DGA ratifies three-year contract

The Directors Guild of America announced today that its members overwhelmingly endorsed a new three-year contract. The agreement, which takes effect July 1, secured gains for directors in the area of Internet pay and paved the way for a similar pact between studios and writers that ended a 100-day strike. The guild has 13,500 members.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 20, 2008

Statement by Michael Apted
President of the Directors Guild of America
Announcing Ratification of the DGA Contract

LOS ANGELES - It is my great pleasure to announce that the DGA membership has overwhelmingly voted to ratify the new collective bargaining agreements between the DGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). 

The vote reflects the strong support and enthusiasm our members have for our new contract.  We won important gains such as higher wages, higher residual bases, significant improvements in basic cable, a more secure health plan, and solutions to problems affecting our ADs and UPMs. 

We also set a series of important precedents crucial to our survival in this digital age -- among them, jurisdiction in new media, a doubling of the home video rate as it applies to electronic sell-through, and the establishment of a gross based payment in ad-supported streaming while maintaining our historic fixed residuals where there is continued uncertainty about actual grosses.

We entered this round of bargaining steadfast in our belief, borne of 70 years of negotiating experience, that what would make it possible for us to achieve our goals was our 18 months of research and preparation, our understanding of the issues our industry faces, and our willingness to sit across the table and negotiate until a conclusion was reached. We also recognized that this was only the beginning of a series of difficult negotiations and that we are still years away from the time when new media will be our industry's dominant revenue source.

This was, is, and will continue to be our approach to collective bargaining in this digital age. We believe the results speak for themselves.

There are many questions we cannot answer when it comes to “Lost,” but here’s one we can: Co-show runners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof confirmed today that they will produce five more episodes of the ABC island-castaway drama to air this spring. Before the strike, production had completed eight episodes -- half of its season order.

Now that the writers “have hit the ground running,” they know they will only have time to complete five more episodes, Cuse said. The show runners have a deal with ABC and ABC Studios to produce two more seasons of 16 episodes each and will add the three missing hours to those two seasons.

The fourth season of “Lost” premiered two weeks ago in a new Thursday time slot and has been performing very well for ABC. “Lost” will continue to air on Thursdays at 9 p.m. until April when “Grey’s Anatomy” returns with new episodes. “Lost” will then move to the time slot after “Grey’s” at 10 p.m.

“We will condense our storytelling, but we don't think that will be a bad thing,” Cuse said. “We couldn't be more excited to be back!”

Since the show returned this month, the Internet has been abuzz with all of the new mysteries and questions presented, the biggest ones being: Who are the Oceanic 6 and what is their secret? Indeed, the producers designed the season to be full of questions and suspense in the first half and full of answers and satisfaction in the second. Does the shortened season mean we might not know what “the freighter folk,” as Lindelof calls them, want with Ben until next season?

“With three less episodes, that's 18.7% less episodes than the originally promised total of sixteen,” Lindelof wrote in an e-mail. “Therefore, while it is true you will get 18.7% less answers, you will also get 18.7% less new QUESTIONS to bang your head against the wall about.  So at least there's that."

-- Maria Elena Fernandez

(Photo courtesy ABC)

Excerpts from the WGA's message to its members:

On Tuesday, members of the Writers Guilds East and West voted by a 92.5% margin to lift the restraining order that was invoked on November 5th. The strike is over. Writing can resume immediately....The decision to begin this strike was not taken lightly and was only made after no other reasonable alternative was possible. We are profoundly aware of the economic loss these fourteen weeks have created not only for our members but so many other colleagues who work in the television and motion picture industries. Nonetheless, with the establishment of the WGA jurisdiction over new media and residual formulas based on distributor’s gross revenue (among other gains) we are confident that the results are a significant achievement not only for ourselves but the entire creative community, now and in the future. We hope to build upon the extraordinary energy, ingenuity, and solidarity that were generated by your hard work during the strike. Over the next weeks and months, we will be in touch with you to discuss and develop ways we can use our unprecedented unity to make our two guilds stronger and more effective than ever....

More news on the strike

“Friday Night Lights” show runner Jason Katims and his assistant, Jamie Duneier, are happy to be back in the office. But it will probably be a while before their writing staff joins them.

NBC has not decided if it will produce more episodes of “Friday Night Lights” for the spring. Katims will be attending several meetings this week with the network and Universal Media Studios, which produces it, and is hoping fans won’t have to wait until the fall to learn how the Smash Williams football story ends or if Jason Street is going to be a father.

“The most difficult part of this is that, when the strike ends, I think that everybody here will be celebrating that the strike ended and then the next question is, when are we going to get back to work?” Katims said. “Are we going to get back to work? It’s going to unfold differently for every show.”

Fifteen episodes of the football-centered drama have already aired, and Katims says he can complete five or six more — if given the chance. Always a ratings-challenged, critical darling, “Friday Night Lights” has been performing better since it moved to Fridays. But that doesn’t guarantee it a spot on the fall lineup.

“I’ve heard that serialized shows are less likely to come back this spring," he said. "And, of course, we’re on the eternal bubble, so we have to wait and see what they want to do.”

--Maria Elena Fernandez

Veteran TV producer Chuck Lorre has made a career out of being funny. And although there was nothing humorous about not working for three months, Lorre has found his smile again.

Both of his CBS comedies, “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory,” will produce nine more episodes for this season, which means his 200-person staff will be back at work by next week — much sooner than most of the TV industry.

Lorre and his co-show runners, Lee Aronsohn (“Two and a Half Men”) and Bill Prady (“The Big Bang Theory”), returned to work Monday to figure out how they will produce nine episodes in 12 weeks. This is how it will play out:

“It’s gonna be an enormous cluster [insert the word for Charlie Harper’s favorite hobby] of stuff to do,” Lorre said in his first interview since the strike was called. “Normally, the kind of stuff you complain about is now just an absolute joy. Yay! We get to make our show again. We’ll be working seven days a week for the next three months and we’ll be happy to do it to pull this off.”

“Two and a Half Men,” the No. 1 comedy on TV, is in good shape, Lorre said, because they have one complete script ready to produce. “Big Bang,” a freshman show that was gaining momentum in the ratings when the strike began, was in the middle of shooting an episode, so production will start from scratch on that episode.

“It’s really surreal coming back after a strike,” Lorre said. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I really hate to date myself, but I was around for the ’88 strike and it’s very disorienting. It’s not a vacation. It’s not restful. It’s a stressful  three months. It was purgatory. It was not hey, hooray, we’re not working. It was awful. There’s an emotional toll. I’m really lucky because it was not a financial strain. But the financial strain on people around you and entire communities is huge. There’s nothing good about it.”

Lorre says he is thankful his employees will get to complete the majority of the episodes ordered, as opposed to shows that are facing severely shortened seasons and others that aren't returning to the schedule until fall. “Men” will complete 19 out of 24 and “Big Bang” will finish 17 of 22.

“Just like it’s better to have written than to write, I’m glad this is behind us,” Lorre said. “But at the same time, there’s something to learn about it. I certainly learned something about the depths of my workaholicism, because there was withdrawals.”

Returning to his job this time has been nothing like coming back from a vacation hiatus, Lorre said.
“We got sent home,” he said. “Even if you don’t like school, you don’t want to get sent home. And the truth of the matter is to be at work every day with people for years, it becomes your life. And people become part of your family. And when a show stops suddenly, you’re powerless to do anything about it. And it’s not unjustified. It’s all legitimate. There’s no malice on the part of anybody. It was a journey, and these three months were both awful and instructive about how grateful we have to be about being able to do this for a living.”

Did it provide fodder and inspiration for his famous vanity cards? Lorre is known for the musings he posts at the end of each episode of all of his shows. During the strike, the cards stayed on message: “United we stand.”

“I took notes,” he said coyly. “I have some thoughts.”

-- Maria Elena Fernandez

This year’s WGA East Awards, held Saturday night at Manhattan’s Hudson Theatre, seemed more like “WGA at the Improv,” especially when Triumph the Insult Comic Dog hit the stage. The profane dog puppet of “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” had the room in stitches as he roasted the writers and their cause. A sampling, edited to meet the standards of this newspaper’s website, follows below.

-- Matea Gold

Today we had a great victory! My name is Michael Moore! C’mon folks, we did have a good day today. I think there’s good reason to celebrate. We have an agreement that we can pretend we’re happy with.

No, we have an excellent agreement. And what better way to celebrate than with the most scaled-down [expletive] award ceremony ever? Who needs Rita Moreno? Who needs to sit? Who needs food? You can drink free Sierra Mist at the bar.

That’s right, those are the perks of being in the WGA –- this is why you didn’t go fi-core, ladies and gentlemen! John Ridley is shaking right now. No Sierra Mist for John Ridley!

I’m told the agreement was met with some controversy, but I believe that the overwhelming majority of the guild is relieved to stop striking and getting back to being out of work.

We had to get an agreement today. We had to. There was too much public outcry. At the end of the day, we had to end the strike to get all the ugly writers off of YouTube.

By the way, if you don’t like any of these jokes, I didn’t write them because of the strike. But fortunately Jay Leno was nice enough to give me some. How does he do it? He runs them by Mavis at 3 in the morning!

How about our negotiating committee? Where’s their award? It couldn’t have been easy for them, representing this freak show. Patric Verrone, John Bowman -- you know what people don’t know about these people? That they’re great comedy writers. They are tremendous comedy writers. They’ve written hilarious material like "Futurama" and "In Living Color" and -- the Writers Guild strike rules! The strike rules, ha, prohibit all the writing, ho ho, by any guild member that would be performed on-air by that member, ah ha ha ha, including monologues! Oh ho ho! I can’t take it! It’s too funny! Oh ho ho ho! The strike rules!

Moving one step closer to ending the 4-month-old strike, the board of the Writers Guild of America unanimously blessed this morning the tentative accord reached last week with the studios.

The endorsement paves the way for writers to return to work on Wednesday, pending a vote by the guild's membership to lift the strike order on Tuesday. The guild's 10,500 movie and TV writers are expected to ratify the new three-year contract within 10 days.

Hollywood's top show runners, however, can return to work Monday in their capacity as producers, which includes hiring crews and getting their series ready to shoot. The strike shut down more than 60 shows and idled thousands of production workers, who are anxious to return to their jobs.

The resolution comes in the nick of time to save the annual Academy Awards show, which can now come off as planned on Feb. 24 without the threat of picketers outside the event and a paucity of stars on the red carpet and writers to pen the jokes made by presenters. It also means the networks will now be able to begin, albeit at a delay, developing new shows for next season.

In the last few days, the writers had been letting the leadership know that they wanted to have a say. And on Saturday night, soon after the beginning of a well-attended membership meeting at the Shrine Auditorium, Verrone announced that this indeed would be happening.

As a result, the union's leaders reversed their original plan, which would have allowed the WGA board to send writers back to work on Monday.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller

This morning's strike developments:

The WGA negotiating committee has voted unanimously to recommend the deal, and the WGA West board is meeting at this moment to vote to ask the membership to ratify the contract.

If that happens as expected, here's how the week would unfold:

--There would be no more picketing.

-- Show runners could go back to work Monday and begin their producing
duties.

-- Members would vote Tuesday.

-- Everyone should be back at work Wednesday.

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

Bill Condon, who sits directly in back of David Young, is the only one on stage taking copious notes. I think he's writing a script, getting an unfair jump on the rest of us. Fine Bill Condon!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

David Young says the studios told him to embrace some technical boring offer with open arms. Patric Verrone, who is sitting next to him, points out that you can't actually embrace something with open arms.

See, we are writers!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

Even if you've never been in a sitcom writers room, you probably know enough about writers to realize everyone would be late. They just recently started. I'm already bored.

There are 36 people on stage in two rows with paper placards. They're projected on a big screen in back of them. If you imagine a more boring version on C-SPAN that covered intellectual property law, then you can imagine the electricity.

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

About 3,500 members of the Writers Guild of America are gathered at the Shrine Auditorium to discuss the terms of the tentative deal struck with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Projected on a screen above the stage is a picture of a circle of pencils entitled: “Stronger Together.” 

About 7:30 p.m., the meeting opened with an ovation and WGA West President Patric Verrone saying, “Good evening. Welcome to the Grammys. We have a deal! More importantly, you have a deal.” The deal, he said, took until 1:30 a.m. to come about and until about 6 p.m. tonight to get signed.

“I am personally recommending that we ratify this deal,” Verrone said.

In urging the members to accept the deal, he said that although there were concessions, “it is the best deal the Guild has bargained for in 30 years. Admittedly, the contract has some holes.”

The writers succeeded in getting jurisdiction in new media and higher pay for work distributed on the Internet. Verrone said the guild would continue to push for rights in animation and reality.

The strike isn’t over Monday, he went on to say. The decision to lift the strike will come after the members have had a chance to vote on the contract Tuesday.

“We have repositioned this Guild as a powerful player in this town,” chief negotiator David Young told the crowd before he broke down the details of the contract.

More news on the strike

-- Times Staff Writer

After a two-and-a-half-hour-long gathering Saturday, writers streamed out of the third-floor ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Hotel expressing optimism about the deal and pride in the guild's solidarity.

Inside, a smiling Michael Winship, president of WGA East, paced the empty Crowne Plaza ballroom with a cellphone pressed to his ear, relaying the details of the meeting to his counterpart in L.A., Patric Verrone.

After he got off the phone, Winship said the overwhelming share of the more than 500 writers who turned out for the meeting were "very much behind" the new contract.

"We had a very good meeting with the membership," he said. "We had a very lively discussion, a free exchange of ideas. At the moment, I feel strongly that it has a very good chance of going through."

Winship said the guild members had a lot of questions, and they stayed until every one had been answered.

"Basically, people wanted to have the math explained to them," he said. "I think we came away with a good deal," Winship added. "I hope the membership endorses it. We struck on the issues of jurisdiction of new media and distributors' gross, and we made advances in both those areas. So I'm happy."

If the West Coast guild concurs, the union leaders will have to decide tomorrow when to lift the strike. They could wait until the membership votes on the contract, but under the guild's constitution, that vote must be held 48 hours after the board vote, if the members vote through in-person meetings, or 10 days after the board vote, if the members vote by mail. 

"The question is, do you rescind the strike before a membership vote, and some people don't want to do that," said Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

That could mean the strike won't officially end until midweek. 

But even without a clear sense of when the labor stoppage would be over, there was a sense among the New York writers that they had reached the end of a difficult journey.

Bill Scheft, a writer for the "Late Show with David Letterman," said he knew the contract was a good one when Terry George, a member of the negotiating committee, opened the meeting by saying: "We've defeated a tradition of rollbacks that began with the air traffic controllers."

"To me, that was the most significant moment," Scheft said. "To me, this was all about, do we have a system in place [for new media] where there was no system before. And the answer is yes."

Scheft said the mood in the room was largely positive, but cautioned that "we're talking about the East."

"The Shrine, that's where the action is," he added. 

For his part, filmmaker Michael Moore came out of the meeting substantially more enthusiastic than when he entered.

"This is an historic moment for labor in this country," Moore said. "To have the writers union stand up like we did, not give back a single thing and make them give -- it was a really great moment to sit in there and listen to everything."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

After about 90 minutes, East Coast writers began exiting a closed-door meeting in New York to discuss details of the pending pact -- and expressed optimism that the strike would soon be resolved.

"It sounds really positive and I think we negotiated a good deal" said Seth Meyers, one of the head writers on "Saturday Night Live." "I think we were right about the things we struck for."

Another writer, who declined to give his name but said he worked in episodic drama, said the room was filled with applause and excitement. "There a sense that we won," he said. "There's a good feeling that the strike will be rescinded sooner rather than later."

Tom Phillips, a news writer for CBS, said the meeting went very well: "I think the contract will be approved by a wide margin."

Phillip added that the reaction inside the room was mixed, with some people asking sharp questions, but said that "most people were enthusiastic."

"I think the topline is that WGA has jurisdiction for writing under new media," Phillips said. "That was basically what the strike was about. And that was a win."

Carmen Culver, a writer for movies and miniseries, called the agreement that was presented a complicated deal. "There were some parts I was very happy about and others less so," she said. "But I'm extremely proud of the guild for hanging tough. It's a great day for the labor movement. We have really stood up and said to these corporations that it all begins with the word. I think the big boys have been brought to their knees."

There was no lack of applause in the room for the negotiators and strike captains and all the work they have done. She added that most of the questions from members were about technical, complicated aspects of the deal. "You have to understand that we're writers, not lawyers."

Writers coming out of the New York meeting said that while the mood was very optimistic, they were unsure how quickly the strike would end, adding that the membership has yet to vote on the deal. There was no vote held at the meeting.

--Matea Gold

More news on the strike

NEW YORK--Hundreds of writers poured into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square on a gray Saturday afternoon, eager to hear details about the tentative deal struck on Friday.

