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About 25 writers -- some well known, some poised to take off - - feel the impact of the stalemate.

By TOM BELL, Staff Writer January 13, 2008

Kelli Pryor of Windham had been writing screenplays for 15 years without much success. But last year, two of her films were produced for television, including "More of Me," a Lifetime Channel comedy starring former "Saturday Night Live" star Molly Shannon.

Critics praised the script, and Pryor's career was poised to take off. But shortly before "More of Me" aired on TV in November, the Writers Guild of America went on strike.

Instead of fielding calls from producers, Pryor was canceling plans to replace her broken stove.

"It makes a huge difference in our family life and our budget and our prospects," said Pryor, who cooked the family's Christmas dinner in a toaster oven. "It was like hitting the brick wall when the strike started."

About 10,500 writers are on strike, including about 25 in Maine -- which is about as far away from Hollywood as one can get in both distance and culture.

Many of the Maine writers sacrificed career opportunities to live in a place they view as offering a better quality of life. They work in isolation. There are no studios to picket here, although one writer suggested protesting at the Disney Store at the Maine Mall.

Most had never met until the strike began.

Some are well known in the industry, such as "Empire Falls" author Richard Russo, who will travel from his Camden home to New York City this week to join picket lines.

Harpswell resident Wayne Beach, whose film credits include "Murder at 1600" and "The Art of War," both starring Wesley Snipes, has also joined the strike.

Stephen King, a former Guild member, supports the strikers and is refusing to promote his latest book, "Duma Key," on television talk shows. He is appearing only on news programs, which are not under Guild jurisdiction.

Most of the Maine writers, such as Pryor, toil in obscurity in a profession that is far less glamorous than one might imagine.

They make a living selling scripts to producers who more often than not fail to turn them into movies.

Kent Pierce, 51, of Yarmouth was pitching two finished scripts for feature films when the strike put a hold on all business transactions.

Last month, he gave up his office, and now he's home looking for freelance-writing work in areas outside the Guild's jurisdiction of entertainment television and motion pictures.

"Personally, it has hit hard," he said.

ROYALTIES AT ISSUE

At stake is whether the Guild's jurisdiction should be expanded to include original content produced for the Internet. In addition, producers and writers disagree over what royalties should be paid to writers of TV shows and movies that are re-used on the Internet.

The writers now earn no royalties from Internet programming.

The Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers has offered the same residual rate for Internet-distributed work that writers get for DVDs, which works out to 0.36 percent of wholesale revenues. Writers are seeking a rate of 2.5 percent.

The producers say the proposed union pay structures would keep their companies from operating effectively on the Internet, which has already hurt profit margins in the news and music industries.

John Lane, an independent motion picture producer who lives in Saco, said writers are compensated when producers buy their screenplays -- writers don't deserve any more money because they don't do any additional work, he said.

Lane produced the low-budget horror films "Lobsteroids," "Monster in the Woods" and "2."

He is now in the pre-production phase for an action movie, "The Novice," starring Chuck Norris, he said.

Unlike producers, writers don't invest any money to make the work accessible online, and they don't assume any additional risks, he said.

"They want a part of the Internet, which they have had nothing to do with," he said.

OTHER UNIONS TAKE NOTE?

For writers, the issue is whether they will earn money in the future when the...