February 12

　　2008 - Hollywood writers’ strike ends after 100 days 好莱坞编剧罢工一百天后结束

　　Hollywood’s longest work stoppage since 1988 ends on February 12, 2008, when members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) vote by a margin of more than 90 percent to go back to work after a walkout that began the previous November 5.

　　好莱坞自 1988 年以来持续时间最长的停工于 2008 年 2 月 12 日结束，当天美国编剧协会成员以超过 90% 的票数投票决定在自去年 11 月 5 日开始的罢工后重返工作岗位 。

　　The writers’ strike began during the negotiation of the WGA’s latest contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents over 300 production companies. Negotiations stalled after WGA members demanded a share of the revenues generated by movies, television shows and other works distributed on the Internet and viewed on computers, cell phones and other new-media devices.

　　编剧罢工始于美国编剧工会（WGA）与代表 300 多家制片公司的美国电影电视制片人联盟就最新合同进行谈判期间。由于 WGA 成员要求从在互联网上发行并在电脑、手机和其他新媒体设备上观看的电影、电视节目和其他作品的收入中分一杯羹，谈判陷入僵局。

　　Heavily covered by the press, the walkout proved to be much more damaging to the entertainment industry than expected. More than 60 TV shows had to be shut down, causing a drop in ratings and the loss of tens of millions of dollars in ad revenue for the networks. By the end, the strike was estimated to have cost the local L.A. economy more than $3 billion, taking into account lost wages for writers and crew members, lost business for service industries such as catering and equipment rental and reduced consumer spending. For the duration of the strike, TV viewers at home were forced to go without new episodes of their favorite shows, as networks dealt with the shutdown of production by loading the schedule with reruns and increased amounts of reality programming (such as a revamped version of the 1990s hit American Gladiators).

　　这场罢工被媒体大肆报道，但事实证明，它对娱乐业造成的损害远超预期。超过 60 部电视节目被迫停播，收视率暴跌，各电视台也损失了数千万美元的广告收入。据估计，罢工给洛杉矶当地经济造成的损失超过 30 亿美元，这其中包括编剧和工作人员的工资损失、餐饮和设备租赁等服务行业的业务损失以及消费者支出的减少。罢工期间，电视观众无法收看他们喜爱的节目的新剧集，因为各电视台为了应对停播，在节目表中安排了重播和增加真人秀节目的数量（例如 20 世纪 90 年代热门节目 《美国角斗士》 的改版）。

　　Negotiators reached a tentative agreement on February 8, and both the East Coast and West Coast branches of the WGA ratified the deal on February 10. Two days later, the writers themselves approved the truce, and a new contract with the AMPTP was signed February 25. Based in part on a deal signed the previous month between production companies and the Directors Guild of America, the new contract gave WGA members residual payments for programs streamed online (at a much higher rate than that paid for DVDs) and formalized union jurisdiction over programming created for the Web. Writers would be paid for shows streamed on advertising-supported Web sites and WGA members hired to write original content for the Web would be covered under a union contract.

　　谈判人员于 2 月 8 日达成初步协议，美国编剧工会东岸和西岸分会于 2 月 10 日批准了该协议。两天后，编剧们也同意了休战协议，并于 2 月 25 日与美国电视广告电视制作公司签署了新合同。新合同部分基于上个月制片公司与美国导演工会签署的协议，赋予美国编剧工会会员在线播放节目的剩余报酬（远高于 DVD 的报酬），并正式确立了工会对网络节目的管辖权。编剧将获得在广告支持网站上播放的节目的报酬，而受雇为网络创作原创内容的美国编剧工会会员将受到工会合同的保护。

　　Though labor experts and WGA supporters heralded the outcome as an important victory for the striking writers, the contract included several key concessions. Studios could hire non-union writers to work on low-budget Internet shows, for example, and no residuals would be paid to writers for repeat shows viewed online within a few weeks after the original show aired on television. The strike also failed to win the union jurisdiction over the ever-more-important realms of reality programming and animation.

　　尽管劳工专家和美国编剧协会的支持者将这一结果誉为罢工编剧的重大胜利，但合同中包含了几项关键的让步。例如，制片厂可以聘请非工会编剧参与低成本网络节目的制作，并且原版节目在电视播出后几周内，如果在线重播，编剧将不会获得任何报酬。此次罢工也未能让工会获得对日益重要的真人秀节目和动画领域的管辖权。

　　Still, in an email message to East and West Coast writers groups quoted in the New York Times, Patric M. Verrone, president of the West Coast guild, and Michael Winship, his East Coast counterpart, stressed the positive ending to the 2007-08 writers’ strike: “Much has been achieved, and while this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success.”

　　尽管如此， 《纽约时报》 在一封发给东海岸和西海岸作家团体的电子邮件中引用了西海岸作家协会主席帕特里克·M·维罗内和东海岸作家协会主席迈克尔·温希普的观点，强调了 2007-08 年作家罢工的积极结局：“我们已经取得了很大成就，虽然这项协议并不完美，或许也没有达到我们无数小时的辛勤工作和牺牲应得的水平，但我们的罢工还是成功的。”

Key Words

　　walkout: n. A labor strike. 工人罢工

　　revamp: v. give new and improved form, structure, or appearance to 翻修，翻新 an attempt to revamp the museum's image. 翻新博物馆外观的尝试。 a revamped magazine. 改版后的杂志。

　　本文标题：穿越时空双语读：2008年2月12日 好莱坞编剧罢工一百天后结束

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