WGA, because many of its members couldn't care less if the reality writers are invited into the guild. The studios now see an opportunity to put a wedge between the rank-and-file -- who care primarily about new media compensation -- and the WGA's leaders. The guild has already angered other unions like the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees, which has seen as many as 40,000 members laid off.

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