"I have some questions about it, and I'm going to go in and ask them," said Joe Toplyn, a writer for "Monk." "Mostly, I'd like a little bit more explanation of what the terms mean. I hope there are a lot of questions, and that way everybody understands what they're voting for and we have no regrets, whatever happens."

Many writers heading into the meeting voiced uncertainty about the agreement, including filmmaker Michael Moore.

"I have good feelings and not good feelings about it, and I'm going to go listen to what they have to say," Moore said as he ambled into the hotel.

Added Kevin Wade, the creator of "Cashmere Mafia": "I just got a chance to read it this morning, and I'm anxious to hear from the people who negotiated it."

Others were already decided.

"I'm in favor of it," said Peter Brash, a writer for a soap opera. "It's been a hard battle, but I think we've gotten what we could, and it's time to settle."

Claudia Silver, a writer for childrens television, said that the deal appears promising, but she wants to hear more about it.

"I think people will be happy to get the strike over if they feel the deal that they get is fair," Silver said.  "But I don't feel people are at a point where they're like, 'Whatever they say, we'll take.' I think people are going to be very sensible and stick to what they need to, and if it's not good, they're not going to take it."

Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," said he believes the agreement achieves one major goal.

"The reason for this strike was to make sure we had coverage of the Internet, that it didn't become a guild-free zone, and I think we accomplished that," he said. "I wish some of the things that network programming got also applied to variety and cable."

"I think some people will push for more," Leight added. "But it becomes one of those analyses: how much more can you get for how much more pain?"

Andrew Smith, a writer for "The View," said he was suspicious of the agreement because he doesn't trust the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But he said that if  WGA leaders recommend that  members back it, he'll go along.

"I'm broke and I want to get back to work Monday," Smith said. "Everybody had a date in their head, probably Feb. 1, that if the strike wasn't settled, they would have to do something radical, like go fi- core [declare 'financial core,' a lower level of union membership]. So I think everybody's ready. But on the other hand, I don't want the other side to take advantage of that."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

On Friday afternoon, guild leaders Patric Verrone, David Young and John Bowman met with 300 strike captains in Los Angeles to present the terms of the deal,  even though the WGA constitution does not require such meetings.

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the deal and were encouraged to make public comments about the details. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday — before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

“They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it’s a good deal, they’ll call off the strike,”  strike captain Sivert Glarum said today.  “And if not, they won’t call off the strike.  I think that to be expedient they’re trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken.”

Glarum, an executive producer of CBS’ “Rules of Engagement,” estimates that about 80% of the strike captains who attended think  the contract is fair and understand the need to return to work as soon as possible. But several members expressed that they felt the guild was rushing them into a decision and they did not think they should return to work until the vote has been taken, he added.

“I don’t think the guild is trying to ram a deal down anyone’s throats,” he said. “I think the guild is very interested in hearing all writers’ input and that’s why we have these meetings. Most people didn’t wait 20 minutes in line to make a public comment.  So I think, while there were some people who did bring that up, I don’t think that the was overall feeling of the room.”

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

'Lost' answers one question

There are many questions we cannot answer when it comes to “Lost,” but here’s one we can: Co-show runners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof confirmed today that they will produce five more episodes of the ABC island-castaway drama to air this spring. Before the strike, production had completed eight episodes -- half of its season order.

Now that the writers “have hit the ground running,” they know they will only have time to complete five more episodes, Cuse said. The show runners have a deal with ABC and ABC Studios to produce two more seasons of 16 episodes each and will add the three missing hours to those two seasons.

The fourth season of “Lost” premiered two weeks ago in a new Thursday time slot and has been performing very well for ABC. “Lost” will continue to air on Thursdays at 9 p.m. until April when “Grey’s Anatomy” returns with new episodes. “Lost” will then move to the time slot after “Grey’s” at 10 p.m.

“We will condense our storytelling, but we don't think that will be a bad thing,” Cuse said. “We couldn't be more excited to be back!”

Since the show returned this month, the Internet has been abuzz with all of the new mysteries and questions presented, the biggest ones being: Who are the Oceanic 6 and what is their secret? Indeed, the producers designed the season to be full of questions and suspense in the first half and full of answers and satisfaction in the second. Does the shortened season mean we might not know what “the freighter folk,” as Lindelof calls them, want with Ben until next season?

“With three less episodes, that's 18.7% less episodes than the originally promised total of sixteen,” Lindelof wrote in an e-mail. “Therefore, while it is true you will get 18.7% less answers, you will also get 18.7% less new QUESTIONS to bang your head against the wall about.  So at least there's that."

-- Maria Elena Fernandez

(Photo courtesy ABC)

Excerpts from the WGA's message to its members:

On Tuesday, members of the Writers Guilds East and West voted by a 92.5% margin to lift the restraining order that was invoked on November 5th. The strike is over. Writing can resume immediately....The decision to begin this strike was not taken lightly and was only made after no other reasonable alternative was possible. We are profoundly aware of the economic loss these fourteen weeks have created not only for our members but so many other colleagues who work in the television and motion picture industries. Nonetheless, with the establishment of the WGA jurisdiction over new media and residual formulas based on distributor’s gross revenue (among other gains) we are confident that the results are a significant achievement not only for ourselves but the entire creative community, now and in the future. We hope to build upon the extraordinary energy, ingenuity, and solidarity that were generated by your hard work during the strike. Over the next weeks and months, we will be in touch with you to discuss and develop ways we can use our unprecedented unity to make our two guilds stronger and more effective than ever....

More news on the strike

“Friday Night Lights” show runner Jason Katims and his assistant, Jamie Duneier, are happy to be back in the office. But it will probably be a while before their writing staff joins them.

NBC has not decided if it will produce more episodes of “Friday Night Lights” for the spring. Katims will be attending several meetings this week with the network and Universal Media Studios, which produces it, and is hoping fans won’t have to wait until the fall to learn how the Smash Williams football story ends or if Jason Street is going to be a father.

“The most difficult part of this is that, when the strike ends, I think that everybody here will be celebrating that the strike ended and then the next question is, when are we going to get back to work?” Katims said. “Are we going to get back to work? It’s going to unfold differently for every show.”

Fifteen episodes of the football-centered drama have already aired, and Katims says he can complete five or six more — if given the chance. Always a ratings-challenged, critical darling, “Friday Night Lights” has been performing better since it moved to Fridays. But that doesn’t guarantee it a spot on the fall lineup.

“I’ve heard that serialized shows are less likely to come back this spring," he said. "And, of course, we’re on the eternal bubble, so we have to wait and see what they want to do.”

--Maria Elena Fernandez

Veteran TV producer Chuck Lorre has made a career out of being funny. And although there was nothing humorous about not working for three months, Lorre has found his smile again.

Both of his CBS comedies, “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory,” will produce nine more episodes for this season, which means his 200-person staff will be back at work by next week — much sooner than most of the TV industry.

Lorre and his co-show runners, Lee Aronsohn (“Two and a Half Men”) and Bill Prady (“The Big Bang Theory”), returned to work Monday to figure out how they will produce nine episodes in 12 weeks. This is how it will play out:

“It’s gonna be an enormous cluster [insert the word for Charlie Harper’s favorite hobby] of stuff to do,” Lorre said in his first interview since the strike was called. “Normally, the kind of stuff you complain about is now just an absolute joy. Yay! We get to make our show again. We’ll be working seven days a week for the next three months and we’ll be happy to do it to pull this off.”

“Two and a Half Men,” the No. 1 comedy on TV, is in good shape, Lorre said, because they have one complete script ready to produce. “Big Bang,” a freshman show that was gaining momentum in the ratings when the strike began, was in the middle of shooting an episode, so production will start from scratch on that episode.

“It’s really surreal coming back after a strike,” Lorre said. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I really hate to date myself, but I was around for the ’88 strike and it’s very disorienting. It’s not a vacation. It’s not restful. It’s a stressful  three months. It was purgatory. It was not hey, hooray, we’re not working. It was awful. There’s an emotional toll. I’m really lucky because it was not a financial strain. But the financial strain on people around you and entire communities is huge. There’s nothing good about it.”

Lorre says he is thankful his employees will get to complete the majority of the episodes ordered, as opposed to shows that are facing severely shortened seasons and others that aren't returning to the schedule until fall. “Men” will complete 19 out of 24 and “Big Bang” will finish 17 of 22.

“Just like it’s better to have written than to write, I’m glad this is behind us,” Lorre said. “But at the same time, there’s something to learn about it. I certainly learned something about the depths of my workaholicism, because there was withdrawals.”

Returning to his job this time has been nothing like coming back from a vacation hiatus, Lorre said.
“We got sent home,” he said. “Even if you don’t like school, you don’t want to get sent home. And the truth of the matter is to be at work every day with people for years, it becomes your life. And people become part of your family. And when a show stops suddenly, you’re powerless to do anything about it. And it’s not unjustified. It’s all legitimate. There’s no malice on the part of anybody. It was a journey, and these three months were both awful and instructive about how grateful we have to be about being able to do this for a living.”

Did it provide fodder and inspiration for his famous vanity cards? Lorre is known for the musings he posts at the end of each episode of all of his shows. During the strike, the cards stayed on message: “United we stand.”

“I took notes,” he said coyly. “I have some thoughts.”

-- Maria Elena Fernandez

This year’s WGA East Awards, held Saturday night at Manhattan’s Hudson Theatre, seemed more like “WGA at the Improv,” especially when Triumph the Insult Comic Dog hit the stage. The profane dog puppet of “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” had the room in stitches as he roasted the writers and their cause. A sampling, edited to meet the standards of this newspaper’s website, follows below.

-- Matea Gold

Today we had a great victory! My name is Michael Moore! C’mon folks, we did have a good day today. I think there’s good reason to celebrate. We have an agreement that we can pretend we’re happy with.

No, we have an excellent agreement. And what better way to celebrate than with the most scaled-down [expletive] award ceremony ever? Who needs Rita Moreno? Who needs to sit? Who needs food? You can drink free Sierra Mist at the bar.

That’s right, those are the perks of being in the WGA –- this is why you didn’t go fi-core, ladies and gentlemen! John Ridley is shaking right now. No Sierra Mist for John Ridley!

I’m told the agreement was met with some controversy, but I believe that the overwhelming majority of the guild is relieved to stop striking and getting back to being out of work.

We had to get an agreement today. We had to. There was too much public outcry. At the end of the day, we had to end the strike to get all the ugly writers off of YouTube.

By the way, if you don’t like any of these jokes, I didn’t write them because of the strike. But fortunately Jay Leno was nice enough to give me some. How does he do it? He runs them by Mavis at 3 in the morning!

How about our negotiating committee? Where’s their award? It couldn’t have been easy for them, representing this freak show. Patric Verrone, John Bowman -- you know what people don’t know about these people? That they’re great comedy writers. They are tremendous comedy writers. They’ve written hilarious material like "Futurama" and "In Living Color" and -- the Writers Guild strike rules! The strike rules, ha, prohibit all the writing, ho ho, by any guild member that would be performed on-air by that member, ah ha ha ha, including monologues! Oh ho ho! I can’t take it! It’s too funny! Oh ho ho ho! The strike rules!

Moving one step closer to ending the 4-month-old strike, the board of the Writers Guild of America unanimously blessed this morning the tentative accord reached last week with the studios.

The endorsement paves the way for writers to return to work on Wednesday, pending a vote by the guild's membership to lift the strike order on Tuesday. The guild's 10,500 movie and TV writers are expected to ratify the new three-year contract within 10 days.

Hollywood's top show runners, however, can return to work Monday in their capacity as producers, which includes hiring crews and getting their series ready to shoot. The strike shut down more than 60 shows and idled thousands of production workers, who are anxious to return to their jobs.

The resolution comes in the nick of time to save the annual Academy Awards show, which can now come off as planned on Feb. 24 without the threat of picketers outside the event and a paucity of stars on the red carpet and writers to pen the jokes made by presenters. It also means the networks will now be able to begin, albeit at a delay, developing new shows for next season.

In the last few days, the writers had been letting the leadership know that they wanted to have a say. And on Saturday night, soon after the beginning of a well-attended membership meeting at the Shrine Auditorium, Verrone announced that this indeed would be happening.

As a result, the union's leaders reversed their original plan, which would have allowed the WGA board to send writers back to work on Monday.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller

This morning's strike developments:

The WGA negotiating committee has voted unanimously to recommend the deal, and the WGA West board is meeting at this moment to vote to ask the membership to ratify the contract.

If that happens as expected, here's how the week would unfold:

--There would be no more picketing.

-- Show runners could go back to work Monday and begin their producing
duties.

-- Members would vote Tuesday.

-- Everyone should be back at work Wednesday.

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

Bill Condon, who sits directly in back of David Young, is the only one on stage taking copious notes. I think he's writing a script, getting an unfair jump on the rest of us. Fine Bill Condon!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

David Young says the studios told him to embrace some technical boring offer with open arms. Patric Verrone, who is sitting next to him, points out that you can't actually embrace something with open arms.

See, we are writers!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

Even if you've never been in a sitcom writers room, you probably know enough about writers to realize everyone would be late. They just recently started. I'm already bored.

There are 36 people on stage in two rows with paper placards. They're projected on a big screen in back of them. If you imagine a more boring version on C-SPAN that covered intellectual property law, then you can imagine the electricity.

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

About 3,500 members of the Writers Guild of America are gathered at the Shrine Auditorium to discuss the terms of the tentative deal struck with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Projected on a screen above the stage is a picture of a circle of pencils entitled: “Stronger Together.” 

About 7:30 p.m., the meeting opened with an ovation and WGA West President Patric Verrone saying, “Good evening. Welcome to the Grammys. We have a deal! More importantly, you have a deal.” The deal, he said, took until 1:30 a.m. to come about and until about 6 p.m. tonight to get signed.

“I am personally recommending that we ratify this deal,” Verrone said.

In urging the members to accept the deal, he said that although there were concessions, “it is the best deal the Guild has bargained for in 30 years. Admittedly, the contract has some holes.”

The writers succeeded in getting jurisdiction in new media and higher pay for work distributed on the Internet. Verrone said the guild would continue to push for rights in animation and reality.

The strike isn’t over Monday, he went on to say. The decision to lift the strike will come after the members have had a chance to vote on the contract Tuesday.

“We have repositioned this Guild as a powerful player in this town,” chief negotiator David Young told the crowd before he broke down the details of the contract.

More news on the strike

-- Times Staff Writer

After a two-and-a-half-hour-long gathering Saturday, writers streamed out of the third-floor ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Hotel expressing optimism about the deal and pride in the guild's solidarity.

Inside, a smiling Michael Winship, president of WGA East, paced the empty Crowne Plaza ballroom with a cellphone pressed to his ear, relaying the details of the meeting to his counterpart in L.A., Patric Verrone.

After he got off the phone, Winship said the overwhelming share of the more than 500 writers who turned out for the meeting were "very much behind" the new contract.

"We had a very good meeting with the membership," he said. "We had a very lively discussion, a free exchange of ideas. At the moment, I feel strongly that it has a very good chance of going through."

Winship said the guild members had a lot of questions, and they stayed until every one had been answered.

"Basically, people wanted to have the math explained to them," he said. "I think we came away with a good deal," Winship added. "I hope the membership endorses it. We struck on the issues of jurisdiction of new media and distributors' gross, and we made advances in both those areas. So I'm happy."

If the West Coast guild concurs, the union leaders will have to decide tomorrow when to lift the strike. They could wait until the membership votes on the contract, but under the guild's constitution, that vote must be held 48 hours after the board vote, if the members vote through in-person meetings, or 10 days after the board vote, if the members vote by mail. 

"The question is, do you rescind the strike before a membership vote, and some people don't want to do that," said Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

That could mean the strike won't officially end until midweek. 

But even without a clear sense of when the labor stoppage would be over, there was a sense among the New York writers that they had reached the end of a difficult journey.

Bill Scheft, a writer for the "Late Show with David Letterman," said he knew the contract was a good one when Terry George, a member of the negotiating committee, opened the meeting by saying: "We've defeated a tradition of rollbacks that began with the air traffic controllers."

"To me, that was the most significant moment," Scheft said. "To me, this was all about, do we have a system in place [for new media] where there was no system before. And the answer is yes."

Scheft said the mood in the room was largely positive, but cautioned that "we're talking about the East."

"The Shrine, that's where the action is," he added. 

For his part, filmmaker Michael Moore came out of the meeting substantially more enthusiastic than when he entered.

"This is an historic moment for labor in this country," Moore said. "To have the writers union stand up like we did, not give back a single thing and make them give -- it was a really great moment to sit in there and listen to everything."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

After about 90 minutes, East Coast writers began exiting a closed-door meeting in New York to discuss details of the pending pact -- and expressed optimism that the strike would soon be resolved.

"It sounds really positive and I think we negotiated a good deal" said Seth Meyers, one of the head writers on "Saturday Night Live." "I think we were right about the things we struck for."

