Writers in Hollywood have always felt like the odd man out in an obscenely lucrative industry, and often for good reason. The impending writers strike focuses on grievances, both longstanding and brand new, which, given burgeoning technologies, won't likely be fully resolved anytime soon.

Here are the sticking points:

DVD ROYALTIES: Even some members of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers concede the WGA has a legitimate beef here, though they disagree as to how they should be appeased.

The last time this issue was really addressed, in 1988, home video wasn't the jackpot it is today. People didn't buy many TV shows on VHS, as its bulky format wasn't as attractive as DVD boxed sets are today. (Even film screenwriters didn't foresee that DVDs could amount to up to 40 percent of a film's income.)

DIGITAL PROCEEDS: The WGA wants money from downloads and online viewership, even though one AMPTP member argues that in an era of diminished broadcast audiences, at this point online viewership is "not really a revenue stream as much as it is a promotional stream."

REALITY PROGRAMMING: The WGA argues that story editors on reality shows are being exploited; though they're forming narratives from hours upon hours of footage, they're not being fairly compensated for their work. Few actually buy AMPTP's response - that there's no narrative tweaking or manipulation when it comes to reality programming, so no writers merit credit.

BROADCAST RESIDUALS: AMPTP offended the WGA by putting this issue on the table to begin with, then were in turn offended when the WGA didn't consider their taking it off the table any sort of concession. On the other hand, broadcast repeats of episodes are watched by precious few viewers these days, so, AMPTP members argue, the value of airing subsequent repeats have been greatly diminished.

  >D.K.