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At midnight last night, the WGA's contract with the studios expired. The good news: Hollywood has not yet been blanketed in the radioactive fallout from the settling of a city-spanning mushroom cloud. The bad news: Yesterday's negotiations did not end well. The dueling, end-of-day statements of the WGA and AMPTP kick off this morning's round-up of strike-related news:

· Making their previous statement seem like the first rays of sunshine cutting through the nuclear winter of a prolonged work stoppage, the WGA decried the AMPTP's refusal to deal with its proposals. then ominously reminded everyone of tonight's general meeting where a strike finally could be called: "Today, just hours before the expiration of our contract, the AMPTP brought negotiations to a halt. The Companies refused to continue to bargain unless we agree that the hated DVD formula be extended to Internet downloads. This morning we presented the AMPTP with a comprehensive package of proposals that included movement on DVDs, new media, and jurisdictional issues. We also took nine proposals off the table. The Companies returned six hours later and said they would not respond to our package until we capitulated to their Internet demand.

After three and a half months of bargaining, the AMPTP still has not responded to a single one of our important proposals. Every issue that matters to writers, including Internet reuse, original writing for new media, DVDs, and jurisdiction, has been ignored. This is completely unacceptable. There will be a WGA West membership meeting in Los Angeles Thursday night." [WGA.org]
· This passage from the AMPTP's statement, indicating that the studios somehow consider "permanent downloads" as DVDs, will probably result in negotiator J. Nicholas Counter III being burned in effigy at tonight's Guild meeting: "We want to make a deal. We think doing so is in your best interests, in your members' best interests, in the best interests of our companies and in the best interests of the industry. But, as I said, no further movement is possible to close the gap between us so long as your DVD proposal remains on the table. In referring to DVDs, we include not only traditional DVDs, but also electronic sell-through — i.e., permanent downloads. As you know, we believe that electronic sell-through is synonymous with DVD. " [AMPTP.org]
· WGA member and contract captain Laeta Kalogridis explains the difference between DVDs and internet downloads for AMPTP negotiators disingenuously unclear on the concept: "Ok: DVD's are DVD's. They come in packages, you buy them and take them home. Internet downloads are internet downloads. They are not a physical object, any more than a DVD is, say, a television set, or, for that matter, a dog. Nick Counter can decree they are the same thing all he wants. That will never make it true. They used the language, in my opinion, to try and confuse people into thinking that the WGA was being stubborn about DVD's, a ship which many people feel has sailed. THIS WAS NOT ABOUT DVD'S." [United Hollywood]
· The trades latch on to the DVD issue for dear life, refuse to let go. [Variety, THR]
· Contract captains were told to instruct writers to clean out their offices today, preventing the auctioning of their personal effects to help the Companies better weather a work stoppage. [Deadline Hollywood]