Another writer, who declined to give his name but said he worked in episodic drama, said the room was filled with applause and excitement. "There a sense that we won," he said. "There's a good feeling that the strike will be rescinded sooner rather than later."

Tom Phillips, a news writer for CBS, said the meeting went very well: "I think the contract will be approved by a wide margin."

Phillip added that the reaction inside the room was mixed, with some people asking sharp questions, but said that "most people were enthusiastic."

"I think the topline is that WGA has jurisdiction for writing under new media," Phillips said. "That was basically what the strike was about. And that was a win."

Carmen Culver, a writer for movies and miniseries, called the agreement that was presented a complicated deal. "There were some parts I was very happy about and others less so," she said. "But I'm extremely proud of the guild for hanging tough. It's a great day for the labor movement. We have really stood up and said to these corporations that it all begins with the word. I think the big boys have been brought to their knees."

There was no lack of applause in the room for the negotiators and strike captains and all the work they have done. She added that most of the questions from members were about technical, complicated aspects of the deal. "You have to understand that we're writers, not lawyers."

Writers coming out of the New York meeting said that while the mood was very optimistic, they were unsure how quickly the strike would end, adding that the membership has yet to vote on the deal. There was no vote held at the meeting.

--Matea Gold

More news on the strike

NEW YORK--Hundreds of writers poured into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square on a gray Saturday afternoon, eager to hear details about the tentative deal struck on Friday.

"I have some questions about it, and I'm going to go in and ask them," said Joe Toplyn, a writer for "Monk." "Mostly, I'd like a little bit more explanation of what the terms mean. I hope there are a lot of questions, and that way everybody understands what they're voting for and we have no regrets, whatever happens."

Many writers heading into the meeting voiced uncertainty about the agreement, including filmmaker Michael Moore.

"I have good feelings and not good feelings about it, and I'm going to go listen to what they have to say," Moore said as he ambled into the hotel.

Added Kevin Wade, the creator of "Cashmere Mafia": "I just got a chance to read it this morning, and I'm anxious to hear from the people who negotiated it."

Others were already decided.

"I'm in favor of it," said Peter Brash, a writer for a soap opera. "It's been a hard battle, but I think we've gotten what we could, and it's time to settle."

Claudia Silver, a writer for childrens television, said that the deal appears promising, but she wants to hear more about it.

"I think people will be happy to get the strike over if they feel the deal that they get is fair," Silver said.  "But I don't feel people are at a point where they're like, 'Whatever they say, we'll take.' I think people are going to be very sensible and stick to what they need to, and if it's not good, they're not going to take it."

Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," said he believes the agreement achieves one major goal.

"The reason for this strike was to make sure we had coverage of the Internet, that it didn't become a guild-free zone, and I think we accomplished that," he said. "I wish some of the things that network programming got also applied to variety and cable."

"I think some people will push for more," Leight added. "But it becomes one of those analyses: how much more can you get for how much more pain?"

Andrew Smith, a writer for "The View," said he was suspicious of the agreement because he doesn't trust the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But he said that if  WGA leaders recommend that  members back it, he'll go along.

"I'm broke and I want to get back to work Monday," Smith said. "Everybody had a date in their head, probably Feb. 1, that if the strike wasn't settled, they would have to do something radical, like go fi- core [declare 'financial core,' a lower level of union membership]. So I think everybody's ready. But on the other hand, I don't want the other side to take advantage of that."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

On Friday afternoon, guild leaders Patric Verrone, David Young and John Bowman met with 300 strike captains in Los Angeles to present the terms of the deal,  even though the WGA constitution does not require such meetings.

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the deal and were encouraged to make public comments about the details. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday — before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

“They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it’s a good deal, they’ll call off the strike,”  strike captain Sivert Glarum said today.  “And if not, they won’t call off the strike.  I think that to be expedient they’re trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken.”

Glarum, an executive producer of CBS’ “Rules of Engagement,” estimates that about 80% of the strike captains who attended think  the contract is fair and understand the need to return to work as soon as possible. But several members expressed that they felt the guild was rushing them into a decision and they did not think they should return to work until the vote has been taken, he added.

“I don’t think the guild is trying to ram a deal down anyone’s throats,” he said. “I think the guild is very interested in hearing all writers’ input and that’s why we have these meetings. Most people didn’t wait 20 minutes in line to make a public comment.  So I think, while there were some people who did bring that up, I don’t think that the was overall feeling of the room.”

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

WGA: 'The strike is over'

Excerpts from the WGA's message to its members:

On Tuesday, members of the Writers Guilds East and West voted by a 92.5% margin to lift the restraining order that was invoked on November 5th. The strike is over. Writing can resume immediately....The decision to begin this strike was not taken lightly and was only made after no other reasonable alternative was possible. We are profoundly aware of the economic loss these fourteen weeks have created not only for our members but so many other colleagues who work in the television and motion picture industries. Nonetheless, with the establishment of the WGA jurisdiction over new media and residual formulas based on distributor’s gross revenue (among other gains) we are confident that the results are a significant achievement not only for ourselves but the entire creative community, now and in the future. We hope to build upon the extraordinary energy, ingenuity, and solidarity that were generated by your hard work during the strike. Over the next weeks and months, we will be in touch with you to discuss and develop ways we can use our unprecedented unity to make our two guilds stronger and more effective than ever....

More news on the strike

“Friday Night Lights” show runner Jason Katims and his assistant, Jamie Duneier, are happy to be back in the office. But it will probably be a while before their writing staff joins them.

NBC has not decided if it will produce more episodes of “Friday Night Lights” for the spring. Katims will be attending several meetings this week with the network and Universal Media Studios, which produces it, and is hoping fans won’t have to wait until the fall to learn how the Smash Williams football story ends or if Jason Street is going to be a father.

“The most difficult part of this is that, when the strike ends, I think that everybody here will be celebrating that the strike ended and then the next question is, when are we going to get back to work?” Katims said. “Are we going to get back to work? It’s going to unfold differently for every show.”

Fifteen episodes of the football-centered drama have already aired, and Katims says he can complete five or six more — if given the chance. Always a ratings-challenged, critical darling, “Friday Night Lights” has been performing better since it moved to Fridays. But that doesn’t guarantee it a spot on the fall lineup.

“I’ve heard that serialized shows are less likely to come back this spring," he said. "And, of course, we’re on the eternal bubble, so we have to wait and see what they want to do.”

--Maria Elena Fernandez

Veteran TV producer Chuck Lorre has made a career out of being funny. And although there was nothing humorous about not working for three months, Lorre has found his smile again.

Both of his CBS comedies, “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory,” will produce nine more episodes for this season, which means his 200-person staff will be back at work by next week — much sooner than most of the TV industry.

Lorre and his co-show runners, Lee Aronsohn (“Two and a Half Men”) and Bill Prady (“The Big Bang Theory”), returned to work Monday to figure out how they will produce nine episodes in 12 weeks. This is how it will play out:

“It’s gonna be an enormous cluster [insert the word for Charlie Harper’s favorite hobby] of stuff to do,” Lorre said in his first interview since the strike was called. “Normally, the kind of stuff you complain about is now just an absolute joy. Yay! We get to make our show again. We’ll be working seven days a week for the next three months and we’ll be happy to do it to pull this off.”

“Two and a Half Men,” the No. 1 comedy on TV, is in good shape, Lorre said, because they have one complete script ready to produce. “Big Bang,” a freshman show that was gaining momentum in the ratings when the strike began, was in the middle of shooting an episode, so production will start from scratch on that episode.

“It’s really surreal coming back after a strike,” Lorre said. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I really hate to date myself, but I was around for the ’88 strike and it’s very disorienting. It’s not a vacation. It’s not restful. It’s a stressful  three months. It was purgatory. It was not hey, hooray, we’re not working. It was awful. There’s an emotional toll. I’m really lucky because it was not a financial strain. But the financial strain on people around you and entire communities is huge. There’s nothing good about it.”

Lorre says he is thankful his employees will get to complete the majority of the episodes ordered, as opposed to shows that are facing severely shortened seasons and others that aren't returning to the schedule until fall. “Men” will complete 19 out of 24 and “Big Bang” will finish 17 of 22.

“Just like it’s better to have written than to write, I’m glad this is behind us,” Lorre said. “But at the same time, there’s something to learn about it. I certainly learned something about the depths of my workaholicism, because there was withdrawals.”

Returning to his job this time has been nothing like coming back from a vacation hiatus, Lorre said.
“We got sent home,” he said. “Even if you don’t like school, you don’t want to get sent home. And the truth of the matter is to be at work every day with people for years, it becomes your life. And people become part of your family. And when a show stops suddenly, you’re powerless to do anything about it. And it’s not unjustified. It’s all legitimate. There’s no malice on the part of anybody. It was a journey, and these three months were both awful and instructive about how grateful we have to be about being able to do this for a living.”

Did it provide fodder and inspiration for his famous vanity cards? Lorre is known for the musings he posts at the end of each episode of all of his shows. During the strike, the cards stayed on message: “United we stand.”

“I took notes,” he said coyly. “I have some thoughts.”

-- Maria Elena Fernandez

This year’s WGA East Awards, held Saturday night at Manhattan’s Hudson Theatre, seemed more like “WGA at the Improv,” especially when Triumph the Insult Comic Dog hit the stage. The profane dog puppet of “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” had the room in stitches as he roasted the writers and their cause. A sampling, edited to meet the standards of this newspaper’s website, follows below.

-- Matea Gold

Today we had a great victory! My name is Michael Moore! C’mon folks, we did have a good day today. I think there’s good reason to celebrate. We have an agreement that we can pretend we’re happy with.

No, we have an excellent agreement. And what better way to celebrate than with the most scaled-down [expletive] award ceremony ever? Who needs Rita Moreno? Who needs to sit? Who needs food? You can drink free Sierra Mist at the bar.

That’s right, those are the perks of being in the WGA –- this is why you didn’t go fi-core, ladies and gentlemen! John Ridley is shaking right now. No Sierra Mist for John Ridley!

I’m told the agreement was met with some controversy, but I believe that the overwhelming majority of the guild is relieved to stop striking and getting back to being out of work.

We had to get an agreement today. We had to. There was too much public outcry. At the end of the day, we had to end the strike to get all the ugly writers off of YouTube.

By the way, if you don’t like any of these jokes, I didn’t write them because of the strike. But fortunately Jay Leno was nice enough to give me some. How does he do it? He runs them by Mavis at 3 in the morning!

How about our negotiating committee? Where’s their award? It couldn’t have been easy for them, representing this freak show. Patric Verrone, John Bowman -- you know what people don’t know about these people? That they’re great comedy writers. They are tremendous comedy writers. They’ve written hilarious material like "Futurama" and "In Living Color" and -- the Writers Guild strike rules! The strike rules, ha, prohibit all the writing, ho ho, by any guild member that would be performed on-air by that member, ah ha ha ha, including monologues! Oh ho ho! I can’t take it! It’s too funny! Oh ho ho ho! The strike rules!

Moving one step closer to ending the 4-month-old strike, the board of the Writers Guild of America unanimously blessed this morning the tentative accord reached last week with the studios.

The endorsement paves the way for writers to return to work on Wednesday, pending a vote by the guild's membership to lift the strike order on Tuesday. The guild's 10,500 movie and TV writers are expected to ratify the new three-year contract within 10 days.

Hollywood's top show runners, however, can return to work Monday in their capacity as producers, which includes hiring crews and getting their series ready to shoot. The strike shut down more than 60 shows and idled thousands of production workers, who are anxious to return to their jobs.

The resolution comes in the nick of time to save the annual Academy Awards show, which can now come off as planned on Feb. 24 without the threat of picketers outside the event and a paucity of stars on the red carpet and writers to pen the jokes made by presenters. It also means the networks will now be able to begin, albeit at a delay, developing new shows for next season.

In the last few days, the writers had been letting the leadership know that they wanted to have a say. And on Saturday night, soon after the beginning of a well-attended membership meeting at the Shrine Auditorium, Verrone announced that this indeed would be happening.

As a result, the union's leaders reversed their original plan, which would have allowed the WGA board to send writers back to work on Monday.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller

This morning's strike developments:

The WGA negotiating committee has voted unanimously to recommend the deal, and the WGA West board is meeting at this moment to vote to ask the membership to ratify the contract.

If that happens as expected, here's how the week would unfold:

--There would be no more picketing.

-- Show runners could go back to work Monday and begin their producing
duties.

-- Members would vote Tuesday.

-- Everyone should be back at work Wednesday.

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

Bill Condon, who sits directly in back of David Young, is the only one on stage taking copious notes. I think he's writing a script, getting an unfair jump on the rest of us. Fine Bill Condon!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

David Young says the studios told him to embrace some technical boring offer with open arms. Patric Verrone, who is sitting next to him, points out that you can't actually embrace something with open arms.

See, we are writers!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

Even if you've never been in a sitcom writers room, you probably know enough about writers to realize everyone would be late. They just recently started. I'm already bored.

There are 36 people on stage in two rows with paper placards. They're projected on a big screen in back of them. If you imagine a more boring version on C-SPAN that covered intellectual property law, then you can imagine the electricity.

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

About 3,500 members of the Writers Guild of America are gathered at the Shrine Auditorium to discuss the terms of the tentative deal struck with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Projected on a screen above the stage is a picture of a circle of pencils entitled: “Stronger Together.” 

About 7:30 p.m., the meeting opened with an ovation and WGA West President Patric Verrone saying, “Good evening. Welcome to the Grammys. We have a deal! More importantly, you have a deal.” The deal, he said, took until 1:30 a.m. to come about and until about 6 p.m. tonight to get signed.

“I am personally recommending that we ratify this deal,” Verrone said.

In urging the members to accept the deal, he said that although there were concessions, “it is the best deal the Guild has bargained for in 30 years. Admittedly, the contract has some holes.”

The writers succeeded in getting jurisdiction in new media and higher pay for work distributed on the Internet. Verrone said the guild would continue to push for rights in animation and reality.

The strike isn’t over Monday, he went on to say. The decision to lift the strike will come after the members have had a chance to vote on the contract Tuesday.

“We have repositioned this Guild as a powerful player in this town,” chief negotiator David Young told the crowd before he broke down the details of the contract.

More news on the strike

-- Times Staff Writer

After a two-and-a-half-hour-long gathering Saturday, writers streamed out of the third-floor ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Hotel expressing optimism about the deal and pride in the guild's solidarity.

Inside, a smiling Michael Winship, president of WGA East, paced the empty Crowne Plaza ballroom with a cellphone pressed to his ear, relaying the details of the meeting to his counterpart in L.A., Patric Verrone.

After he got off the phone, Winship said the overwhelming share of the more than 500 writers who turned out for the meeting were "very much behind" the new contract.

"We had a very good meeting with the membership," he said. "We had a very lively discussion, a free exchange of ideas. At the moment, I feel strongly that it has a very good chance of going through."

Winship said the guild members had a lot of questions, and they stayed until every one had been answered.

"Basically, people wanted to have the math explained to them," he said. "I think we came away with a good deal," Winship added. "I hope the membership endorses it. We struck on the issues of jurisdiction of new media and distributors' gross, and we made advances in both those areas. So I'm happy."

If the West Coast guild concurs, the union leaders will have to decide tomorrow when to lift the strike. They could wait until the membership votes on the contract, but under the guild's constitution, that vote must be held 48 hours after the board vote, if the members vote through in-person meetings, or 10 days after the board vote, if the members vote by mail. 

"The question is, do you rescind the strike before a membership vote, and some people don't want to do that," said Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

That could mean the strike won't officially end until midweek. 

But even without a clear sense of when the labor stoppage would be over, there was a sense among the New York writers that they had reached the end of a difficult journey.

Bill Scheft, a writer for the "Late Show with David Letterman," said he knew the contract was a good one when Terry George, a member of the negotiating committee, opened the meeting by saying: "We've defeated a tradition of rollbacks that began with the air traffic controllers."

"To me, that was the most significant moment," Scheft said. "To me, this was all about, do we have a system in place [for new media] where there was no system before. And the answer is yes."

Scheft said the mood in the room was largely positive, but cautioned that "we're talking about the East."

"The Shrine, that's where the action is," he added. 

For his part, filmmaker Michael Moore came out of the meeting substantially more enthusiastic than when he entered.

"This is an historic moment for labor in this country," Moore said. "To have the writers union stand up like we did, not give back a single thing and make them give -- it was a really great moment to sit in there and listen to everything."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

After about 90 minutes, East Coast writers began exiting a closed-door meeting in New York to discuss details of the pending pact -- and expressed optimism that the strike would soon be resolved.

"It sounds really positive and I think we negotiated a good deal" said Seth Meyers, one of the head writers on "Saturday Night Live." "I think we were right about the things we struck for."

