Deal To End Hollywood Strike May Come Next Week

New York Times:

Informal talks between representatives of Hollywood's writers and production companies eliminated the major roadblocks to a new contract, opening the prospect of a tentative agreement between the parties as early as next week, according to people who were briefed on the situation but requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak.

A deal would end a crippling writers strike that is now entering its fourth month.

The agreement may come without renewed formal negotiations between the parties, though both sides still need to agree on specific language of key provisions. If that process goes smoothly, an agreement may be presented to the governing boards of the striking Writers Guild of America West and Writers Guild of America East by the end of next week, the people said.

The breakthrough occurred Friday after two weeks of closed-door discussions between the sides. Even if approved by leaders of the guilds, a deal would require ratification by a majority of the more than 10,000 active guild members.

Read the rest of this story here.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[kappa08]

06:22 PM on 02/05/2008

**yawn**, haven't we heard this before. Bad time to strike. Probably the most interesting political race in history is happening..no need for pap sitcoms and droning words.

[lalawguy02]

07:35 PM on 02/04/2008

I am in agreement with mheister. Word on the picket line is that the "Strike is Over" rumor has originated from Peter Chernin of NewsCorp (who else?) as a means to pressure the WGA into accepting a weak settlement proposal. Chernin has been absent from most of the informal discussions and was touting this rumor around the Super Bowl.

Until I see comments from BOTH SIDES saying that the deal is almost there, I am not buying into the hype -- notice how all of the stories refer to "sources close to negotiations"? Those sources, as far as I can tell, appear to be 100% from the AMPTP.

[mheister]

05:35 AM on 02/04/2008

The strike is not over.

SAG solidarity organizers have called for its members (full disclosure: I am a SAG member who gets out there and pickets with the WGA when I can) to join in an all-guild strike day on Thursday at Disney Studios (not to be confused with Disneyland, which may be the source of some of these rumors and reports).

I know from speaking to WGA strike captains on the line that there is significant pressure from a LOT of striking members on the negotiating committee to not accept anything less than fair terms. It is fair to say that if the WGA negotiators present the membership with a bad deal, they will reject it and stay on the picket lines until they get a fair deal. No amount of leakage to Variety or in a Super Bowl skybox will change that.

In short, the WGA membership (and SAG is supporting them in this) will hang tough until a fair settlement is reached, however long that takes.

[MadMoll]

07:09 PM on 02/03/2008

and, just as I predicted elsewhere, just in time for the Oscars™!

Let us, the Fans of scripted television, pray that this is so.

[wm1066]

01:55 PM on 02/03/2008

With the crappy story lines that have been coming out of hollywood these days I have stopped watching TV shows. My TV commited hari kari on its own.
And don't get me started on the strobiscopic editing that is just annoying as hell.

[robiform]

11:55 AM on 02/03/2008

I certainly hope this is true--except for "Amazing Race", reality television is godawful! Bring back the writers and scripted programs!

[larry278]

10:40 AM on 02/03/2008

I think that this means if the writers end their strike now-the Academy Awards will be shown on TV. WTF-I don't watch award shows. My taste runs to Accu-Weather, the Weather Channel, "BBC America News" & "Washington Week in Review".

[sneezeguard]

11:59 PM on 02/02/2008

Ahhh, the awesome "people who were briefed but were not qualified to discuss."

At least spinmeisters who do so in front/behind a microphone can be held accountable, and as a result are hardly believed. Those who speak behind anonymity have an even greater ability to spin the story. Let's hope this if correct, and not just more spin...

[thetvdecider]

09:03 PM on 02/02/2008

say what you will about cieply, but i have it on good information that this is definitely true. still details to be worked out, but our long regional nightmare is hopefully nearing an end.

[Eos]

08:25 PM on 02/02/2008

Michael Cieply may have ruined his perfect record of inaccurate, biased reporting to say something correct, but don't count on it, kids.