WRITERS' STRIKE IS OVERRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!

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LATEST UPDATE: Feb 2, 2008:

LOS ANGELES - A breakthrough in contract talks has been reached between Hollywood studios and striking writers and could lead to a tentative deal as early as next week, a person close to the ongoing negotiations said Saturday.

The two sides breached the gap Friday on the thorniest issues, those concerning compensation for projects distributed via the Internet, said the person, who requested anonymity because he were not authorized to speak publicly.

A second person familiar with the talks, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to comment publicly, said that significant progress had been made and a deal might be announced within a week.

Full article

 

[Saint Michael]

because he were not authorized

Guh.

 

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LATEST UPDATE: Feb 3, 2008:

LOS ANGELES - Striking writers have reached interim contract agreements with four New York-based independent filmmakers, ending their 12-week walkout, the two sides said Sunday in a joint announcement.

The settlement appeared to be another step toward ending the national work stoppage by the Writers Guild of America that has brought film and television production on both coasts to a virtual standstill.

The announcement did not offer details of the agreements but said they were ?similar? to agreements reached earlier between the WGA and 13 other film and TV production companies.

The latest agreements with the Writers Guild?s east and west units enables the four indie producers, GreeneStreet Films, Killer Films, Open City Films and This is that corporation to ?resume business immediately,? the statement said.

Full article

 

[imported_Imp]

Bah, they've already ruined a pretty good season of TV... They may as well drag it out longer.

These 10 episode seasons are a nightmare. However, I must say there has been a decrease in filler.

 

[aplefka]

Don't be mislead by some of these interim agreements. Most of them are with film companies, and feature writers are not striking for the same reasons as tv writers. In fact, the feature writers could very easily negotiate their contract but since they're all under one guild they're holding out for the tv writers.

 

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LATEST UPDATE: Feb 4, 2008:

gosh, i had voted that the strike would last 3 months (so tomorrow, Feb 5th).....and if it does end this week, at least i was close.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - From the picket lines to ballrooms filled with stars, Hollywood on Monday hoped for a deal to end a 3-month-old clash between striking writers and studios amid reports they could reach an agreement this week.

Several news outlets have reported that the parties achieved a breakthrough last week on the key sticking point of how much writers should be paid for advertising-supported Internet "streaming" of television shows.

The Los Angeles Times went so far as to report that an accord had been reached on the outlines of an overall contract, and that a deal could be presented to leaders of the Writers Guild of America for approval as early as Friday.

Full article

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LOS ANGELES - A person familiar with negotiations said Monday the striking Hollywood writers guild remains on track for a possible deal with studios, but specific language of a new contract has yet to be resolved.

The two sides made significant progress last week on the thorniest issues concerning compensation for projects distributed via the Internet, with a deal possible by the end of this week, the person said.

Specific details on the negotiations were not disclosed.

article

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COMMENTARY by a MSNBC contributor:
The moment of truth has arrived for those TV writers walking the picket lines for the past three months, pounding the pavement and tossing their laptops in hopes of trying to break the backs of the networks.

Their strategy was to stop writing new episodes of scripted shows, which would leave the prime-time lineups bare. The networks would then be forced to air a slew of offensive and ridiculous reality shows that would repulse the TV-viewing public. Ratings would fall flat, or at least flatter than usual.

That, in turn, would force the struggling networks to succumb to the guild's demands. Once the walkout was over, fresh episodes of "Desperate Housewives," "The Office" and "How I Met Your Mother" would be back on the air quickly, and life in the television business could return to normal.

Good thinking, but it hasn't exactly turned out that way ? not by a long shot. When "American Gladiators" doubles the ratings of a brilliant new episode of "Friday Night Lights," you know things have gone topsy-turvy and it's time to rethink the game plan.

As a matter of fact, NBC's Monday night lineup is the best night the network has had in years, dominating the competition with a double bill of "American Gladiators" (11 million viewers) and "Deal or No Deal" (17 million viewers).

So why should the bosses over there be in any great rush to settle with the WGA?

In-studio reality shows are, for the most part, less expensive to produce than a half-hour sitcom, and now more people are tuning in. And a force majeure clause in the contract between striking writers and the networks states writers? production deals can be terminated in the case of a strike (and many have been, even further cutting costs). Because of this, NBC isn?t suffering that much because of the shutdown in production.

Full article

 

[aplefka]

Article on Variety as well. I would have beat you to the update if it weren't for my film/tv class tonight then dinner with a couple out of town friends.

http://www.variety.com/article...l?categoryid=2821&cs=1

WGA, studios hammer on details
Scenario emerges for strike's end
By CYNTHIA LITTLETON, CYNTHIA LITTLETON, DAVE MCNARY

WGA strike
As the lawyers work overtime to hammer out the details, scenarios are emerging that could -- underline could -- bring an end to the WGA strike as early as next week.

Insiders strongly emphasize that many aspects remain to be ironed out in the contract being drafted between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, and that the process could be derailed by even a seemingly small dispute over contract language.

But after guild toppers briefed members of the WGA West board and WGA negotiating committee Monday on the status of the negotiations, it's clear that the process has the wind at its back.

The WGA is hoping to have a draft contract to present to the boards of the WGA West and WGA East and negotiating committee by Friday, and to hold informational meetings with members of both branches over the weekend.

In an email message to members late Monday the WGA's negotiating committee chief John Bowman notified members of the upcoming informational meetings and said neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take action on the contract until after those meetings.

If the broad strokes meet with approval, the WGA boards may vote on whether to call off the strike, now entering its fourth month. Insiders said if the sentiment at the weekend membership meetings is generally supportive of the deal, the WGA boards could move quickly on a vote to call off the strike while the weeks-long ratification voting process is held.

Bowman urged caution in his message about concluding that a deal has been reached. "While we have made important progress since the companies re-engaged us in serious talks, negotiations continue," he wrote. "Regardless of what you hear or read, there are many significant points that have yet to be worked out."

The sides reached an agreement over the weekend to modify the terms of the Web-streaming compensation formula in the third year of the contract that insiders say has gone a long way to ease WGA concerns about being locked into a rigid formula in a key growth area.

Insiders said the mood was very positive at WGA West headquarters Monday afternoon as negotiating committee members and WGA West board members received separate briefings on the developments of the weekend's contract talks. Making the presentations to both groups were WGA West prexy Patric Verrone, WGA West exec director David Young and Bowman.

One insider said the discussion was focused on learning the specifics of the terms reached during Friday's breakthrough session with studio toppers rather than debating whether the deal was worthy or not.

The prevailing sentiment was that Bowman, Verrone and Young had made substantial progress in the informal talks that began two weeks ago with News Corp. prexy-chief operating officer Peter Chernin and Walt Disney Co. CEO Robert Iger.

Another upbeat signal: In response to a question during a conference call about News Corp.'s second-quarter earnings, Chernin said Monday that he was "optimistic" about a resolution to the work stoppage. He said the discussions were "positive" but declined to comment further, citing the news blackout.

The most significant movement at Friday's session came with regard to the compensation formula for TV shows and movies offered for ad-supported streaming on the Internet.

The WGA's latest round of talks with the majors has used the three-year contract struck last month by the Directors Guild as a foundation for the writers contract negotiations as it pertains to the most contentious issue of compensation for work produced and distribbed on new-media platforms.

On the issue of Web streaming, the DGA pact calls for helmers to be paid a fixed residual for the first year that a program or movie is offered for streaming (after a 17- to 24-day window of free usage for promotional purposes). For the second year and beyond in which a program is made available for streaming, the fee in the DGA pact shifts to 2% of the distributor's gross.

The proposed deal for the WGA is the same as the DGA terms for the first two years of the WGA contract. But starting in the third year of the WGA contract, the formula would change to give writers 2% percentage of distributor's gross from the get-go after the promo window ends, rather than a fixed residual for the first year of streaming availability.

That adjustment to the DGA template went a long way in easing the concerns of the WGA leaders that they would wind up locked into a rigid formula on Web streaming, knowledgeable sources said. Granting scribes a percentage of distributor's gross in the first year of streaming was seen by WGA leaders as a good-faith compromise on the majors' part and would set an important precedent for future WGA contracts.

One big challenge in calculating the new-media compensation terms is that the business of Web streaming of programs and paid downloads of TV shows and movies is still in its formative stage.

It's hard to put a dollar figure on the profits studios are realizing from Web streaming and downloads. It's also hard to put a traditional license-fee value on such deals, especially when transactions are conducted between different units of the same congloms -- e.g., what is the implicit value of an episode of an ABC Studios-produced show that ABC.com offers for ad-supported Web streaming.

Because of all the unknowns surrounding the new-media issues, one of the most significant elements of the DGA contract that will also apply to the WGA pact is the gains made in the kind of financial and transaction data the studios have committed to making available for guild review.

As DGA reps noted last month in announcing their groundbreaking pact, the new disclosure requirements bring transparency to the studios' dealmaking process, which will allow the studios and creatives to track the growth (or lack of growth) in the new-media biz and thus craft more equitable compensation formulas.

Industry veterans note that the tussling over new-media compensation won't end with this round of guild contract negotiations but will likely be the dominant theme of the next few rounds of WGA, DGA and SAG contract negotiations.

By many accounts, WGA West toppers Verrone and Young are poised to put their stamp of approval on the deal taking shape with the majors. The looming question is whether the WGA West board and the broader membership of both branches will be sufficiently satisfied with the gains to ratify the contract.

Given the high esteem that Verrone and Young enjoy among rank-and-file members, even as the strike enters its fourth month, insiders say they ought to be able to shepherd the pact through the votes by the boards and membership.

At a WGA benefit concert at Miracle Mile nightspot Busby's East Friday night, Verrone helped spur hopeful chatter that an end to the strike is near. Verrone told the crowd that the two camps had been making good progress in the informal negotiations -- a note of optimism that set off a tsunami of emails, text messages and blog postings about the possibility of a resolution coming sooner rather than later.

Still, WGA leaders continued to insist Monday that the strike's not over.

Pickets continued at the usual locations at major lots in Los Angeles and Burbank and outside TV shows such as ABC's "The View" and NBC's "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" in Gotham.

 

[aplefka]

Another update for you from Variety. It's also on Hollywood Reporter so it's probably legit.

http://www.variety.com/article...l?categoryid=2821&cs=1

WGA schedules Saturday meeting
Members to discuss negotiations
By DAVE MCNARY
With the writers strike entering its fourth month today, the WGA has now scheduled a key step that may send the scribes back to work in the next few weeks.

The WGA West has announced it will hold a general membership meeting to provide an update on the negotiations at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium south of downtown Los Angeles.

WGA leaders are expected to announce the details of a proposed contract with the majors at that point -- and the reaction from members at the meeting should give guild toppers a strong indication of whether the deal will pass muster in a ratification vote.

In an email message to members late Monday the WGA?s negotiating committee chief John Bowman said neither the negotiating committee nor the WGA boards would take formal action on the contract until after the membership meetings.

Bowman also urged caution, noting that the negotiations with the majors have not yet concluded. But it's likely that if WGA West president Patric Verrone and Bowman endorse the deal strongly at the meeting, the membership will also back it at that point -- and if that occurs, the WGA boards could move quickly on a vote to call off the strike while the weeks-long ratification voting process is held.

The WGA East has not yet announced the time and place of its weekend membership meeting.

 

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LATEST UPDATE: Feb 5, 2008:

NEW YORK - As broadcast networks head into the February sweeps period, the prolonged writers strike is starting to be felt in prime-time ratings.

Viewership on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox was down 9 percent during the first four weeks of the year compared with 2007. CBS and ABC were particularly hard-hit as the stockpile of episodes for favorite shows was depleted.

?The strike has definitely had a detrimental effect on the ratings,? said Marc Berman, an analyst for Mediaweek. ?All of the shows that people watch every week and that they are into aren?t there anymore.?

The typical prime-time viewer probably didn?t even realize there was a strike until after the holidays, said Alan Wurtzel, NBC research chief.

Now it is becoming obvious.

Although there is talk that striking writers may be close to a deal to return, the lag in production means it may not be until April when scripted programs return with new episodes. And that?s if everything goes right.

?It?s going to get grimmer and grimmer,? Berman said. ?The viewers are going to get more disgusted by what?s on the air and stop watching. It?s like the summer now. It?s summer in winter. The schedules are all full of reality and repeats.?

With nearly four months of ?American Idol? on the way, Fox has the most to look forward to this spring.

Full article

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LOS ANGELES - It?s typically the hottest party in town on Oscar night ? but not this year.

Vanity Fair has canceled its annual Academy Awards party, the magazine announced Tuesday.

?After much consideration, and in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike, we have decided that this is not the appropriate year to hold our annual Oscar party,? said a statement posted on VanityFair.com.

The Feb. 24 party was scrapped even though the writers guild is said to be on track for a possible deal with studios, possibly as soon as this week.

Full article

 

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Originally posted by: aplefka
Article on Variety as well. I would have beat you to the update if it weren't for my film/tv class tonight then dinner with a couple out of town friends.

that's a good site! thanks so much for sharing the recent articles!

 

[aplefka]

No problem. I figure I should do my part since this will directly have an effect on me soon enough.

And yeah, Variety is a really good site, too bad it's such an expensive one to subscribe to. That and Hollywood Reporter are both pretty good for industry news.

 

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LATEST UPDATE: Feb 6, 2008:

LOS ANGELES - The striking Writers Guild of America is anticipating that lawyers could complete a draft copy of a proposed deal with Hollywood studios by Friday.

The bargaining committee and boards of the East and West Coast guild chapters plan to review the proposal before sharing details Saturday at membership meetings in New York and Los Angeles, said a person close to the situation who was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity.

In an e-mail sent earlier this week to guild members, negotiations committee chief John Bowman said the guild wouldn't make a formal decision on the proposed deal until after the informational membership meetings.

If writers like what they hear Saturday, the closed-door meetings could be a major step toward a resolution of the 3-month-old strike.

Full article

 

[aplefka]

No more oh noes! For some reason another member decided not to post their story in this thread.

http://www.variety.com/article...l?categoryid=1066&cs=1

Strike winding down?
WGA pickets awaiting outcome of meetings
By DAVE MCNARY, DAVE MCNARY, CYNTHIA LITTLETON

WGA Strike
With the strike's end possibly near, pickets were celebratory.
With the WGA poised to call it a wrap on the writers strike as early as this weekend, Thursday sure felt like the last day of picketing in Hollywood.

The scene outside Disney, the day's primary picket site in the L.A. area, resembled the last day of school -- or "Labor Day in the Catskills," as veteran comedy scribe Lowell Ganz put it. There were lots of group hugs, photos snapped and exchanges of phone numbers and emails.

In New York, the WGA East is planning what looks like the final major rally today at Time Warner Plaza in Manhattan. On Thursday it was picketing as usual outside the studios where "The View," "The Colbert Report" and "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" are shot.

Officially, most pickets told Daily Variety that they're still waiting to hear the details on the contract agreement from WGA leaders at membership meetings called for Saturday in L.A. and Gotham.
More than one option

* (Co) Daily Variety
Filmography, Year, Role
* (Co) Daily Variety

"I'm going to wait to hear what they have to say on Saturday before I decide," said film and TV scribe Jim Kouf, who was one of more than 600 pickets to show up outside Disney's main gate in Burbank on Thursday morning. "I do not want us to prematurely accept a bad contract, after everything we've been through," he said.

Some cited specific concerns about the deal points as reported in the media. In particular, writers are taking a dim view of the 17- to 24-day window that studios have for free usage before writers get paid for programs streamed on the Web.

"They have a lot of information to share with us on Saturday," said screenwriter Garrick Dowhen. "There are some real serious points that I need to be convinced of."

It was telling, however, that many snippets of conversation overhead among pickets revolved around subjects other than the strike and contract fight. The presidential election and Super Tuesday results were hot topics, particularly the ayem announcement that Mitt Romney was bailing out of the GOP race, as was speculation about what TV shows and pilot projects may be quickly put back into production if the strike goes dark as expected early next week.

The official decision process on whether to call off the strike will begin emerging at Saturday's dual membership meetings -- at 2 p.m. ET at the Crowne Plaza in Gotham and at 7 p.m. PT at the Shrine Auditorium south of downtown Los Angeles. Should the deal not encounter significant opposition at those sessions, the WGA West board and the WGA East Council could meet as early as Sunday to approve the pact for ratification by members and issue a back-to-work order.

Although the WGA remained under a news blackout due to continuing negotiations, those talks consist largely of lawyers working out specific contract language for the outlines of the deal agreed to late last week by WGA West president Patric Verrone, exec director David Young and negotiating committee chief John Bowman in talks with News Corp. president Peter Chernin and Disney topper Robert Iger.

On picket lines Thursday, strike captains said they're deferring to Verrone, Young and Bowman for the time being.

"I trust our leadership to do the right thing," said strike captain Michael Tabb, who's been one of the more memorable sights during the 14 weeks of the WGA strike. Tabb has been on the line at Disney since the opening day of the strike on Nov. 5, even though he's had a walking boot for an injury on his left foot during the entire work stoppage.

"It hurts like hell every day, but my therapy can wait," he added.

Tabb's red-and-black picket sign is covered with hundreds of signatures, including those of showrunners Phil Rosenthal, Joss Whedon and Shawn Ryan.

"I want to be able to show my grandchildren that I actually did stand up for something," he explained.

Tabb also noted that the frayed relationship between writers and struck companies isn't something that's beyond repair. "This has been kind of like a relationship that wasn't working -- sometimes you need to take a break."

 

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LATEST UPDATE: Feb 7, 2008:

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - With an entire industry eyeing a pair of Writers Guild of America meetings Saturday, everybody and their (out of work) brother wants to know when the picket lines will come down and the union's three-month-old strike will end.

There also are these questions to consider:

- Will WGA leaders actually recommend that members accept a tentative agreement from the studios, or simply detail possible terms and gauge the reaction?

- If terms appear sweeter than those in the recent Directors Guild of America contract deal with the studios -- which is now out for a ratification vote -- will that put the DGA pact in peril?

- Will leaders of the militant Writers Guild of America slap their foreheads upon hearing news of a writers deal and declare, "Now that's a deal we could embrace!" Or not?

"The WGA members have got to know -- and I think this will be conveyed on Saturday -- that negotiations are not a shopping spree, and you don't get everything you want," said Jonathan Handel, a former WGA attorney. "But they can also tell the members that the DGA deal wouldn't have been as good as it was without the writers strike, which I believe is true. And they can also say they've managed to get some improvements in those terms."

Labor and management attorneys have been crafting language of a possible tentative agreement between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, the bargaining arm of the studios, following up on earlier informal talks between top studio executives and guild brass. A media blackout has kept industry figures from knowing much about what's been hammered out behind closed doors this week, but here's what bears on each of the key questions:

Full article

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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Even if Hollywood writers end their three-month-old strike soon, as the buzz seems to suggest, studios will be reluctant to ramp up development too aggressively because they must still contend with a possible walkout by actors in June.

"There's a lot we can do now (in the case of a resolution) that we couldn't do during the writers strike. But there's still a lot we can't do," said one studio executive.

The timing of the potential resolution between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the bargaining arm of the studios -- less than five months before a potential actors strike -- means there will be no immediate greenlights based on the work of returning writers.

Still, development projects frozen at the beginning of November can now finally begin to thaw.

Among them is DreamWorks' "The Trials of the Chicago 7," Steven Spielberg's narrative take on the 1968 riots at the Democratic National Convention.

Full article

 

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LATEST UPDATE: Feb 8, 2008:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Striking Hollywood writers could return to work as early as Monday for the first time in three months if they embrace a contract deal that union leaders are said to endorse, according to a union-affiliated blog site on Friday.

The outcome hinges on meetings set for Saturday in New York and Los Angeles where rank-and-file members of the Writers Guild of America will be briefed on a labor pact taking shape in talks with studio executives over the past two weeks.

Sources familiar with those talks have said a breakthrough was reached last Friday on key issues of paying film and TV writers for work distributed over the Internet, and the two sides have been busy since then fine-tuning contract language.

If reaction from union members on Saturday is positive, the governing boards of the WGA's East and West Coast branches could move quickly to endorse the pact and order the 10,500 striking writers back to work while the deal is submitted to them for ratification.

In that case, board action to lift the strike would probably come Sunday and likely follow a formal vote by the WGA's 19-member negotiating committee urging approval of the deal.

If Saturday's response from the rank-and-file is negative or sharply divided, union leaders might opt to keep writers on the picket lines pending a ratification vote.

Full article

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LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - It's not quite deja vu all over again. But as the planning proceeds for the Academy Awards on February 24, it's worth flashing back 20 years to the last time Oscar had to deal with a writers strike.

The two situations aren't completely analogous: With a possible resolution to the three-month strike pending, the Academy hopes that writers, and the actors who support them, will all show up at the Kodak Theatre.

In 1988, the situation was reversed. That year, the Oscars were scheduled for April 11. The Writers Guild of America went out on strike March 7. The Academy's request to use union writers was denied.

But when the strike was called, the three writers mapping out the show -- Ernest Lehman, Melville Shavelson and Jack Rose -- already had been hard at work plotting out the evening with the help of index cards spread across Lehman's pool table. By the time the three were forced to put down their pencils, they estimated they had already completed 80%-90% of the show's "book."

Samuel Goldwyn Jr., who produced that year's show, recalls that the writers already had done a lot of work to streamline the presenters' introductions, eliminating much of the comic banter that often had fallen flat in previous years. "The first thing we did," he says of the prestrike planning, "was cut that out of the show."

Once the strike forced the writers' departure, of course, the opportunity for last-minute rewrites was lost. But Goldwyn already had enlisted Chevy Chase as host, along with a lineup of presenters heavy on comic talent such as Robin Williams and Billy Crystal.

Full article

 

[aplefka]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.c...8b93295ec992b11439fef6

Winship: Strike Could End Monday
By Georg Szalai

Feb 10, 2008
UPDATED 11:26 a.m. PT, Feb. 9, 2008

NEW YORK -- WGA East president Michael Winship said at an impromptu news conference Saturday afternoon in New York that the strike could come to an end as early as Monday, but "not necessarily."

"I believe it's a good deal," he told reporters outside the Crowne Plaza Hotel. "I will be recommending it to our membership."

WGAE officials said if the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers sign the deal, the writers guild negotiating committee will decide whether to recommend the deal to the WGA West board and WGAE council. Those two bodies could sign off on the agreement Sunday and start the ratification process by the guild membership, Winship said.

Ratifying the contract itself could take up to a month. But the board and council could decide to end the strike on their own, perhaps as quickly as when they meet on Sunday.

If the board and council opt to let members decide whether to end the strike, WGA officials said there are different ways of doing that via mail or membership meetings. Depending on what process is chosen, that vote could take anywhere from two to ten days.

It's not a done deal, Winship said, "but it's pretty much done."

 

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LATEST UPDATE: Feb 9, 2008:

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood writers got their first look Saturday at details of a tentative agreement with studios that could put the strike-crippled entertainment industry back to work.

A summary of the proposed deal was posted on the Writers Guild of America's Web site hours before members were to attend meetings on the East and West Coasts to voice their opinions. The writers planned to gather behind closed doors Saturday afternoon in New York and later in Los Angeles to consider the deal that guild leaders said "protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery."

If guild members react favorably to the proposed deal, the guild's board could vote Sunday to lift the strike order and the industry could be up and running Monday. This month's Oscars ceremony, which has been under the cloud of a union and actors boycott, also would be a winner.

An outline of the three-year deal was reached in recent talks between media executives and the guild, with lawyers then drafting the contract language that was concluded Friday.

According to the guild's summary, the deal provides union jurisdiction over projects created for the Internet based on certain guidelines, sets compensation for streamed, ad-supported programs and increases residuals for downloaded movies and TV programs.

The writers deal is similar to one reached last month by the Directors Guild of America, including a provision that compensation for ad-supported streaming doesn't kick in until after a window of between 17 to 24 days deemed "promotional" by the studios.

Full article

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The union representing Hollywood's striking writers said it reached a "tentative deal" with studios and will meet members later on Saturday to discuss ending a three-month walkout that has crippled television production and overshadowed the awards season.

"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," WGA West president Patric Verrone and WGA East president Michael Winship said in the memo.

Members will meet in New York at 2 p.m. EST and in Los Angeles at 10 p.m. EST to discuss specific terms, the ratification process and ending the strike, the union added.

The WGA memo said the tentative deal "creates formulas for revenue-based residuals in new media, provides access to deals and financial data to help us evaluate and enforce those formulas, and establishes the principle that, 'When they get paid, we get paid.'"

Full article

 

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Feb 9, 2008: UPDATE #2:

Writers leaving the two-hour-plus New York meeting characterized the membership's reaction as generally positive and said there was cautious optimism that the end of the strike ? the guild's first in 20 years ? could be near.

"There's a general feeling of tremendous success. I was delighted," said TV writer John Simmons, who estimated that about 500 writers were on hand. "We agreed that this looks pretty good. ... It bodes well for the future."

He added that there are "always some people who will dissent" and that the complex deal required further scrutiny.

Carmen Culver, a film and TV writer, lauded the guild "for hanging tough."

"It's a great day for the labor movement. We have suffered a lot of privation in order to achieve what we've achieved," Culver said.

Guild member Lisa Payton said that "there are people on both sides" of the ratification question. "We just want time to look over the deal and look over the points of the deal. There's not going to be a strike No. 2," she said.

Michael Moore, the Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker ("Bowling for Columbine") and a nominee this year for his health-care film "Sicko," attended the New York meeting.

"It's an historic moment for labor in this country," Moore told The Associated Press.

If guild members on both coasts react favorably to the proposed deal, the guild's board could vote Sunday to lift the strike order and the industry could be up and running Monday. This month's Oscars ceremony, which has been under the cloud of a union and actors boycott, also would be a winner.

Full article

 

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LATEST UPDATE: Feb 10, 2008:

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Hollywood writers on Saturday gave resounding support to a tentative agreement with studios that could end a strike that has crippled the entertainment industry. However, it appeared the approval process might briefly delay their return to work.

About 3,500 writers packed the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to hear from union leaders about the proposed deal that was finalized just hours before meetings were held on both coasts by the Writers Guild of America.

A person familiar with the guild's plan, who requested anonymity because of a media blackout, said the WGA board would meet Sunday and decide on whether to authorize a quick, two-day vote of its members to determine if a strike order should be lifted.

Giving writers a 48-hour window to vote on lifting the strike order would help alleviate concerns that the agreement was being pushed too rapidly by the guild's board.

If guild members support lifting the strike order, they could return to work as early as Wednesday.

"The feeling in the room was really positive," said screenwriter Mike Galvin, adding that no one at the Los Angeles gathering said the deal "was crummy."

Full article

 

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Feb 10, 2008: UPDATE #2:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The governing bodies for the union representing striking Hollywood writers met on Sunday to vote on a newly reached tentative contract deal with studios and decide whether to end a bruising three-month-old walkout.

Rank-and-file of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which launched its strike on November 5, gave a warm reception to a proposed settlement at membership meetings on Saturday in New York and Los Angeles, hours after the deal was finalized.

The union's top leadership also has urged support for the deal, which hinged on how writers should be paid for work distributed over the Internet.

The WGA's East and West Coast governing boards were expected to endorse the labor pact at simultaneous bi-coastal meetings on Sunday, but it was not immediately clear exactly how much longer it might take to send the 10,500 striking writers back to work.

A news conference in Los Angeles was scheduled for 3 p.m. EST to announce the outcome.

Board members could vote to call off the strike as early as Monday, pending ratification of the pact by union rank-and-file -- a procedure that normally takes at least 10 days.

But a union spokeswoman and writers emerging from a boisterous late-night briefing on the deal said WGA leaders were more likely to invoke an expedited 48-hour ratification process that essentially leaves the decision to lift the walkout in the hands of union members at large.

Under that scenario, writers would not return to work before Wednesday, union officials said.

Full article

 

[Xstatic1]

Feb 10, 2008: UPDATE #3:

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The Writers Guild of America moved swiftly Sunday toward a resolution of its three-month-old strike, with guild leaders voting unanimously to ask members to decide on ratifying the contract and ending the walkout.

Membership meetings will be held Tuesday to allow writers to decide whether the strike should be brought to an immediate end, said Patric Verrone, president of the guild's West Coast branch.

article

 

[aplefka]

Showrunners are basically what their title indicates, so with them back that's huge.

http://www.variety.com/VR1117980626.html

Showrunners back to work Monday
While WGA votes, writers to resume producing
By CYNTHIA LITTLETON, DAVE MCNARY
For the first time in more than three months, TV showrunners are heading back to the office on Monday with the rest of the scribe tribe due back Wednesday.

The development came with the ruling boards of the Writers Guild of America unanimously approving the tentative deal with the majors, triggering a vote by members that will conclude Tuesday night on whether to lift the strike order. Ballots to ratify the new three-year deal will also go out in the next few days with a 10- to 12-day return period.

WGA West president Patric Verrone confirmed at a Sunday news conference at WGA West headquarters that scribes who also have producing responsibilities on their shows will be allowed to return to work on Monday.

Verrone said that the WGA's leadership opted to take the issue of ending the strike to the members because of their heavy involvement in supporting the job action. "They were the public face of the struggle on a daily basis," he added.

Citing gains in new media, Verrone proclaimed that the deal's the best that the WGA's negotiated in the last 30 years and that the strike was the most successful work stoppage in the United States during the 21st Century. He also praised a trio of moguls - News Corp. president Peter Chernin, Disney topper Robert Iger and CBS honcho Leslie Moonves - for their efforts in hammering out a deal.

Verrone noted that the involvement of CEOs in recent weeks had enabled both sides to move toward an agreement, in contrast with the unproductive negotiations last year. "We spent about three months getting nowehere," he added.

Negotiating committee chairman John Bowman told the news conference that the strike was necessary to achieve key gains in jurisdiction over new media and tying new media residuals to distributors gross.

Given the overwhelming support for the deal expressed by WGA members at meetings in Gotham and L.A. on Saturday, it's expected that the strike will be in the past tense by Wednesday.

Industry sources also report that the WGA contract reached with the majors is expected to include a provision that will allow scribes who were force majeured from ongoing series to return to their old jobs. Insiders cautioned, however, that some issues regarding that deal point are still being worked out by guild and studio lawyers. The contract does not address those who were force majeured from overall deals and other contracts if they were not working on a series that will resume production.

The TV biz was hit last month with a wave of firings and terminations of more than 70 writing and producing deals by the major studios as they invoked the force majeure provisions allowing them to terminate those contracts as a result of the prolonged strike.

 

[SmoochyTX]

Bump for the search-challenged.

 

[zoiks]

Text

Now that the writers' strike is nearing an end, here is the post-writers strike status of network series as of Sunday. The networks have yet to officially announce what shows are coming back and when and how many original episodes they'll have before the season ends in May. So the situation is extremely fluid and the fortunes of individual series could change from one day to the next. We will be updating this list as often as possible over the next few weeks.

ABC

"Big Shots": Fired its last bullets.

"Boston Legal": Has two new episodes left and will produce four to seven more to air before the end of May.

"Brothers & Sisters": Returns late April with four or five new hours.

"Cavemen": Dead in the water.

"Desperate Housewives": Back in April with four to six episodes.

"Dirty Sexy Money": Will be rebooted in the fall.

"Eli Stone": Eleven new episodes left.

"Grey's Anatomy": Four or five new episodes in April and May.

"Lost": Has six episodes left but the last eight episodes of this season will almost certainly not air until the fall.

"Men In Trees": Will return Feb. 27 with 11 new episodes but it's long-term future isn't bright.

"Private Practice": Might film some new episodes but, most likely, won't be back until the fall.

"Pushing Daisies": Will return in September.

"Samantha Who?": Will
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be back but whether it will return in the late spring or wait until the fall is still up in the air.

"Ugly Betty": Four or five new episodes in April and May.

"Women's Murder Club": Status to be determined.

CBS

"Cane": Has aired its last episode.

"Cold Case": Four to six new episodes by season's end.

"Criminal Minds": Four to seven new episodes in late April and May.

"CSI": Four to seven new episodes by late May.

"CSI: Miami": Ditto.

"CSI: N.Y.": Ditto.

"Ghost Whisperer": Will return with new episodes but the number is yet to be determined.

"How I Met Your Mother": Returns in March with five to seven episodes.

"Jericho": Returns Tuesday with seven new episodes. If it clicks with viewers, it may be back.

"Moonlight": Won't return this season but may be back in September.

"NCIS": Will probably air only three or four new episodes in May.

"Rules of Engagement": To be announced.

"Shark": Status still being determined.

"The Big Bang Theory": Back in March. Number of episodes still to be determined.

"The New Adventures of Old Christine": Future is much in doubt.

"The Unit": Status still being determined.

"Two And A Half Men": Returns in March with five to seven episodes.

"Without A Trace": Back in April with four to seven new episodes.

CW

"Everybody Loves Chris": Can finish out the season but its future - and the futures of most of the CW's comedies - are still being determined.

"Gossip Girl": Will film as many as eight new episodes to air in the spring.

"Life Is Wild": Dead.

"One Tree Hill": Six episodes in the can but after that is anybody's guess.

"Reaper": Three episodes have yet to air but after that, the show's future is very much up in the air.

"Smallville": Still has four episodes in the can and plans to make four or five more.

"Supernatural": Two new episodes already available and will film three or four more.

Fox

"24": Best bet is that it won't return until January, 2009.

"Back to You": Will be back with new episodes in March.

"Bones": Has only four new episodes left and may not film anymore this season.

"K-Ville": Dead.

"House": Four to six new episodes starting in mid-April.

"Prison Break": On the endangered series list and probably won't return.

"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles": Fate to be determined.

"Til Death": Back with new episodes in March.

NBC

"30 Rock": Returning in March with as many as 10 new episodes.

"Bionic Woman": Gone.

"Chuck": Won't be back until September.

"ER": Status is a bit iffy but it could be back this season with at least some episodes.

"Friday Night Lights": Appears to be a goner - at least on NBC.

"Heroes": No saving the world until the fall.

"Journeyman": Gone.

"Las Vegas": Has probably rolled the dice for the last time.

"Law & Order": Has a number of episodes left and may not produce any more this season.

"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit": Number of new episodes before May still being determined.

"Life": To be determined but if it returns, it won't be until the fall.

"My Name Is Earl": Six to eight new episodes in April and May.

"Medium": Six new episodes left but probably won't do any more this season.

"Scrubs": Four episodes still unaired and was planning to produce four more in what is its final season. Status is now iffy.

"The Office": Will film as many as eight episodes for April and May.

Cable series

"Army Wives" (Lifetime): Has a number of episodes in the can and will probably return in late April or May.

"Battlestar Galactica" (Sci Fi): Returns April 4 with the first 11 episodes of its final season. Second half will now almost certainly air in 2009.

"Big Love" (HBO): May be held until early next year.

"Burn Notice" (USA): Still to be determined.

"Damages" (FX): The series hadn't begun writing season 2 when the strike started. It'll be back but it may not be until next year.

"Dirt" (FX): Returns March 2 but its season has been cut to seven episodes from 13.

"Entourage" (HBO): Back in the fall instead of the summer.

"Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (USA and, in repeats, NBC): Was in the midst of its first season on USA when it was shifted back to NBC in reruns. Still has some new episodes to go.

"Mad Men" (AMC): Will return mid-summer as scheduled.

"Monk" (USA): Back as scheduled in mid-summer.

"Rescue Me" (FX): Will probably move from the summer to the fall.

"Saving Grace" (TNT): Still to be determined.

"The Closer" (TNT): Will be back close to its scheduled return in June.

"The Riches" (FX): Will return in the spring but for only seven episodes instead of 13.

"The Shield" (FX): Filmed all 16 episodes of its final season but a number still need to be edited. Its return has now been pushed off until mid-summer.

"The Tudors" (Showtime): Returns for season 2 on March 30.

"Weeds" (Showtime): Will return as scheduled in August.

 

[aplefka]

http://www.variety.com/article...l?categoryid=2821&cs=1

TV's new developments
Writers must pilot in new climate
By JOSEF ADALIAN, MICHAEL SCHNEIDER
TV scribes will return to an environment vastly different from the one that existed in October.

As work resumes this week, networks and production companies will scramble to ramp up business as almost usual. Thanks to the three-month-plus work stoppage, they will effect radical changes in the pilot season, upfront presentations and production for the remainder of this season.

There are also decisions to be made on whether overall deals that were axed by force majeure provisions last month should be restored. The WGA's new contract is expected to include a provision that calls for scribes who were force majeured on ongoing shows to be reinstated to their old gigs, though insiders cautioned that the specifics are still being hammered out by guild and studio lawyers.

All of this upheaval may not be a bad thing. Several execs said they're excited about the opportunity to finally change the way they do business. Others, however, believe old habits die hard.

"Some people are willing to say we're reimagining the way we create shows in Hollywood and finance them," one exec said. "For other people, this has just been a blip."

Work is resuming, but the production timetable also depends greatly on how prepared showrunners and scribes are when they return to their dusty offices.

n One of the first skeins back on the air will likely be NBC's "Saturday Night Live," probably on Feb. 23.

n Most ratings powerhouses -- like ABC's "Desperate Housewives," NBC' "The Office" and CBS' "CSI" and "Two and a Half Men" -- will likely be back on the air by the end of March. They'll probably produce four to eight episodes for broadcast this season.

n One exec close to "The Office" believes viewers could start seeing new episodes in five weeks. Dramas would probably take longer -- around eight weeks for a show like "Ugly Betty" -- limiting how many episodes can actually air.

n Most bubble shows, like CBS' "Cane" and "Shark," won't return this season, even if they've been given a back nine order. Studios aren't eager to spend a fortune relaunching production for just three or four episodes on low-rated skeins unless networks guarantee the show will be back next year.

n Even new segs of several solid-performing shows won't start flowing again until the fall. That's because, particularly in the case of serialized skeins (like NBC's "Heroes" and Fox's "24") or frosh shows that are still finding their footing (e.g., ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" and NBC's "Chuck"), webheads don't see the logic in airing just a few episodes before the season ends in May.

"The audience is confused right now," one exec said. "Why put on three originals now, then take off the summer, and then come back again? You'd rather take those episodes and add them to next season and have more original episodes to air then."

One thing's certain: Pilot season '08 will be nothing like the traditional breakneck process of casting, prepping, lensing and round-the-clock post-production work broadcast networks and major studios endure in the late winter and spring. They simply don't have the time, and they don't have the usual volume of material (20-25 pilots for ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC) ready to roll.

Some nets already have projects in production (Fox's "The Oaks" and "Fringe" among them). Other pilots will be picked up based on how close those scripts are to being ready. Beyond that, some development will be pushed to midseason, other projects to the following fall, and some will just go away.

Even as they ramp up existing projects, the networks' biggest post-strike challenge is deciding how to jumpstart development projects for the 2008-09 season, almost all of which have been in a deep freeze for the past three months. Webheads are pondering which development bets to place.

Nets are also mulling the idea of airing firstrun scripted shows in the early summer, with some wondering if it may make sense to ask Nielsen to extend the official 2007-08 race through part of June.

Some nets, particularly the CW, may be ready to use the strike as a means of testing out the notion of airing original scripted fare in the summer. "Gossip Girl," for example, is likely to begin airing new segs in the spring -- and then stay in originals through a big chunk of the summer. CW execs worry their younger viewers might permanently defect if they're not fed a diet of originals as soon as possible.

One thing hasn't changed: Fox, which already streamlined its upfront presentation down to a fast-moving hourlong showcase last year, will keep the date and do the same again this year.

Coming off such a disjointed year, other networks are already planning on a low-key upfront season as well. NBC is mulling nixing its presentation altogether (Daily Variety
More than one option

* (Co) Daily Variety
Filmography, Year, Role
* (Co) Daily Variety

, Jan. 22), while an exec inside ABC said the Alphabet plans a much simpler affair, fearing that anything larger would appear tacky in light of the industry's recent labor strife. (One possibility: a bare-bones presentation much like the pre-upfront affairs.)

Another worry for some nets: The possibility of a SAG strike this summer. While a WGA deal would seem to make such a work stoppage unlikely, wary webheads aren't so sure. Some think it may make sense to stockpile as many episodes as possible for the fall -- just in case.

There's also a heightened sense of anxiety in network circles that even when current series return to the air, auds could be slow to be wooed back.

"The ratings aren't going to be what they were," one network exec predicted. "I think we'll get there. But it's going to take a while to get blood flowing through the veins."

Top brass at the congloms, most notably NBC Universal honcho Jeff Zucker, have made a point of proclaiming this production interruptus as a watershed moment for the biz, offering the chance for broadcasters to finally end the inefficient madness of pilot season.

"The networks just completely skipped the traditional October-to-March period in which everyone looks at scripts and then greenlights pilots," said one TV exec, who cheered the idea of tossing out the old development rule book.

With so much downtime during the strike, some may have quietly mapped out how they think the rest of their show's season should go and will be able to churn out scripts in no time.

"They're expecting us to be ready with our dancing shoes on," one producer said.

It helps that nets have filled gaps in their skeds with successful reality skeins.

Execs are wondering whether scribes have been quietly writing their pilot scripts during the strike (in violation of strike rules) -- or, at least, outlining things in order to quickly pound one out after the "all clear" sign.

"Certain people wrote," said one shingle topper. "They're going to be delivering pilot scripts this week, or whenever they're allowed to. You may see some mid-to-lower-level writers seeing an opportunity in more quickly handing their scripts in."

Nothing is a certainty. "Thanks for thinking I have a clue," said one exec producer, after being asked what happens next to his series and multiple development projects. "But I don't."