BROADCASTING & CABLE: 'Writer's Guild Reaches Agreement with CBS Over Soap Opera Webisodes'

Jim Benson at Broadcasting & Cable has this:

"The East and West Coast branches of the Writers Guild of America have reached an agreement with CBS covering the writing of 'webisode' online content for the daytime serials AS THE WORLD TURNS and THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS.

The WGA says the deal provides 'a flexible framework for future online, mobile-content and other new technology deals within the entertainment industry' referring to upcoming contract negotiations with Hollywood that could start as early as this summer. But industry executives say they see the pact as being specifically related to the two soaps, which have an upcoming joint storyline that will play out online, rather than as a template for a new overall deal.

'We are pleased to have worked with CBS to develop a fair compensation model for this new media platform,' WGA West Executive Director David Young said in a statement. 'By coming together to reach this forward-looking agreement, we've helped insure that the stories created by writers for this new medium will continue to maintain the creative integrity of original network programming.'

The WGA-CBS agreement relates to the guild's efforts to cover writing services for new media. In addition to initial compensation, the WGA says the new deal provides benefits and protections that include minimums, residuals in all markets (including reuse for new media, television, cable and DVD) , pension and health coverage, and writing credit provisions."

(Read the original article here)

Show Them Docs the Money: GREY'S Cast Re-Negotiates at 2-yr. Mark

GREY'S ANATOMY, ABC's popular, Thursday night medical ensemble, has been widely credited with breathing life back into the nighttime dramatic serial (particularly nighttime soap of a less camptastic vintage than those popularized by the Aaron Spelling-produced shows of the 80s and 90s, including DYNASTY and MELROSE PLACE). Now it appears most of its cast (most of whom were already locked into ongoing 7-year deals) is being rewarded accordingly. Read the Hollywood Reporter story here.