Another writer, who declined to give his name but said he worked in episodic drama, said the room was filled with applause and excitement. "There a sense that we won," he said. "There's a good feeling that the strike will be rescinded sooner rather than later."

Tom Phillips, a news writer for CBS, said the meeting went very well: "I think the contract will be approved by a wide margin."

Phillip added that the reaction inside the room was mixed, with some people asking sharp questions, but said that "most people were enthusiastic."

"I think the topline is that WGA has jurisdiction for writing under new media," Phillips said. "That was basically what the strike was about. And that was a win."

Carmen Culver, a writer for movies and miniseries, called the agreement that was presented a complicated deal. "There were some parts I was very happy about and others less so," she said. "But I'm extremely proud of the guild for hanging tough. It's a great day for the labor movement. We have really stood up and said to these corporations that it all begins with the word. I think the big boys have been brought to their knees."

There was no lack of applause in the room for the negotiators and strike captains and all the work they have done. She added that most of the questions from members were about technical, complicated aspects of the deal. "You have to understand that we're writers, not lawyers."

Writers coming out of the New York meeting said that while the mood was very optimistic, they were unsure how quickly the strike would end, adding that the membership has yet to vote on the deal. There was no vote held at the meeting.

--Matea Gold

More news on the strike

NEW YORK--Hundreds of writers poured into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square on a gray Saturday afternoon, eager to hear details about the tentative deal struck on Friday.

"I have some questions about it, and I'm going to go in and ask them," said Joe Toplyn, a writer for "Monk." "Mostly, I'd like a little bit more explanation of what the terms mean. I hope there are a lot of questions, and that way everybody understands what they're voting for and we have no regrets, whatever happens."

Many writers heading into the meeting voiced uncertainty about the agreement, including filmmaker Michael Moore.

"I have good feelings and not good feelings about it, and I'm going to go listen to what they have to say," Moore said as he ambled into the hotel.

Added Kevin Wade, the creator of "Cashmere Mafia": "I just got a chance to read it this morning, and I'm anxious to hear from the people who negotiated it."

Others were already decided.

"I'm in favor of it," said Peter Brash, a writer for a soap opera. "It's been a hard battle, but I think we've gotten what we could, and it's time to settle."

Claudia Silver, a writer for childrens television, said that the deal appears promising, but she wants to hear more about it.

"I think people will be happy to get the strike over if they feel the deal that they get is fair," Silver said.  "But I don't feel people are at a point where they're like, 'Whatever they say, we'll take.' I think people are going to be very sensible and stick to what they need to, and if it's not good, they're not going to take it."

Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," said he believes the agreement achieves one major goal.

"The reason for this strike was to make sure we had coverage of the Internet, that it didn't become a guild-free zone, and I think we accomplished that," he said. "I wish some of the things that network programming got also applied to variety and cable."

"I think some people will push for more," Leight added. "But it becomes one of those analyses: how much more can you get for how much more pain?"

Andrew Smith, a writer for "The View," said he was suspicious of the agreement because he doesn't trust the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But he said that if  WGA leaders recommend that  members back it, he'll go along.

"I'm broke and I want to get back to work Monday," Smith said. "Everybody had a date in their head, probably Feb. 1, that if the strike wasn't settled, they would have to do something radical, like go fi- core [declare 'financial core,' a lower level of union membership]. So I think everybody's ready. But on the other hand, I don't want the other side to take advantage of that."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

On Friday afternoon, guild leaders Patric Verrone, David Young and John Bowman met with 300 strike captains in Los Angeles to present the terms of the deal,  even though the WGA constitution does not require such meetings.

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the deal and were encouraged to make public comments about the details. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday — before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

“They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it’s a good deal, they’ll call off the strike,”  strike captain Sivert Glarum said today.  “And if not, they won’t call off the strike.  I think that to be expedient they’re trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken.”

Glarum, an executive producer of CBS’ “Rules of Engagement,” estimates that about 80% of the strike captains who attended think  the contract is fair and understand the need to return to work as soon as possible. But several members expressed that they felt the guild was rushing them into a decision and they did not think they should return to work until the vote has been taken, he added.

“I don’t think the guild is trying to ram a deal down anyone’s throats,” he said. “I think the guild is very interested in hearing all writers’ input and that’s why we have these meetings. Most people didn’t wait 20 minutes in line to make a public comment.  So I think, while there were some people who did bring that up, I don’t think that the was overall feeling of the room.”

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

'Friday Night Lights' in timeout until fall?

“Friday Night Lights” show runner Jason Katims and his assistant, Jamie Duneier, are happy to be back in the office. But it will probably be a while before their writing staff joins them.

NBC has not decided if it will produce more episodes of “Friday Night Lights” for the spring. Katims will be attending several meetings this week with the network and Universal Media Studios, which produces it, and is hoping fans won’t have to wait until the fall to learn how the Smash Williams football story ends or if Jason Street is going to be a father.

“The most difficult part of this is that, when the strike ends, I think that everybody here will be celebrating that the strike ended and then the next question is, when are we going to get back to work?” Katims said. “Are we going to get back to work? It’s going to unfold differently for every show.”

Fifteen episodes of the football-centered drama have already aired, and Katims says he can complete five or six more — if given the chance. Always a ratings-challenged, critical darling, “Friday Night Lights” has been performing better since it moved to Fridays. But that doesn’t guarantee it a spot on the fall lineup.

“I’ve heard that serialized shows are less likely to come back this spring," he said. "And, of course, we’re on the eternal bubble, so we have to wait and see what they want to do.”

--Maria Elena Fernandez

Veteran TV producer Chuck Lorre has made a career out of being funny. And although there was nothing humorous about not working for three months, Lorre has found his smile again.

Both of his CBS comedies, “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory,” will produce nine more episodes for this season, which means his 200-person staff will be back at work by next week — much sooner than most of the TV industry.

Lorre and his co-show runners, Lee Aronsohn (“Two and a Half Men”) and Bill Prady (“The Big Bang Theory”), returned to work Monday to figure out how they will produce nine episodes in 12 weeks. This is how it will play out:

“It’s gonna be an enormous cluster [insert the word for Charlie Harper’s favorite hobby] of stuff to do,” Lorre said in his first interview since the strike was called. “Normally, the kind of stuff you complain about is now just an absolute joy. Yay! We get to make our show again. We’ll be working seven days a week for the next three months and we’ll be happy to do it to pull this off.”

“Two and a Half Men,” the No. 1 comedy on TV, is in good shape, Lorre said, because they have one complete script ready to produce. “Big Bang,” a freshman show that was gaining momentum in the ratings when the strike began, was in the middle of shooting an episode, so production will start from scratch on that episode.

“It’s really surreal coming back after a strike,” Lorre said. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I really hate to date myself, but I was around for the ’88 strike and it’s very disorienting. It’s not a vacation. It’s not restful. It’s a stressful  three months. It was purgatory. It was not hey, hooray, we’re not working. It was awful. There’s an emotional toll. I’m really lucky because it was not a financial strain. But the financial strain on people around you and entire communities is huge. There’s nothing good about it.”

Lorre says he is thankful his employees will get to complete the majority of the episodes ordered, as opposed to shows that are facing severely shortened seasons and others that aren't returning to the schedule until fall. “Men” will complete 19 out of 24 and “Big Bang” will finish 17 of 22.

“Just like it’s better to have written than to write, I’m glad this is behind us,” Lorre said. “But at the same time, there’s something to learn about it. I certainly learned something about the depths of my workaholicism, because there was withdrawals.”

Returning to his job this time has been nothing like coming back from a vacation hiatus, Lorre said.
“We got sent home,” he said. “Even if you don’t like school, you don’t want to get sent home. And the truth of the matter is to be at work every day with people for years, it becomes your life. And people become part of your family. And when a show stops suddenly, you’re powerless to do anything about it. And it’s not unjustified. It’s all legitimate. There’s no malice on the part of anybody. It was a journey, and these three months were both awful and instructive about how grateful we have to be about being able to do this for a living.”

Did it provide fodder and inspiration for his famous vanity cards? Lorre is known for the musings he posts at the end of each episode of all of his shows. During the strike, the cards stayed on message: “United we stand.”

“I took notes,” he said coyly. “I have some thoughts.”

-- Maria Elena Fernandez

This year’s WGA East Awards, held Saturday night at Manhattan’s Hudson Theatre, seemed more like “WGA at the Improv,” especially when Triumph the Insult Comic Dog hit the stage. The profane dog puppet of “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” had the room in stitches as he roasted the writers and their cause. A sampling, edited to meet the standards of this newspaper’s website, follows below.

-- Matea Gold

Today we had a great victory! My name is Michael Moore! C’mon folks, we did have a good day today. I think there’s good reason to celebrate. We have an agreement that we can pretend we’re happy with.

No, we have an excellent agreement. And what better way to celebrate than with the most scaled-down [expletive] award ceremony ever? Who needs Rita Moreno? Who needs to sit? Who needs food? You can drink free Sierra Mist at the bar.

That’s right, those are the perks of being in the WGA –- this is why you didn’t go fi-core, ladies and gentlemen! John Ridley is shaking right now. No Sierra Mist for John Ridley!

I’m told the agreement was met with some controversy, but I believe that the overwhelming majority of the guild is relieved to stop striking and getting back to being out of work.

We had to get an agreement today. We had to. There was too much public outcry. At the end of the day, we had to end the strike to get all the ugly writers off of YouTube.

By the way, if you don’t like any of these jokes, I didn’t write them because of the strike. But fortunately Jay Leno was nice enough to give me some. How does he do it? He runs them by Mavis at 3 in the morning!

How about our negotiating committee? Where’s their award? It couldn’t have been easy for them, representing this freak show. Patric Verrone, John Bowman -- you know what people don’t know about these people? That they’re great comedy writers. They are tremendous comedy writers. They’ve written hilarious material like "Futurama" and "In Living Color" and -- the Writers Guild strike rules! The strike rules, ha, prohibit all the writing, ho ho, by any guild member that would be performed on-air by that member, ah ha ha ha, including monologues! Oh ho ho! I can’t take it! It’s too funny! Oh ho ho ho! The strike rules!

Moving one step closer to ending the 4-month-old strike, the board of the Writers Guild of America unanimously blessed this morning the tentative accord reached last week with the studios.

The endorsement paves the way for writers to return to work on Wednesday, pending a vote by the guild's membership to lift the strike order on Tuesday. The guild's 10,500 movie and TV writers are expected to ratify the new three-year contract within 10 days.

Hollywood's top show runners, however, can return to work Monday in their capacity as producers, which includes hiring crews and getting their series ready to shoot. The strike shut down more than 60 shows and idled thousands of production workers, who are anxious to return to their jobs.

The resolution comes in the nick of time to save the annual Academy Awards show, which can now come off as planned on Feb. 24 without the threat of picketers outside the event and a paucity of stars on the red carpet and writers to pen the jokes made by presenters. It also means the networks will now be able to begin, albeit at a delay, developing new shows for next season.

In the last few days, the writers had been letting the leadership know that they wanted to have a say. And on Saturday night, soon after the beginning of a well-attended membership meeting at the Shrine Auditorium, Verrone announced that this indeed would be happening.

As a result, the union's leaders reversed their original plan, which would have allowed the WGA board to send writers back to work on Monday.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller

This morning's strike developments:

The WGA negotiating committee has voted unanimously to recommend the deal, and the WGA West board is meeting at this moment to vote to ask the membership to ratify the contract.

If that happens as expected, here's how the week would unfold:

--There would be no more picketing.

-- Show runners could go back to work Monday and begin their producing
duties.

-- Members would vote Tuesday.

-- Everyone should be back at work Wednesday.

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

Bill Condon, who sits directly in back of David Young, is the only one on stage taking copious notes. I think he's writing a script, getting an unfair jump on the rest of us. Fine Bill Condon!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

David Young says the studios told him to embrace some technical boring offer with open arms. Patric Verrone, who is sitting next to him, points out that you can't actually embrace something with open arms.

See, we are writers!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

Even if you've never been in a sitcom writers room, you probably know enough about writers to realize everyone would be late. They just recently started. I'm already bored.

There are 36 people on stage in two rows with paper placards. They're projected on a big screen in back of them. If you imagine a more boring version on C-SPAN that covered intellectual property law, then you can imagine the electricity.

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

About 3,500 members of the Writers Guild of America are gathered at the Shrine Auditorium to discuss the terms of the tentative deal struck with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Projected on a screen above the stage is a picture of a circle of pencils entitled: “Stronger Together.” 

About 7:30 p.m., the meeting opened with an ovation and WGA West President Patric Verrone saying, “Good evening. Welcome to the Grammys. We have a deal! More importantly, you have a deal.” The deal, he said, took until 1:30 a.m. to come about and until about 6 p.m. tonight to get signed.

“I am personally recommending that we ratify this deal,” Verrone said.

In urging the members to accept the deal, he said that although there were concessions, “it is the best deal the Guild has bargained for in 30 years. Admittedly, the contract has some holes.”

The writers succeeded in getting jurisdiction in new media and higher pay for work distributed on the Internet. Verrone said the guild would continue to push for rights in animation and reality.

The strike isn’t over Monday, he went on to say. The decision to lift the strike will come after the members have had a chance to vote on the contract Tuesday.

“We have repositioned this Guild as a powerful player in this town,” chief negotiator David Young told the crowd before he broke down the details of the contract.

More news on the strike

-- Times Staff Writer

After a two-and-a-half-hour-long gathering Saturday, writers streamed out of the third-floor ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Hotel expressing optimism about the deal and pride in the guild's solidarity.

Inside, a smiling Michael Winship, president of WGA East, paced the empty Crowne Plaza ballroom with a cellphone pressed to his ear, relaying the details of the meeting to his counterpart in L.A., Patric Verrone.

After he got off the phone, Winship said the overwhelming share of the more than 500 writers who turned out for the meeting were "very much behind" the new contract.

"We had a very good meeting with the membership," he said. "We had a very lively discussion, a free exchange of ideas. At the moment, I feel strongly that it has a very good chance of going through."

Winship said the guild members had a lot of questions, and they stayed until every one had been answered.

"Basically, people wanted to have the math explained to them," he said. "I think we came away with a good deal," Winship added. "I hope the membership endorses it. We struck on the issues of jurisdiction of new media and distributors' gross, and we made advances in both those areas. So I'm happy."

If the West Coast guild concurs, the union leaders will have to decide tomorrow when to lift the strike. They could wait until the membership votes on the contract, but under the guild's constitution, that vote must be held 48 hours after the board vote, if the members vote through in-person meetings, or 10 days after the board vote, if the members vote by mail. 

"The question is, do you rescind the strike before a membership vote, and some people don't want to do that," said Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

That could mean the strike won't officially end until midweek. 

But even without a clear sense of when the labor stoppage would be over, there was a sense among the New York writers that they had reached the end of a difficult journey.

Bill Scheft, a writer for the "Late Show with David Letterman," said he knew the contract was a good one when Terry George, a member of the negotiating committee, opened the meeting by saying: "We've defeated a tradition of rollbacks that began with the air traffic controllers."

"To me, that was the most significant moment," Scheft said. "To me, this was all about, do we have a system in place [for new media] where there was no system before. And the answer is yes."

Scheft said the mood in the room was largely positive, but cautioned that "we're talking about the East."

"The Shrine, that's where the action is," he added. 

For his part, filmmaker Michael Moore came out of the meeting substantially more enthusiastic than when he entered.

"This is an historic moment for labor in this country," Moore said. "To have the writers union stand up like we did, not give back a single thing and make them give -- it was a really great moment to sit in there and listen to everything."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

After about 90 minutes, East Coast writers began exiting a closed-door meeting in New York to discuss details of the pending pact -- and expressed optimism that the strike would soon be resolved.

"It sounds really positive and I think we negotiated a good deal" said Seth Meyers, one of the head writers on "Saturday Night Live." "I think we were right about the things we struck for."

Another writer, who declined to give his name but said he worked in episodic drama, said the room was filled with applause and excitement. "There a sense that we won," he said. "There's a good feeling that the strike will be rescinded sooner rather than later."

Tom Phillips, a news writer for CBS, said the meeting went very well: "I think the contract will be approved by a wide margin."

Phillip added that the reaction inside the room was mixed, with some people asking sharp questions, but said that "most people were enthusiastic."

"I think the topline is that WGA has jurisdiction for writing under new media," Phillips said. "That was basically what the strike was about. And that was a win."

Carmen Culver, a writer for movies and miniseries, called the agreement that was presented a complicated deal. "There were some parts I was very happy about and others less so," she said. "But I'm extremely proud of the guild for hanging tough. It's a great day for the labor movement. We have really stood up and said to these corporations that it all begins with the word. I think the big boys have been brought to their knees."

There was no lack of applause in the room for the negotiators and strike captains and all the work they have done. She added that most of the questions from members were about technical, complicated aspects of the deal. "You have to understand that we're writers, not lawyers."

