Word: guilds
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This exemplar of high style began, unpromisingly enough, as an illiterate mason's apprentice from Padua, where he was born in 1508; he was named Andrea di Pietro della Gondola. At 34, he was still listed on the guild rolls as a "stonecutter." But by then the decisive moment in his career had come; in the late 1530s, while he was working on the construction of Villa Cricoli near Vicenza, its owner took him under his wing. Giangiorgio Trissino, a wealthy humanist with a special interest in architecture, renamed his protégé Palladio, after an Angel...
Among the writers grievances is the fact that there has not been an increase in the going rates for scripts since the last Guild strike in 1960. Present rates are $4,500 for a one-hour TV script, $3,500 for a half-hour. Hefty enough sums, it would seem, but the writers are asking for an increase to $6,000 and $4, 150 a show. "Most people think Hollywood writers are wealthy," scowls Freelancer David Rintels. "But most have to take part-time jobs to survive...
While some writers like Stirling Silliphant regularly earn over $100,000 a year, Rintels estimates that a significant majority of writers make less than $ 10,000. Unemployment in the Writers Guild runs as high as 80%. "It's the only union where millionaires and guys who are starving are walking the same picket line," notes Guild President John Furia...
While pay increases are crucial to a settlement, by far the stickiest point in the strike is the question of "supplemen tary markets"- inflight movies, pay and cable TV, and cassettes. Presently allot ted no share at all, the Guild is demanding 1.2% of the gross revenues from such supplementary markets. The Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the networks are offering only .6%. With the costs of developing the markets estimated in the millions of dollars, the studios argue that the invesment would hardly be worth it if they must share any larger portion...
Last week the Directors' Guild, its own contract negotiations just begun, declared support for the writers and issued its own demand for a cut of "supple mentary market" grosses. The dreary prospect looms that viewers may be able to follow the new season with last year's TV Guide...