WGA awaiting AMPTP response

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- The striking Writers Guild of America says it is looking forward to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers' response to its counter-offer.

Guild leaders Tuesday presented the AMPTP with a proposal regarding streaming television programs. The move was in reply to a package the AMPTP proposed last week.

"We accepted the framework in their proposal of last Thursday for a fixed residual in the first year," the presidents of the WGA East and West branches said in a statement on the WGA Web site Wednesday.

"But rather than basing the residual for the entire first year on a small percentage of the applicable minimum, we proposed that the fixed residual be paid on a higher percentage of applicable minimum for each 100,000 streams per quarter."

The guild leaders described this as "a readily ascertainable number," since the companies already keep records of streams for their advertisers.

"Both the advertisers and the companies are already using these numbers as the basis for their business model. We believe these formulas will protect the writer even if all television reuse migrates to new media," the statement said.

The WGA has been on strike since Nov. 5.