Writers coming out of the New York meeting said that while the mood was very optimistic, they were unsure how quickly the strike would end, adding that the membership has yet to vote on the deal. There was no vote held at the meeting.

--Matea Gold

More news on the strike

NEW YORK--Hundreds of writers poured into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square on a gray Saturday afternoon, eager to hear details about the tentative deal struck on Friday.

"I have some questions about it, and I'm going to go in and ask them," said Joe Toplyn, a writer for "Monk." "Mostly, I'd like a little bit more explanation of what the terms mean. I hope there are a lot of questions, and that way everybody understands what they're voting for and we have no regrets, whatever happens."

Many writers heading into the meeting voiced uncertainty about the agreement, including filmmaker Michael Moore.

"I have good feelings and not good feelings about it, and I'm going to go listen to what they have to say," Moore said as he ambled into the hotel.

Added Kevin Wade, the creator of "Cashmere Mafia": "I just got a chance to read it this morning, and I'm anxious to hear from the people who negotiated it."

Others were already decided.

"I'm in favor of it," said Peter Brash, a writer for a soap opera. "It's been a hard battle, but I think we've gotten what we could, and it's time to settle."

Claudia Silver, a writer for childrens television, said that the deal appears promising, but she wants to hear more about it.

"I think people will be happy to get the strike over if they feel the deal that they get is fair," Silver said.  "But I don't feel people are at a point where they're like, 'Whatever they say, we'll take.' I think people are going to be very sensible and stick to what they need to, and if it's not good, they're not going to take it."

Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," said he believes the agreement achieves one major goal.

"The reason for this strike was to make sure we had coverage of the Internet, that it didn't become a guild-free zone, and I think we accomplished that," he said. "I wish some of the things that network programming got also applied to variety and cable."

"I think some people will push for more," Leight added. "But it becomes one of those analyses: how much more can you get for how much more pain?"

Andrew Smith, a writer for "The View," said he was suspicious of the agreement because he doesn't trust the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But he said that if  WGA leaders recommend that  members back it, he'll go along.

"I'm broke and I want to get back to work Monday," Smith said. "Everybody had a date in their head, probably Feb. 1, that if the strike wasn't settled, they would have to do something radical, like go fi- core [declare 'financial core,' a lower level of union membership]. So I think everybody's ready. But on the other hand, I don't want the other side to take advantage of that."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

On Friday afternoon, guild leaders Patric Verrone, David Young and John Bowman met with 300 strike captains in Los Angeles to present the terms of the deal,  even though the WGA constitution does not require such meetings.

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the deal and were encouraged to make public comments about the details. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday — before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

“They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it’s a good deal, they’ll call off the strike,”  strike captain Sivert Glarum said today.  “And if not, they won’t call off the strike.  I think that to be expedient they’re trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken.”

Glarum, an executive producer of CBS’ “Rules of Engagement,” estimates that about 80% of the strike captains who attended think  the contract is fair and understand the need to return to work as soon as possible. But several members expressed that they felt the guild was rushing them into a decision and they did not think they should return to work until the vote has been taken, he added.

“I don’t think the guild is trying to ram a deal down anyone’s throats,” he said. “I think the guild is very interested in hearing all writers’ input and that’s why we have these meetings. Most people didn’t wait 20 minutes in line to make a public comment.  So I think, while there were some people who did bring that up, I don’t think that the was overall feeling of the room.”

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

Two and a half reasons to smile again

Veteran TV producer Chuck Lorre has made a career out of being funny. And although there was nothing humorous about not working for three months, Lorre has found his smile again.

Both of his CBS comedies, “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory,” will produce nine more episodes for this season, which means his 200-person staff will be back at work by next week — much sooner than most of the TV industry.

Lorre and his co-show runners, Lee Aronsohn (“Two and a Half Men”) and Bill Prady (“The Big Bang Theory”), returned to work Monday to figure out how they will produce nine episodes in 12 weeks. This is how it will play out:

“It’s gonna be an enormous cluster [insert the word for Charlie Harper’s favorite hobby] of stuff to do,” Lorre said in his first interview since the strike was called. “Normally, the kind of stuff you complain about is now just an absolute joy. Yay! We get to make our show again. We’ll be working seven days a week for the next three months and we’ll be happy to do it to pull this off.”

“Two and a Half Men,” the No. 1 comedy on TV, is in good shape, Lorre said, because they have one complete script ready to produce. “Big Bang,” a freshman show that was gaining momentum in the ratings when the strike began, was in the middle of shooting an episode, so production will start from scratch on that episode.

“It’s really surreal coming back after a strike,” Lorre said. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I really hate to date myself, but I was around for the ’88 strike and it’s very disorienting. It’s not a vacation. It’s not restful. It’s a stressful  three months. It was purgatory. It was not hey, hooray, we’re not working. It was awful. There’s an emotional toll. I’m really lucky because it was not a financial strain. But the financial strain on people around you and entire communities is huge. There’s nothing good about it.”

Lorre says he is thankful his employees will get to complete the majority of the episodes ordered, as opposed to shows that are facing severely shortened seasons and others that aren't returning to the schedule until fall. “Men” will complete 19 out of 24 and “Big Bang” will finish 17 of 22.

“Just like it’s better to have written than to write, I’m glad this is behind us,” Lorre said. “But at the same time, there’s something to learn about it. I certainly learned something about the depths of my workaholicism, because there was withdrawals.”

Returning to his job this time has been nothing like coming back from a vacation hiatus, Lorre said.
“We got sent home,” he said. “Even if you don’t like school, you don’t want to get sent home. And the truth of the matter is to be at work every day with people for years, it becomes your life. And people become part of your family. And when a show stops suddenly, you’re powerless to do anything about it. And it’s not unjustified. It’s all legitimate. There’s no malice on the part of anybody. It was a journey, and these three months were both awful and instructive about how grateful we have to be about being able to do this for a living.”

Did it provide fodder and inspiration for his famous vanity cards? Lorre is known for the musings he posts at the end of each episode of all of his shows. During the strike, the cards stayed on message: “United we stand.”

“I took notes,” he said coyly. “I have some thoughts.”

-- Maria Elena Fernandez

This year’s WGA East Awards, held Saturday night at Manhattan’s Hudson Theatre, seemed more like “WGA at the Improv,” especially when Triumph the Insult Comic Dog hit the stage. The profane dog puppet of “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” had the room in stitches as he roasted the writers and their cause. A sampling, edited to meet the standards of this newspaper’s website, follows below.

-- Matea Gold

Today we had a great victory! My name is Michael Moore! C’mon folks, we did have a good day today. I think there’s good reason to celebrate. We have an agreement that we can pretend we’re happy with.

No, we have an excellent agreement. And what better way to celebrate than with the most scaled-down [expletive] award ceremony ever? Who needs Rita Moreno? Who needs to sit? Who needs food? You can drink free Sierra Mist at the bar.

That’s right, those are the perks of being in the WGA –- this is why you didn’t go fi-core, ladies and gentlemen! John Ridley is shaking right now. No Sierra Mist for John Ridley!

I’m told the agreement was met with some controversy, but I believe that the overwhelming majority of the guild is relieved to stop striking and getting back to being out of work.

We had to get an agreement today. We had to. There was too much public outcry. At the end of the day, we had to end the strike to get all the ugly writers off of YouTube.

By the way, if you don’t like any of these jokes, I didn’t write them because of the strike. But fortunately Jay Leno was nice enough to give me some. How does he do it? He runs them by Mavis at 3 in the morning!

How about our negotiating committee? Where’s their award? It couldn’t have been easy for them, representing this freak show. Patric Verrone, John Bowman -- you know what people don’t know about these people? That they’re great comedy writers. They are tremendous comedy writers. They’ve written hilarious material like "Futurama" and "In Living Color" and -- the Writers Guild strike rules! The strike rules, ha, prohibit all the writing, ho ho, by any guild member that would be performed on-air by that member, ah ha ha ha, including monologues! Oh ho ho! I can’t take it! It’s too funny! Oh ho ho ho! The strike rules!

Moving one step closer to ending the 4-month-old strike, the board of the Writers Guild of America unanimously blessed this morning the tentative accord reached last week with the studios.

The endorsement paves the way for writers to return to work on Wednesday, pending a vote by the guild's membership to lift the strike order on Tuesday. The guild's 10,500 movie and TV writers are expected to ratify the new three-year contract within 10 days.

Hollywood's top show runners, however, can return to work Monday in their capacity as producers, which includes hiring crews and getting their series ready to shoot. The strike shut down more than 60 shows and idled thousands of production workers, who are anxious to return to their jobs.

The resolution comes in the nick of time to save the annual Academy Awards show, which can now come off as planned on Feb. 24 without the threat of picketers outside the event and a paucity of stars on the red carpet and writers to pen the jokes made by presenters. It also means the networks will now be able to begin, albeit at a delay, developing new shows for next season.

In the last few days, the writers had been letting the leadership know that they wanted to have a say. And on Saturday night, soon after the beginning of a well-attended membership meeting at the Shrine Auditorium, Verrone announced that this indeed would be happening.

As a result, the union's leaders reversed their original plan, which would have allowed the WGA board to send writers back to work on Monday.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller

This morning's strike developments:

The WGA negotiating committee has voted unanimously to recommend the deal, and the WGA West board is meeting at this moment to vote to ask the membership to ratify the contract.

If that happens as expected, here's how the week would unfold:

--There would be no more picketing.

-- Show runners could go back to work Monday and begin their producing
duties.

-- Members would vote Tuesday.

-- Everyone should be back at work Wednesday.

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

Bill Condon, who sits directly in back of David Young, is the only one on stage taking copious notes. I think he's writing a script, getting an unfair jump on the rest of us. Fine Bill Condon!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

David Young says the studios told him to embrace some technical boring offer with open arms. Patric Verrone, who is sitting next to him, points out that you can't actually embrace something with open arms.

See, we are writers!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

Even if you've never been in a sitcom writers room, you probably know enough about writers to realize everyone would be late. They just recently started. I'm already bored.

There are 36 people on stage in two rows with paper placards. They're projected on a big screen in back of them. If you imagine a more boring version on C-SPAN that covered intellectual property law, then you can imagine the electricity.

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

About 3,500 members of the Writers Guild of America are gathered at the Shrine Auditorium to discuss the terms of the tentative deal struck with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Projected on a screen above the stage is a picture of a circle of pencils entitled: “Stronger Together.” 

About 7:30 p.m., the meeting opened with an ovation and WGA West President Patric Verrone saying, “Good evening. Welcome to the Grammys. We have a deal! More importantly, you have a deal.” The deal, he said, took until 1:30 a.m. to come about and until about 6 p.m. tonight to get signed.

“I am personally recommending that we ratify this deal,” Verrone said.

In urging the members to accept the deal, he said that although there were concessions, “it is the best deal the Guild has bargained for in 30 years. Admittedly, the contract has some holes.”

The writers succeeded in getting jurisdiction in new media and higher pay for work distributed on the Internet. Verrone said the guild would continue to push for rights in animation and reality.

The strike isn’t over Monday, he went on to say. The decision to lift the strike will come after the members have had a chance to vote on the contract Tuesday.

“We have repositioned this Guild as a powerful player in this town,” chief negotiator David Young told the crowd before he broke down the details of the contract.

More news on the strike

-- Times Staff Writer

After a two-and-a-half-hour-long gathering Saturday, writers streamed out of the third-floor ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Hotel expressing optimism about the deal and pride in the guild's solidarity.

Inside, a smiling Michael Winship, president of WGA East, paced the empty Crowne Plaza ballroom with a cellphone pressed to his ear, relaying the details of the meeting to his counterpart in L.A., Patric Verrone.

After he got off the phone, Winship said the overwhelming share of the more than 500 writers who turned out for the meeting were "very much behind" the new contract.

"We had a very good meeting with the membership," he said. "We had a very lively discussion, a free exchange of ideas. At the moment, I feel strongly that it has a very good chance of going through."

Winship said the guild members had a lot of questions, and they stayed until every one had been answered.

"Basically, people wanted to have the math explained to them," he said. "I think we came away with a good deal," Winship added. "I hope the membership endorses it. We struck on the issues of jurisdiction of new media and distributors' gross, and we made advances in both those areas. So I'm happy."

If the West Coast guild concurs, the union leaders will have to decide tomorrow when to lift the strike. They could wait until the membership votes on the contract, but under the guild's constitution, that vote must be held 48 hours after the board vote, if the members vote through in-person meetings, or 10 days after the board vote, if the members vote by mail. 

"The question is, do you rescind the strike before a membership vote, and some people don't want to do that," said Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

That could mean the strike won't officially end until midweek. 

But even without a clear sense of when the labor stoppage would be over, there was a sense among the New York writers that they had reached the end of a difficult journey.

Bill Scheft, a writer for the "Late Show with David Letterman," said he knew the contract was a good one when Terry George, a member of the negotiating committee, opened the meeting by saying: "We've defeated a tradition of rollbacks that began with the air traffic controllers."

"To me, that was the most significant moment," Scheft said. "To me, this was all about, do we have a system in place [for new media] where there was no system before. And the answer is yes."

Scheft said the mood in the room was largely positive, but cautioned that "we're talking about the East."

"The Shrine, that's where the action is," he added. 

For his part, filmmaker Michael Moore came out of the meeting substantially more enthusiastic than when he entered.

"This is an historic moment for labor in this country," Moore said. "To have the writers union stand up like we did, not give back a single thing and make them give -- it was a really great moment to sit in there and listen to everything."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

After about 90 minutes, East Coast writers began exiting a closed-door meeting in New York to discuss details of the pending pact -- and expressed optimism that the strike would soon be resolved.

"It sounds really positive and I think we negotiated a good deal" said Seth Meyers, one of the head writers on "Saturday Night Live." "I think we were right about the things we struck for."

Another writer, who declined to give his name but said he worked in episodic drama, said the room was filled with applause and excitement. "There a sense that we won," he said. "There's a good feeling that the strike will be rescinded sooner rather than later."

Tom Phillips, a news writer for CBS, said the meeting went very well: "I think the contract will be approved by a wide margin."

Phillip added that the reaction inside the room was mixed, with some people asking sharp questions, but said that "most people were enthusiastic."

"I think the topline is that WGA has jurisdiction for writing under new media," Phillips said. "That was basically what the strike was about. And that was a win."

Carmen Culver, a writer for movies and miniseries, called the agreement that was presented a complicated deal. "There were some parts I was very happy about and others less so," she said. "But I'm extremely proud of the guild for hanging tough. It's a great day for the labor movement. We have really stood up and said to these corporations that it all begins with the word. I think the big boys have been brought to their knees."

There was no lack of applause in the room for the negotiators and strike captains and all the work they have done. She added that most of the questions from members were about technical, complicated aspects of the deal. "You have to understand that we're writers, not lawyers."

Writers coming out of the New York meeting said that while the mood was very optimistic, they were unsure how quickly the strike would end, adding that the membership has yet to vote on the deal. There was no vote held at the meeting.

--Matea Gold

More news on the strike

NEW YORK--Hundreds of writers poured into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square on a gray Saturday afternoon, eager to hear details about the tentative deal struck on Friday.

"I have some questions about it, and I'm going to go in and ask them," said Joe Toplyn, a writer for "Monk." "Mostly, I'd like a little bit more explanation of what the terms mean. I hope there are a lot of questions, and that way everybody understands what they're voting for and we have no regrets, whatever happens."

Many writers heading into the meeting voiced uncertainty about the agreement, including filmmaker Michael Moore.

"I have good feelings and not good feelings about it, and I'm going to go listen to what they have to say," Moore said as he ambled into the hotel.

Added Kevin Wade, the creator of "Cashmere Mafia": "I just got a chance to read it this morning, and I'm anxious to hear from the people who negotiated it."

Others were already decided.

"I'm in favor of it," said Peter Brash, a writer for a soap opera. "It's been a hard battle, but I think we've gotten what we could, and it's time to settle."

Claudia Silver, a writer for childrens television, said that the deal appears promising, but she wants to hear more about it.

"I think people will be happy to get the strike over if they feel the deal that they get is fair," Silver said.  "But I don't feel people are at a point where they're like, 'Whatever they say, we'll take.' I think people are going to be very sensible and stick to what they need to, and if it's not good, they're not going to take it."

Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," said he believes the agreement achieves one major goal.

"The reason for this strike was to make sure we had coverage of the Internet, that it didn't become a guild-free zone, and I think we accomplished that," he said. "I wish some of the things that network programming got also applied to variety and cable."

"I think some people will push for more," Leight added. "But it becomes one of those analyses: how much more can you get for how much more pain?"

Andrew Smith, a writer for "The View," said he was suspicious of the agreement because he doesn't trust the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But he said that if  WGA leaders recommend that  members back it, he'll go along.

"I'm broke and I want to get back to work Monday," Smith said. "Everybody had a date in their head, probably Feb. 1, that if the strike wasn't settled, they would have to do something radical, like go fi- core [declare 'financial core,' a lower level of union membership]. So I think everybody's ready. But on the other hand, I don't want the other side to take advantage of that."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

On Friday afternoon, guild leaders Patric Verrone, David Young and John Bowman met with 300 strike captains in Los Angeles to present the terms of the deal,  even though the WGA constitution does not require such meetings.

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the deal and were encouraged to make public comments about the details. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday — before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

“They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it’s a good deal, they’ll call off the strike,”  strike captain Sivert Glarum said today.  “And if not, they won’t call off the strike.  I think that to be expedient they’re trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken.”

Glarum, an executive producer of CBS’ “Rules of Engagement,” estimates that about 80% of the strike captains who attended think  the contract is fair and understand the need to return to work as soon as possible. But several members expressed that they felt the guild was rushing them into a decision and they did not think they should return to work until the vote has been taken, he added.

“I don’t think the guild is trying to ram a deal down anyone’s throats,” he said. “I think the guild is very interested in hearing all writers’ input and that’s why we have these meetings. Most people didn’t wait 20 minutes in line to make a public comment.  So I think, while there were some people who did bring that up, I don’t think that the was overall feeling of the room.”

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

Triumph: 'Those strike rules were a hoot'

This year’s WGA East Awards, held Saturday night at Manhattan’s Hudson Theatre, seemed more like “WGA at the Improv,” especially when Triumph the Insult Comic Dog hit the stage. The profane dog puppet of “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” had the room in stitches as he roasted the writers and their cause. A sampling, edited to meet the standards of this newspaper’s website, follows below.

-- Matea Gold

Today we had a great victory! My name is Michael Moore! C’mon folks, we did have a good day today. I think there’s good reason to celebrate. We have an agreement that we can pretend we’re happy with.

No, we have an excellent agreement. And what better way to celebrate than with the most scaled-down [expletive] award ceremony ever? Who needs Rita Moreno? Who needs to sit? Who needs food? You can drink free Sierra Mist at the bar.

That’s right, those are the perks of being in the WGA –- this is why you didn’t go fi-core, ladies and gentlemen! John Ridley is shaking right now. No Sierra Mist for John Ridley!

I’m told the agreement was met with some controversy, but I believe that the overwhelming majority of the guild is relieved to stop striking and getting back to being out of work.

We had to get an agreement today. We had to. There was too much public outcry. At the end of the day, we had to end the strike to get all the ugly writers off of YouTube.

By the way, if you don’t like any of these jokes, I didn’t write them because of the strike. But fortunately Jay Leno was nice enough to give me some. How does he do it? He runs them by Mavis at 3 in the morning!

How about our negotiating committee? Where’s their award? It couldn’t have been easy for them, representing this freak show. Patric Verrone, John Bowman -- you know what people don’t know about these people? That they’re great comedy writers. They are tremendous comedy writers. They’ve written hilarious material like "Futurama" and "In Living Color" and -- the Writers Guild strike rules! The strike rules, ha, prohibit all the writing, ho ho, by any guild member that would be performed on-air by that member, ah ha ha ha, including monologues! Oh ho ho! I can’t take it! It’s too funny! Oh ho ho ho! The strike rules!

Moving one step closer to ending the 4-month-old strike, the board of the Writers Guild of America unanimously blessed this morning the tentative accord reached last week with the studios.

The endorsement paves the way for writers to return to work on Wednesday, pending a vote by the guild's membership to lift the strike order on Tuesday. The guild's 10,500 movie and TV writers are expected to ratify the new three-year contract within 10 days.

Hollywood's top show runners, however, can return to work Monday in their capacity as producers, which includes hiring crews and getting their series ready to shoot. The strike shut down more than 60 shows and idled thousands of production workers, who are anxious to return to their jobs.

The resolution comes in the nick of time to save the annual Academy Awards show, which can now come off as planned on Feb. 24 without the threat of picketers outside the event and a paucity of stars on the red carpet and writers to pen the jokes made by presenters. It also means the networks will now be able to begin, albeit at a delay, developing new shows for next season.

In the last few days, the writers had been letting the leadership know that they wanted to have a say. And on Saturday night, soon after the beginning of a well-attended membership meeting at the Shrine Auditorium, Verrone announced that this indeed would be happening.

As a result, the union's leaders reversed their original plan, which would have allowed the WGA board to send writers back to work on Monday.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller

This morning's strike developments:

The WGA negotiating committee has voted unanimously to recommend the deal, and the WGA West board is meeting at this moment to vote to ask the membership to ratify the contract.

If that happens as expected, here's how the week would unfold:

--There would be no more picketing.

-- Show runners could go back to work Monday and begin their producing
duties.

-- Members would vote Tuesday.

-- Everyone should be back at work Wednesday.

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

Bill Condon, who sits directly in back of David Young, is the only one on stage taking copious notes. I think he's writing a script, getting an unfair jump on the rest of us. Fine Bill Condon!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

David Young says the studios told him to embrace some technical boring offer with open arms. Patric Verrone, who is sitting next to him, points out that you can't actually embrace something with open arms.

See, we are writers!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

Even if you've never been in a sitcom writers room, you probably know enough about writers to realize everyone would be late. They just recently started. I'm already bored.

There are 36 people on stage in two rows with paper placards. They're projected on a big screen in back of them. If you imagine a more boring version on C-SPAN that covered intellectual property law, then you can imagine the electricity.

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

About 3,500 members of the Writers Guild of America are gathered at the Shrine Auditorium to discuss the terms of the tentative deal struck with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Projected on a screen above the stage is a picture of a circle of pencils entitled: “Stronger Together.” 

About 7:30 p.m., the meeting opened with an ovation and WGA West President Patric Verrone saying, “Good evening. Welcome to the Grammys. We have a deal! More importantly, you have a deal.” The deal, he said, took until 1:30 a.m. to come about and until about 6 p.m. tonight to get signed.

“I am personally recommending that we ratify this deal,” Verrone said.

In urging the members to accept the deal, he said that although there were concessions, “it is the best deal the Guild has bargained for in 30 years. Admittedly, the contract has some holes.”

The writers succeeded in getting jurisdiction in new media and higher pay for work distributed on the Internet. Verrone said the guild would continue to push for rights in animation and reality.

The strike isn’t over Monday, he went on to say. The decision to lift the strike will come after the members have had a chance to vote on the contract Tuesday.

“We have repositioned this Guild as a powerful player in this town,” chief negotiator David Young told the crowd before he broke down the details of the contract.

More news on the strike

-- Times Staff Writer

After a two-and-a-half-hour-long gathering Saturday, writers streamed out of the third-floor ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Hotel expressing optimism about the deal and pride in the guild's solidarity.

Inside, a smiling Michael Winship, president of WGA East, paced the empty Crowne Plaza ballroom with a cellphone pressed to his ear, relaying the details of the meeting to his counterpart in L.A., Patric Verrone.

After he got off the phone, Winship said the overwhelming share of the more than 500 writers who turned out for the meeting were "very much behind" the new contract.

"We had a very good meeting with the membership," he said. "We had a very lively discussion, a free exchange of ideas. At the moment, I feel strongly that it has a very good chance of going through."

Winship said the guild members had a lot of questions, and they stayed until every one had been answered.

"Basically, people wanted to have the math explained to them," he said. "I think we came away with a good deal," Winship added. "I hope the membership endorses it. We struck on the issues of jurisdiction of new media and distributors' gross, and we made advances in both those areas. So I'm happy."

If the West Coast guild concurs, the union leaders will have to decide tomorrow when to lift the strike. They could wait until the membership votes on the contract, but under the guild's constitution, that vote must be held 48 hours after the board vote, if the members vote through in-person meetings, or 10 days after the board vote, if the members vote by mail. 

"The question is, do you rescind the strike before a membership vote, and some people don't want to do that," said Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

That could mean the strike won't officially end until midweek. 

But even without a clear sense of when the labor stoppage would be over, there was a sense among the New York writers that they had reached the end of a difficult journey.

Bill Scheft, a writer for the "Late Show with David Letterman," said he knew the contract was a good one when Terry George, a member of the negotiating committee, opened the meeting by saying: "We've defeated a tradition of rollbacks that began with the air traffic controllers."

"To me, that was the most significant moment," Scheft said. "To me, this was all about, do we have a system in place [for new media] where there was no system before. And the answer is yes."

Scheft said the mood in the room was largely positive, but cautioned that "we're talking about the East."

"The Shrine, that's where the action is," he added. 

For his part, filmmaker Michael Moore came out of the meeting substantially more enthusiastic than when he entered.

"This is an historic moment for labor in this country," Moore said. "To have the writers union stand up like we did, not give back a single thing and make them give -- it was a really great moment to sit in there and listen to everything."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

After about 90 minutes, East Coast writers began exiting a closed-door meeting in New York to discuss details of the pending pact -- and expressed optimism that the strike would soon be resolved.

"It sounds really positive and I think we negotiated a good deal" said Seth Meyers, one of the head writers on "Saturday Night Live." "I think we were right about the things we struck for."

Another writer, who declined to give his name but said he worked in episodic drama, said the room was filled with applause and excitement. "There a sense that we won," he said. "There's a good feeling that the strike will be rescinded sooner rather than later."

Tom Phillips, a news writer for CBS, said the meeting went very well: "I think the contract will be approved by a wide margin."

Phillip added that the reaction inside the room was mixed, with some people asking sharp questions, but said that "most people were enthusiastic."

"I think the topline is that WGA has jurisdiction for writing under new media," Phillips said. "That was basically what the strike was about. And that was a win."

Carmen Culver, a writer for movies and miniseries, called the agreement that was presented a complicated deal. "There were some parts I was very happy about and others less so," she said. "But I'm extremely proud of the guild for hanging tough. It's a great day for the labor movement. We have really stood up and said to these corporations that it all begins with the word. I think the big boys have been brought to their knees."

There was no lack of applause in the room for the negotiators and strike captains and all the work they have done. She added that most of the questions from members were about technical, complicated aspects of the deal. "You have to understand that we're writers, not lawyers."

Writers coming out of the New York meeting said that while the mood was very optimistic, they were unsure how quickly the strike would end, adding that the membership has yet to vote on the deal. There was no vote held at the meeting.

--Matea Gold

More news on the strike

NEW YORK--Hundreds of writers poured into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square on a gray Saturday afternoon, eager to hear details about the tentative deal struck on Friday.

"I have some questions about it, and I'm going to go in and ask them," said Joe Toplyn, a writer for "Monk." "Mostly, I'd like a little bit more explanation of what the terms mean. I hope there are a lot of questions, and that way everybody understands what they're voting for and we have no regrets, whatever happens."

Many writers heading into the meeting voiced uncertainty about the agreement, including filmmaker Michael Moore.

"I have good feelings and not good feelings about it, and I'm going to go listen to what they have to say," Moore said as he ambled into the hotel.

Added Kevin Wade, the creator of "Cashmere Mafia": "I just got a chance to read it this morning, and I'm anxious to hear from the people who negotiated it."

Others were already decided.

"I'm in favor of it," said Peter Brash, a writer for a soap opera. "It's been a hard battle, but I think we've gotten what we could, and it's time to settle."

Claudia Silver, a writer for childrens television, said that the deal appears promising, but she wants to hear more about it.

"I think people will be happy to get the strike over if they feel the deal that they get is fair," Silver said.  "But I don't feel people are at a point where they're like, 'Whatever they say, we'll take.' I think people are going to be very sensible and stick to what they need to, and if it's not good, they're not going to take it."

Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," said he believes the agreement achieves one major goal.

"The reason for this strike was to make sure we had coverage of the Internet, that it didn't become a guild-free zone, and I think we accomplished that," he said. "I wish some of the things that network programming got also applied to variety and cable."

"I think some people will push for more," Leight added. "But it becomes one of those analyses: how much more can you get for how much more pain?"

Andrew Smith, a writer for "The View," said he was suspicious of the agreement because he doesn't trust the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But he said that if  WGA leaders recommend that  members back it, he'll go along.

"I'm broke and I want to get back to work Monday," Smith said. "Everybody had a date in their head, probably Feb. 1, that if the strike wasn't settled, they would have to do something radical, like go fi- core [declare 'financial core,' a lower level of union membership]. So I think everybody's ready. But on the other hand, I don't want the other side to take advantage of that."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

On Friday afternoon, guild leaders Patric Verrone, David Young and John Bowman met with 300 strike captains in Los Angeles to present the terms of the deal,  even though the WGA constitution does not require such meetings.

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the deal and were encouraged to make public comments about the details. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday — before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

“They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it’s a good deal, they’ll call off the strike,”  strike captain Sivert Glarum said today.  “And if not, they won’t call off the strike.  I think that to be expedient they’re trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken.”

Glarum, an executive producer of CBS’ “Rules of Engagement,” estimates that about 80% of the strike captains who attended think  the contract is fair and understand the need to return to work as soon as possible. But several members expressed that they felt the guild was rushing them into a decision and they did not think they should return to work until the vote has been taken, he added.

“I don’t think the guild is trying to ram a deal down anyone’s throats,” he said. “I think the guild is very interested in hearing all writers’ input and that’s why we have these meetings. Most people didn’t wait 20 minutes in line to make a public comment.  So I think, while there were some people who did bring that up, I don’t think that the was overall feeling of the room.”

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

Writers Guild board OKs accord to end strike

Moving one step closer to ending the 4-month-old strike, the board of the Writers Guild of America unanimously blessed this morning the tentative accord reached last week with the studios.

The endorsement paves the way for writers to return to work on Wednesday, pending a vote by the guild's membership to lift the strike order on Tuesday. The guild's 10,500 movie and TV writers are expected to ratify the new three-year contract within 10 days.

Hollywood's top show runners, however, can return to work Monday in their capacity as producers, which includes hiring crews and getting their series ready to shoot. The strike shut down more than 60 shows and idled thousands of production workers, who are anxious to return to their jobs.

The resolution comes in the nick of time to save the annual Academy Awards show, which can now come off as planned on Feb. 24 without the threat of picketers outside the event and a paucity of stars on the red carpet and writers to pen the jokes made by presenters. It also means the networks will now be able to begin, albeit at a delay, developing new shows for next season.

In the last few days, the writers had been letting the leadership know that they wanted to have a say. And on Saturday night, soon after the beginning of a well-attended membership meeting at the Shrine Auditorium, Verrone announced that this indeed would be happening.

As a result, the union's leaders reversed their original plan, which would have allowed the WGA board to send writers back to work on Monday.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller

This morning's strike developments:

The WGA negotiating committee has voted unanimously to recommend the deal, and the WGA West board is meeting at this moment to vote to ask the membership to ratify the contract.

If that happens as expected, here's how the week would unfold:

--There would be no more picketing.

-- Show runners could go back to work Monday and begin their producing
duties.

-- Members would vote Tuesday.

-- Everyone should be back at work Wednesday.

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

Bill Condon, who sits directly in back of David Young, is the only one on stage taking copious notes. I think he's writing a script, getting an unfair jump on the rest of us. Fine Bill Condon!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

David Young says the studios told him to embrace some technical boring offer with open arms. Patric Verrone, who is sitting next to him, points out that you can't actually embrace something with open arms.

See, we are writers!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

Even if you've never been in a sitcom writers room, you probably know enough about writers to realize everyone would be late. They just recently started. I'm already bored.

There are 36 people on stage in two rows with paper placards. They're projected on a big screen in back of them. If you imagine a more boring version on C-SPAN that covered intellectual property law, then you can imagine the electricity.

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

About 3,500 members of the Writers Guild of America are gathered at the Shrine Auditorium to discuss the terms of the tentative deal struck with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Projected on a screen above the stage is a picture of a circle of pencils entitled: “Stronger Together.” 

About 7:30 p.m., the meeting opened with an ovation and WGA West President Patric Verrone saying, “Good evening. Welcome to the Grammys. We have a deal! More importantly, you have a deal.” The deal, he said, took until 1:30 a.m. to come about and until about 6 p.m. tonight to get signed.

“I am personally recommending that we ratify this deal,” Verrone said.

In urging the members to accept the deal, he said that although there were concessions, “it is the best deal the Guild has bargained for in 30 years. Admittedly, the contract has some holes.”

The writers succeeded in getting jurisdiction in new media and higher pay for work distributed on the Internet. Verrone said the guild would continue to push for rights in animation and reality.

The strike isn’t over Monday, he went on to say. The decision to lift the strike will come after the members have had a chance to vote on the contract Tuesday.

“We have repositioned this Guild as a powerful player in this town,” chief negotiator David Young told the crowd before he broke down the details of the contract.

More news on the strike

-- Times Staff Writer

After a two-and-a-half-hour-long gathering Saturday, writers streamed out of the third-floor ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Hotel expressing optimism about the deal and pride in the guild's solidarity.

