writers strike by the numbers

dispute:

•Economists estimate a strike of the same duration as the 1988 walkout would result in at least $1 billion in economic losses

•The US film and television industry employs more than 200,000 people — from actors and directors to hairstylists, electricians, truckdrivers and clerks

•The motion picture and TV industry generates US$30 billion in annual economic activity for Los Angeles County alone

•One of the biggest stumbling blocks in the contract talks has been writers’ demand for an increase in the “residual” fees they earn on the reuse of their work on DVDs — from about

4 cents for every DVD to about 8 cents

•The studios say members of the WGA West earned US$56 million in DVD residuals last year

•The union says the total compensation package sought by writers would cost $220 million over three years, a fraction of the US $24.4 billion in revenues generated by US DVD sales and rentals last year alone, according to accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers