Trying to break a three-month impasse in contract negotiations with Hollywood?s screenwriters, producers withdrew a contentious proposal on Tuesday that would have retooled the entertainment industry?s decades-old practice of paying so-called residuals for the reuse of movies and television programs on DVD and elsewhere. The move was made during a morning bargaining session at the headquarters of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers in Encino, Calif. In a statement, representatives of the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East acknowledged the step as a positive one, but they said other outstanding proposals on matters including payments for digital media work were unsatisfactory.
See "Hollywood Producers Drop a Key Demand", Michael Cieply, The New York Times, October 16, 2007