Inside, a smiling Michael Winship, president of WGA East, paced the empty Crowne Plaza ballroom with a cellphone pressed to his ear, relaying the details of the meeting to his counterpart in L.A., Patric Verrone.

After he got off the phone, Winship said the overwhelming share of the more than 500 writers who turned out for the meeting were "very much behind" the new contract.

"We had a very good meeting with the membership," he said. "We had a very lively discussion, a free exchange of ideas. At the moment, I feel strongly that it has a very good chance of going through."

Winship said the guild members had a lot of questions, and they stayed until every one had been answered.

"Basically, people wanted to have the math explained to them," he said. "I think we came away with a good deal," Winship added. "I hope the membership endorses it. We struck on the issues of jurisdiction of new media and distributors' gross, and we made advances in both those areas. So I'm happy."

If the West Coast guild concurs, the union leaders will have to decide tomorrow when to lift the strike. They could wait until the membership votes on the contract, but under the guild's constitution, that vote must be held 48 hours after the board vote, if the members vote through in-person meetings, or 10 days after the board vote, if the members vote by mail. 

"The question is, do you rescind the strike before a membership vote, and some people don't want to do that," said Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

That could mean the strike won't officially end until midweek. 

But even without a clear sense of when the labor stoppage would be over, there was a sense among the New York writers that they had reached the end of a difficult journey.

Bill Scheft, a writer for the "Late Show with David Letterman," said he knew the contract was a good one when Terry George, a member of the negotiating committee, opened the meeting by saying: "We've defeated a tradition of rollbacks that began with the air traffic controllers."

"To me, that was the most significant moment," Scheft said. "To me, this was all about, do we have a system in place [for new media] where there was no system before. And the answer is yes."

Scheft said the mood in the room was largely positive, but cautioned that "we're talking about the East."

"The Shrine, that's where the action is," he added. 

For his part, filmmaker Michael Moore came out of the meeting substantially more enthusiastic than when he entered.

"This is an historic moment for labor in this country," Moore said. "To have the writers union stand up like we did, not give back a single thing and make them give -- it was a really great moment to sit in there and listen to everything."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

After about 90 minutes, East Coast writers began exiting a closed-door meeting in New York to discuss details of the pending pact -- and expressed optimism that the strike would soon be resolved.

"It sounds really positive and I think we negotiated a good deal" said Seth Meyers, one of the head writers on "Saturday Night Live." "I think we were right about the things we struck for."

Another writer, who declined to give his name but said he worked in episodic drama, said the room was filled with applause and excitement. "There a sense that we won," he said. "There's a good feeling that the strike will be rescinded sooner rather than later."

Tom Phillips, a news writer for CBS, said the meeting went very well: "I think the contract will be approved by a wide margin."

Phillip added that the reaction inside the room was mixed, with some people asking sharp questions, but said that "most people were enthusiastic."

"I think the topline is that WGA has jurisdiction for writing under new media," Phillips said. "That was basically what the strike was about. And that was a win."

Carmen Culver, a writer for movies and miniseries, called the agreement that was presented a complicated deal. "There were some parts I was very happy about and others less so," she said. "But I'm extremely proud of the guild for hanging tough. It's a great day for the labor movement. We have really stood up and said to these corporations that it all begins with the word. I think the big boys have been brought to their knees."

There was no lack of applause in the room for the negotiators and strike captains and all the work they have done. She added that most of the questions from members were about technical, complicated aspects of the deal. "You have to understand that we're writers, not lawyers."

Writers coming out of the New York meeting said that while the mood was very optimistic, they were unsure how quickly the strike would end, adding that the membership has yet to vote on the deal. There was no vote held at the meeting.

--Matea Gold

More news on the strike

NEW YORK--Hundreds of writers poured into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square on a gray Saturday afternoon, eager to hear details about the tentative deal struck on Friday.

"I have some questions about it, and I'm going to go in and ask them," said Joe Toplyn, a writer for "Monk." "Mostly, I'd like a little bit more explanation of what the terms mean. I hope there are a lot of questions, and that way everybody understands what they're voting for and we have no regrets, whatever happens."

Many writers heading into the meeting voiced uncertainty about the agreement, including filmmaker Michael Moore.

"I have good feelings and not good feelings about it, and I'm going to go listen to what they have to say," Moore said as he ambled into the hotel.

Added Kevin Wade, the creator of "Cashmere Mafia": "I just got a chance to read it this morning, and I'm anxious to hear from the people who negotiated it."

Others were already decided.

"I'm in favor of it," said Peter Brash, a writer for a soap opera. "It's been a hard battle, but I think we've gotten what we could, and it's time to settle."

Claudia Silver, a writer for childrens television, said that the deal appears promising, but she wants to hear more about it.

"I think people will be happy to get the strike over if they feel the deal that they get is fair," Silver said.  "But I don't feel people are at a point where they're like, 'Whatever they say, we'll take.' I think people are going to be very sensible and stick to what they need to, and if it's not good, they're not going to take it."

Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," said he believes the agreement achieves one major goal.

"The reason for this strike was to make sure we had coverage of the Internet, that it didn't become a guild-free zone, and I think we accomplished that," he said. "I wish some of the things that network programming got also applied to variety and cable."

"I think some people will push for more," Leight added. "But it becomes one of those analyses: how much more can you get for how much more pain?"

Andrew Smith, a writer for "The View," said he was suspicious of the agreement because he doesn't trust the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But he said that if  WGA leaders recommend that  members back it, he'll go along.

"I'm broke and I want to get back to work Monday," Smith said. "Everybody had a date in their head, probably Feb. 1, that if the strike wasn't settled, they would have to do something radical, like go fi- core [declare 'financial core,' a lower level of union membership]. So I think everybody's ready. But on the other hand, I don't want the other side to take advantage of that."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

On Friday afternoon, guild leaders Patric Verrone, David Young and John Bowman met with 300 strike captains in Los Angeles to present the terms of the deal,  even though the WGA constitution does not require such meetings.

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the deal and were encouraged to make public comments about the details. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday — before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

“They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it’s a good deal, they’ll call off the strike,”  strike captain Sivert Glarum said today.  “And if not, they won’t call off the strike.  I think that to be expedient they’re trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken.”

Glarum, an executive producer of CBS’ “Rules of Engagement,” estimates that about 80% of the strike captains who attended think  the contract is fair and understand the need to return to work as soon as possible. But several members expressed that they felt the guild was rushing them into a decision and they did not think they should return to work until the vote has been taken, he added.

“I don’t think the guild is trying to ram a deal down anyone’s throats,” he said. “I think the guild is very interested in hearing all writers’ input and that’s why we have these meetings. Most people didn’t wait 20 minutes in line to make a public comment.  So I think, while there were some people who did bring that up, I don’t think that the was overall feeling of the room.”

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

Back to work by Wednesday?

This morning's strike developments:

The WGA negotiating committee has voted unanimously to recommend the deal, and the WGA West board is meeting at this moment to vote to ask the membership to ratify the contract.

If that happens as expected, here's how the week would unfold:

--There would be no more picketing.

-- Show runners could go back to work Monday and begin their producing
duties.

-- Members would vote Tuesday.

-- Everyone should be back at work Wednesday.

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

Bill Condon, who sits directly in back of David Young, is the only one on stage taking copious notes. I think he's writing a script, getting an unfair jump on the rest of us. Fine Bill Condon!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

David Young says the studios told him to embrace some technical boring offer with open arms. Patric Verrone, who is sitting next to him, points out that you can't actually embrace something with open arms.

See, we are writers!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

Even if you've never been in a sitcom writers room, you probably know enough about writers to realize everyone would be late. They just recently started. I'm already bored.

There are 36 people on stage in two rows with paper placards. They're projected on a big screen in back of them. If you imagine a more boring version on C-SPAN that covered intellectual property law, then you can imagine the electricity.

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

About 3,500 members of the Writers Guild of America are gathered at the Shrine Auditorium to discuss the terms of the tentative deal struck with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Projected on a screen above the stage is a picture of a circle of pencils entitled: “Stronger Together.” 

About 7:30 p.m., the meeting opened with an ovation and WGA West President Patric Verrone saying, “Good evening. Welcome to the Grammys. We have a deal! More importantly, you have a deal.” The deal, he said, took until 1:30 a.m. to come about and until about 6 p.m. tonight to get signed.

“I am personally recommending that we ratify this deal,” Verrone said.

In urging the members to accept the deal, he said that although there were concessions, “it is the best deal the Guild has bargained for in 30 years. Admittedly, the contract has some holes.”

The writers succeeded in getting jurisdiction in new media and higher pay for work distributed on the Internet. Verrone said the guild would continue to push for rights in animation and reality.

The strike isn’t over Monday, he went on to say. The decision to lift the strike will come after the members have had a chance to vote on the contract Tuesday.

“We have repositioned this Guild as a powerful player in this town,” chief negotiator David Young told the crowd before he broke down the details of the contract.

More news on the strike

-- Times Staff Writer

After a two-and-a-half-hour-long gathering Saturday, writers streamed out of the third-floor ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Hotel expressing optimism about the deal and pride in the guild's solidarity.

Inside, a smiling Michael Winship, president of WGA East, paced the empty Crowne Plaza ballroom with a cellphone pressed to his ear, relaying the details of the meeting to his counterpart in L.A., Patric Verrone.

After he got off the phone, Winship said the overwhelming share of the more than 500 writers who turned out for the meeting were "very much behind" the new contract.

"We had a very good meeting with the membership," he said. "We had a very lively discussion, a free exchange of ideas. At the moment, I feel strongly that it has a very good chance of going through."

Winship said the guild members had a lot of questions, and they stayed until every one had been answered.

"Basically, people wanted to have the math explained to them," he said. "I think we came away with a good deal," Winship added. "I hope the membership endorses it. We struck on the issues of jurisdiction of new media and distributors' gross, and we made advances in both those areas. So I'm happy."

If the West Coast guild concurs, the union leaders will have to decide tomorrow when to lift the strike. They could wait until the membership votes on the contract, but under the guild's constitution, that vote must be held 48 hours after the board vote, if the members vote through in-person meetings, or 10 days after the board vote, if the members vote by mail. 

"The question is, do you rescind the strike before a membership vote, and some people don't want to do that," said Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

That could mean the strike won't officially end until midweek. 

But even without a clear sense of when the labor stoppage would be over, there was a sense among the New York writers that they had reached the end of a difficult journey.

Bill Scheft, a writer for the "Late Show with David Letterman," said he knew the contract was a good one when Terry George, a member of the negotiating committee, opened the meeting by saying: "We've defeated a tradition of rollbacks that began with the air traffic controllers."

"To me, that was the most significant moment," Scheft said. "To me, this was all about, do we have a system in place [for new media] where there was no system before. And the answer is yes."

Scheft said the mood in the room was largely positive, but cautioned that "we're talking about the East."

"The Shrine, that's where the action is," he added. 

For his part, filmmaker Michael Moore came out of the meeting substantially more enthusiastic than when he entered.

"This is an historic moment for labor in this country," Moore said. "To have the writers union stand up like we did, not give back a single thing and make them give -- it was a really great moment to sit in there and listen to everything."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

After about 90 minutes, East Coast writers began exiting a closed-door meeting in New York to discuss details of the pending pact -- and expressed optimism that the strike would soon be resolved.

"It sounds really positive and I think we negotiated a good deal" said Seth Meyers, one of the head writers on "Saturday Night Live." "I think we were right about the things we struck for."

Another writer, who declined to give his name but said he worked in episodic drama, said the room was filled with applause and excitement. "There a sense that we won," he said. "There's a good feeling that the strike will be rescinded sooner rather than later."

Tom Phillips, a news writer for CBS, said the meeting went very well: "I think the contract will be approved by a wide margin."

Phillip added that the reaction inside the room was mixed, with some people asking sharp questions, but said that "most people were enthusiastic."

"I think the topline is that WGA has jurisdiction for writing under new media," Phillips said. "That was basically what the strike was about. And that was a win."

Carmen Culver, a writer for movies and miniseries, called the agreement that was presented a complicated deal. "There were some parts I was very happy about and others less so," she said. "But I'm extremely proud of the guild for hanging tough. It's a great day for the labor movement. We have really stood up and said to these corporations that it all begins with the word. I think the big boys have been brought to their knees."

There was no lack of applause in the room for the negotiators and strike captains and all the work they have done. She added that most of the questions from members were about technical, complicated aspects of the deal. "You have to understand that we're writers, not lawyers."

Writers coming out of the New York meeting said that while the mood was very optimistic, they were unsure how quickly the strike would end, adding that the membership has yet to vote on the deal. There was no vote held at the meeting.

--Matea Gold

More news on the strike

NEW YORK--Hundreds of writers poured into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square on a gray Saturday afternoon, eager to hear details about the tentative deal struck on Friday.

"I have some questions about it, and I'm going to go in and ask them," said Joe Toplyn, a writer for "Monk." "Mostly, I'd like a little bit more explanation of what the terms mean. I hope there are a lot of questions, and that way everybody understands what they're voting for and we have no regrets, whatever happens."

Many writers heading into the meeting voiced uncertainty about the agreement, including filmmaker Michael Moore.

"I have good feelings and not good feelings about it, and I'm going to go listen to what they have to say," Moore said as he ambled into the hotel.

Added Kevin Wade, the creator of "Cashmere Mafia": "I just got a chance to read it this morning, and I'm anxious to hear from the people who negotiated it."

Others were already decided.

"I'm in favor of it," said Peter Brash, a writer for a soap opera. "It's been a hard battle, but I think we've gotten what we could, and it's time to settle."

Claudia Silver, a writer for childrens television, said that the deal appears promising, but she wants to hear more about it.

"I think people will be happy to get the strike over if they feel the deal that they get is fair," Silver said.  "But I don't feel people are at a point where they're like, 'Whatever they say, we'll take.' I think people are going to be very sensible and stick to what they need to, and if it's not good, they're not going to take it."

Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," said he believes the agreement achieves one major goal.

"The reason for this strike was to make sure we had coverage of the Internet, that it didn't become a guild-free zone, and I think we accomplished that," he said. "I wish some of the things that network programming got also applied to variety and cable."

"I think some people will push for more," Leight added. "But it becomes one of those analyses: how much more can you get for how much more pain?"

Andrew Smith, a writer for "The View," said he was suspicious of the agreement because he doesn't trust the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But he said that if  WGA leaders recommend that  members back it, he'll go along.

"I'm broke and I want to get back to work Monday," Smith said. "Everybody had a date in their head, probably Feb. 1, that if the strike wasn't settled, they would have to do something radical, like go fi- core [declare 'financial core,' a lower level of union membership]. So I think everybody's ready. But on the other hand, I don't want the other side to take advantage of that."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

On Friday afternoon, guild leaders Patric Verrone, David Young and John Bowman met with 300 strike captains in Los Angeles to present the terms of the deal,  even though the WGA constitution does not require such meetings.

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the deal and were encouraged to make public comments about the details. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday — before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

“They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it’s a good deal, they’ll call off the strike,”  strike captain Sivert Glarum said today.  “And if not, they won’t call off the strike.  I think that to be expedient they’re trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken.”

Glarum, an executive producer of CBS’ “Rules of Engagement,” estimates that about 80% of the strike captains who attended think  the contract is fair and understand the need to return to work as soon as possible. But several members expressed that they felt the guild was rushing them into a decision and they did not think they should return to work until the vote has been taken, he added.

“I don’t think the guild is trying to ram a deal down anyone’s throats,” he said. “I think the guild is very interested in hearing all writers’ input and that’s why we have these meetings. Most people didn’t wait 20 minutes in line to make a public comment.  So I think, while there were some people who did bring that up, I don’t think that the was overall feeling of the room.”

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

Joel Stein dispatch: What's he really writing?

Bill Condon, who sits directly in back of David Young, is the only one on stage taking copious notes. I think he's writing a script, getting an unfair jump on the rest of us. Fine Bill Condon!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

David Young says the studios told him to embrace some technical boring offer with open arms. Patric Verrone, who is sitting next to him, points out that you can't actually embrace something with open arms.

See, we are writers!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

Even if you've never been in a sitcom writers room, you probably know enough about writers to realize everyone would be late. They just recently started. I'm already bored.

There are 36 people on stage in two rows with paper placards. They're projected on a big screen in back of them. If you imagine a more boring version on C-SPAN that covered intellectual property law, then you can imagine the electricity.

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

About 3,500 members of the Writers Guild of America are gathered at the Shrine Auditorium to discuss the terms of the tentative deal struck with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Projected on a screen above the stage is a picture of a circle of pencils entitled: “Stronger Together.” 

About 7:30 p.m., the meeting opened with an ovation and WGA West President Patric Verrone saying, “Good evening. Welcome to the Grammys. We have a deal! More importantly, you have a deal.” The deal, he said, took until 1:30 a.m. to come about and until about 6 p.m. tonight to get signed.

