Headline, Industry News

European writers support WGA

European film and TV writers demonstrated Wednesday in support of their striking U.S. colleagues.

Several dozen writers rallied in front of the headquarters of Britain’s main union federation holding red-and-black placards saying: "We Support the Writers Guild of America."

Mark Burton, a British writer whose credits include "Madagascar" and "Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit," said the issue at stake was "how you pay creative artists in the digital world."

"Producers see an opportunity to seize more territory for themselves," said Burton, a WGA member whose American projects are on hold.

The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since Nov. 5, halting production on many TV shows and movies. The main issue: payment for work broadcast on the Internet and mobile phones.

Playwright David Edgar, president of the 2,000-strong Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, said that without payment for Internet use, writers’ relationship to their work was like "the widget-maker’s relationship to the widget once it is made – that is, none at all."

In Paris, a few dozen screenwriters and others joined a march from the Opera Garnier to the Trocadero Plaza across from the Eiffel Tower in support of their American counterparts.

They held up signs saying "French Screenwriters Are Angry" and "Our Creative Work is Under Threat."

In Berlin, about 30 scriptwriters and actors gathered in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

"We have a different situation, but we are all banding together and standing together," said German scriptwriter Anne Mueller. "We would like to make it clear how much work goes into a script before a film can be made."

Australian scriptwriters also supported their U.S. counterparts, with Australian Writers Guild members rallying in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Speakers at the 50-strong Sydney rally included Oscar-nominated screenwriter Jan Sardi ("Shine" and "The Notebook") and Craig Pearce ("Strictly Ballroom," "Moulin Rouge").