Hollywood writers strike over DVD and online sales

HOLLYWOOD writers went on strike yesterday in a standoff with the big studios over their share of the profits from DVD sales and online broadcasts, despite last-minute talks to end the dispute.

Writers in New York were the first to walk off the job, with several dozen members of the 12,000-strong Writers Guild of America manning a picket line outside the NBC network’s studios.

“The producers are really holding back on the new media projects and that’s the biggest issue for us. The deal we made for DVD sales 20 years ago just wasn’t enough,” said Peter Brash, a writer on soap opera As The World Turns. “They just can’t get away with it any more. It’s just a whole bunch of corporate greed,” he said.