“I am personally recommending that we ratify this deal,” Verrone said.

In urging the members to accept the deal, he said that although there were concessions, “it is the best deal the Guild has bargained for in 30 years. Admittedly, the contract has some holes.”

The writers succeeded in getting jurisdiction in new media and higher pay for work distributed on the Internet. Verrone said the guild would continue to push for rights in animation and reality.

The strike isn’t over Monday, he went on to say. The decision to lift the strike will come after the members have had a chance to vote on the contract Tuesday.

“We have repositioned this Guild as a powerful player in this town,” chief negotiator David Young told the crowd before he broke down the details of the contract.

More news on the strike

-- Times Staff Writer

After a two-and-a-half-hour-long gathering Saturday, writers streamed out of the third-floor ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Hotel expressing optimism about the deal and pride in the guild's solidarity.

Inside, a smiling Michael Winship, president of WGA East, paced the empty Crowne Plaza ballroom with a cellphone pressed to his ear, relaying the details of the meeting to his counterpart in L.A., Patric Verrone.

After he got off the phone, Winship said the overwhelming share of the more than 500 writers who turned out for the meeting were "very much behind" the new contract.

"We had a very good meeting with the membership," he said. "We had a very lively discussion, a free exchange of ideas. At the moment, I feel strongly that it has a very good chance of going through."

Winship said the guild members had a lot of questions, and they stayed until every one had been answered.

"Basically, people wanted to have the math explained to them," he said. "I think we came away with a good deal," Winship added. "I hope the membership endorses it. We struck on the issues of jurisdiction of new media and distributors' gross, and we made advances in both those areas. So I'm happy."

If the West Coast guild concurs, the union leaders will have to decide tomorrow when to lift the strike. They could wait until the membership votes on the contract, but under the guild's constitution, that vote must be held 48 hours after the board vote, if the members vote through in-person meetings, or 10 days after the board vote, if the members vote by mail. 

"The question is, do you rescind the strike before a membership vote, and some people don't want to do that," said Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

That could mean the strike won't officially end until midweek. 

But even without a clear sense of when the labor stoppage would be over, there was a sense among the New York writers that they had reached the end of a difficult journey.

Bill Scheft, a writer for the "Late Show with David Letterman," said he knew the contract was a good one when Terry George, a member of the negotiating committee, opened the meeting by saying: "We've defeated a tradition of rollbacks that began with the air traffic controllers."

"To me, that was the most significant moment," Scheft said. "To me, this was all about, do we have a system in place [for new media] where there was no system before. And the answer is yes."

Scheft said the mood in the room was largely positive, but cautioned that "we're talking about the East."

"The Shrine, that's where the action is," he added. 

For his part, filmmaker Michael Moore came out of the meeting substantially more enthusiastic than when he entered.

"This is an historic moment for labor in this country," Moore said. "To have the writers union stand up like we did, not give back a single thing and make them give -- it was a really great moment to sit in there and listen to everything."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

After about 90 minutes, East Coast writers began exiting a closed-door meeting in New York to discuss details of the pending pact -- and expressed optimism that the strike would soon be resolved.

"It sounds really positive and I think we negotiated a good deal" said Seth Meyers, one of the head writers on "Saturday Night Live." "I think we were right about the things we struck for."

Another writer, who declined to give his name but said he worked in episodic drama, said the room was filled with applause and excitement. "There a sense that we won," he said. "There's a good feeling that the strike will be rescinded sooner rather than later."

Tom Phillips, a news writer for CBS, said the meeting went very well: "I think the contract will be approved by a wide margin."

Phillip added that the reaction inside the room was mixed, with some people asking sharp questions, but said that "most people were enthusiastic."

"I think the topline is that WGA has jurisdiction for writing under new media," Phillips said. "That was basically what the strike was about. And that was a win."

Carmen Culver, a writer for movies and miniseries, called the agreement that was presented a complicated deal. "There were some parts I was very happy about and others less so," she said. "But I'm extremely proud of the guild for hanging tough. It's a great day for the labor movement. We have really stood up and said to these corporations that it all begins with the word. I think the big boys have been brought to their knees."

There was no lack of applause in the room for the negotiators and strike captains and all the work they have done. She added that most of the questions from members were about technical, complicated aspects of the deal. "You have to understand that we're writers, not lawyers."

Writers coming out of the New York meeting said that while the mood was very optimistic, they were unsure how quickly the strike would end, adding that the membership has yet to vote on the deal. There was no vote held at the meeting.

--Matea Gold

More news on the strike

NEW YORK--Hundreds of writers poured into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square on a gray Saturday afternoon, eager to hear details about the tentative deal struck on Friday.

"I have some questions about it, and I'm going to go in and ask them," said Joe Toplyn, a writer for "Monk." "Mostly, I'd like a little bit more explanation of what the terms mean. I hope there are a lot of questions, and that way everybody understands what they're voting for and we have no regrets, whatever happens."

Many writers heading into the meeting voiced uncertainty about the agreement, including filmmaker Michael Moore.

"I have good feelings and not good feelings about it, and I'm going to go listen to what they have to say," Moore said as he ambled into the hotel.

Added Kevin Wade, the creator of "Cashmere Mafia": "I just got a chance to read it this morning, and I'm anxious to hear from the people who negotiated it."

Others were already decided.

"I'm in favor of it," said Peter Brash, a writer for a soap opera. "It's been a hard battle, but I think we've gotten what we could, and it's time to settle."

Claudia Silver, a writer for childrens television, said that the deal appears promising, but she wants to hear more about it.

"I think people will be happy to get the strike over if they feel the deal that they get is fair," Silver said.  "But I don't feel people are at a point where they're like, 'Whatever they say, we'll take.' I think people are going to be very sensible and stick to what they need to, and if it's not good, they're not going to take it."

Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," said he believes the agreement achieves one major goal.

"The reason for this strike was to make sure we had coverage of the Internet, that it didn't become a guild-free zone, and I think we accomplished that," he said. "I wish some of the things that network programming got also applied to variety and cable."

"I think some people will push for more," Leight added. "But it becomes one of those analyses: how much more can you get for how much more pain?"

Andrew Smith, a writer for "The View," said he was suspicious of the agreement because he doesn't trust the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But he said that if  WGA leaders recommend that  members back it, he'll go along.

"I'm broke and I want to get back to work Monday," Smith said. "Everybody had a date in their head, probably Feb. 1, that if the strike wasn't settled, they would have to do something radical, like go fi- core [declare 'financial core,' a lower level of union membership]. So I think everybody's ready. But on the other hand, I don't want the other side to take advantage of that."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

On Friday afternoon, guild leaders Patric Verrone, David Young and John Bowman met with 300 strike captains in Los Angeles to present the terms of the deal,  even though the WGA constitution does not require such meetings.

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the deal and were encouraged to make public comments about the details. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday — before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

“They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it’s a good deal, they’ll call off the strike,”  strike captain Sivert Glarum said today.  “And if not, they won’t call off the strike.  I think that to be expedient they’re trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken.”

Glarum, an executive producer of CBS’ “Rules of Engagement,” estimates that about 80% of the strike captains who attended think  the contract is fair and understand the need to return to work as soon as possible. But several members expressed that they felt the guild was rushing them into a decision and they did not think they should return to work until the vote has been taken, he added.

“I don’t think the guild is trying to ram a deal down anyone’s throats,” he said. “I think the guild is very interested in hearing all writers’ input and that’s why we have these meetings. Most people didn’t wait 20 minutes in line to make a public comment.  So I think, while there were some people who did bring that up, I don’t think that the was overall feeling of the room.”

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

Joel Stein dispatch: Open your arms

David Young says the studios told him to embrace some technical boring offer with open arms. Patric Verrone, who is sitting next to him, points out that you can't actually embrace something with open arms.

See, we are writers!

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

Even if you've never been in a sitcom writers room, you probably know enough about writers to realize everyone would be late. They just recently started. I'm already bored.

There are 36 people on stage in two rows with paper placards. They're projected on a big screen in back of them. If you imagine a more boring version on C-SPAN that covered intellectual property law, then you can imagine the electricity.

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

About 3,500 members of the Writers Guild of America are gathered at the Shrine Auditorium to discuss the terms of the tentative deal struck with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Projected on a screen above the stage is a picture of a circle of pencils entitled: “Stronger Together.” 

About 7:30 p.m., the meeting opened with an ovation and WGA West President Patric Verrone saying, “Good evening. Welcome to the Grammys. We have a deal! More importantly, you have a deal.” The deal, he said, took until 1:30 a.m. to come about and until about 6 p.m. tonight to get signed.

“I am personally recommending that we ratify this deal,” Verrone said.

In urging the members to accept the deal, he said that although there were concessions, “it is the best deal the Guild has bargained for in 30 years. Admittedly, the contract has some holes.”

The writers succeeded in getting jurisdiction in new media and higher pay for work distributed on the Internet. Verrone said the guild would continue to push for rights in animation and reality.

The strike isn’t over Monday, he went on to say. The decision to lift the strike will come after the members have had a chance to vote on the contract Tuesday.

“We have repositioned this Guild as a powerful player in this town,” chief negotiator David Young told the crowd before he broke down the details of the contract.

More news on the strike

-- Times Staff Writer

After a two-and-a-half-hour-long gathering Saturday, writers streamed out of the third-floor ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Hotel expressing optimism about the deal and pride in the guild's solidarity.

Inside, a smiling Michael Winship, president of WGA East, paced the empty Crowne Plaza ballroom with a cellphone pressed to his ear, relaying the details of the meeting to his counterpart in L.A., Patric Verrone.

After he got off the phone, Winship said the overwhelming share of the more than 500 writers who turned out for the meeting were "very much behind" the new contract.

"We had a very good meeting with the membership," he said. "We had a very lively discussion, a free exchange of ideas. At the moment, I feel strongly that it has a very good chance of going through."

Winship said the guild members had a lot of questions, and they stayed until every one had been answered.

"Basically, people wanted to have the math explained to them," he said. "I think we came away with a good deal," Winship added. "I hope the membership endorses it. We struck on the issues of jurisdiction of new media and distributors' gross, and we made advances in both those areas. So I'm happy."

If the West Coast guild concurs, the union leaders will have to decide tomorrow when to lift the strike. They could wait until the membership votes on the contract, but under the guild's constitution, that vote must be held 48 hours after the board vote, if the members vote through in-person meetings, or 10 days after the board vote, if the members vote by mail. 

"The question is, do you rescind the strike before a membership vote, and some people don't want to do that," said Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

That could mean the strike won't officially end until midweek. 

But even without a clear sense of when the labor stoppage would be over, there was a sense among the New York writers that they had reached the end of a difficult journey.

Bill Scheft, a writer for the "Late Show with David Letterman," said he knew the contract was a good one when Terry George, a member of the negotiating committee, opened the meeting by saying: "We've defeated a tradition of rollbacks that began with the air traffic controllers."

"To me, that was the most significant moment," Scheft said. "To me, this was all about, do we have a system in place [for new media] where there was no system before. And the answer is yes."

Scheft said the mood in the room was largely positive, but cautioned that "we're talking about the East."

"The Shrine, that's where the action is," he added. 

For his part, filmmaker Michael Moore came out of the meeting substantially more enthusiastic than when he entered.

"This is an historic moment for labor in this country," Moore said. "To have the writers union stand up like we did, not give back a single thing and make them give -- it was a really great moment to sit in there and listen to everything."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

After about 90 minutes, East Coast writers began exiting a closed-door meeting in New York to discuss details of the pending pact -- and expressed optimism that the strike would soon be resolved.

"It sounds really positive and I think we negotiated a good deal" said Seth Meyers, one of the head writers on "Saturday Night Live." "I think we were right about the things we struck for."

Another writer, who declined to give his name but said he worked in episodic drama, said the room was filled with applause and excitement. "There a sense that we won," he said. "There's a good feeling that the strike will be rescinded sooner rather than later."

Tom Phillips, a news writer for CBS, said the meeting went very well: "I think the contract will be approved by a wide margin."

Phillip added that the reaction inside the room was mixed, with some people asking sharp questions, but said that "most people were enthusiastic."

"I think the topline is that WGA has jurisdiction for writing under new media," Phillips said. "That was basically what the strike was about. And that was a win."

Carmen Culver, a writer for movies and miniseries, called the agreement that was presented a complicated deal. "There were some parts I was very happy about and others less so," she said. "But I'm extremely proud of the guild for hanging tough. It's a great day for the labor movement. We have really stood up and said to these corporations that it all begins with the word. I think the big boys have been brought to their knees."

There was no lack of applause in the room for the negotiators and strike captains and all the work they have done. She added that most of the questions from members were about technical, complicated aspects of the deal. "You have to understand that we're writers, not lawyers."

Writers coming out of the New York meeting said that while the mood was very optimistic, they were unsure how quickly the strike would end, adding that the membership has yet to vote on the deal. There was no vote held at the meeting.

--Matea Gold

More news on the strike

NEW YORK--Hundreds of writers poured into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square on a gray Saturday afternoon, eager to hear details about the tentative deal struck on Friday.

"I have some questions about it, and I'm going to go in and ask them," said Joe Toplyn, a writer for "Monk." "Mostly, I'd like a little bit more explanation of what the terms mean. I hope there are a lot of questions, and that way everybody understands what they're voting for and we have no regrets, whatever happens."

Many writers heading into the meeting voiced uncertainty about the agreement, including filmmaker Michael Moore.

"I have good feelings and not good feelings about it, and I'm going to go listen to what they have to say," Moore said as he ambled into the hotel.

Added Kevin Wade, the creator of "Cashmere Mafia": "I just got a chance to read it this morning, and I'm anxious to hear from the people who negotiated it."

Others were already decided.

"I'm in favor of it," said Peter Brash, a writer for a soap opera. "It's been a hard battle, but I think we've gotten what we could, and it's time to settle."

Claudia Silver, a writer for childrens television, said that the deal appears promising, but she wants to hear more about it.

"I think people will be happy to get the strike over if they feel the deal that they get is fair," Silver said.  "But I don't feel people are at a point where they're like, 'Whatever they say, we'll take.' I think people are going to be very sensible and stick to what they need to, and if it's not good, they're not going to take it."

Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," said he believes the agreement achieves one major goal.

"The reason for this strike was to make sure we had coverage of the Internet, that it didn't become a guild-free zone, and I think we accomplished that," he said. "I wish some of the things that network programming got also applied to variety and cable."

"I think some people will push for more," Leight added. "But it becomes one of those analyses: how much more can you get for how much more pain?"

Andrew Smith, a writer for "The View," said he was suspicious of the agreement because he doesn't trust the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But he said that if  WGA leaders recommend that  members back it, he'll go along.

"I'm broke and I want to get back to work Monday," Smith said. "Everybody had a date in their head, probably Feb. 1, that if the strike wasn't settled, they would have to do something radical, like go fi- core [declare 'financial core,' a lower level of union membership]. So I think everybody's ready. But on the other hand, I don't want the other side to take advantage of that."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

On Friday afternoon, guild leaders Patric Verrone, David Young and John Bowman met with 300 strike captains in Los Angeles to present the terms of the deal,  even though the WGA constitution does not require such meetings.

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the deal and were encouraged to make public comments about the details. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday — before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

“They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it’s a good deal, they’ll call off the strike,”  strike captain Sivert Glarum said today.  “And if not, they won’t call off the strike.  I think that to be expedient they’re trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken.”

Glarum, an executive producer of CBS’ “Rules of Engagement,” estimates that about 80% of the strike captains who attended think  the contract is fair and understand the need to return to work as soon as possible. But several members expressed that they felt the guild was rushing them into a decision and they did not think they should return to work until the vote has been taken, he added.

“I don’t think the guild is trying to ram a deal down anyone’s throats,” he said. “I think the guild is very interested in hearing all writers’ input and that’s why we have these meetings. Most people didn’t wait 20 minutes in line to make a public comment.  So I think, while there were some people who did bring that up, I don’t think that the was overall feeling of the room.”

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

Joel Stein dispatch: C-SPAN writer's edition?

Even if you've never been in a sitcom writers room, you probably know enough about writers to realize everyone would be late. They just recently started. I'm already bored.

There are 36 people on stage in two rows with paper placards. They're projected on a big screen in back of them. If you imagine a more boring version on C-SPAN that covered intellectual property law, then you can imagine the electricity.

More news on the strike

-- Joel Stein

About 3,500 members of the Writers Guild of America are gathered at the Shrine Auditorium to discuss the terms of the tentative deal struck with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Projected on a screen above the stage is a picture of a circle of pencils entitled: “Stronger Together.” 

About 7:30 p.m., the meeting opened with an ovation and WGA West President Patric Verrone saying, “Good evening. Welcome to the Grammys. We have a deal! More importantly, you have a deal.” The deal, he said, took until 1:30 a.m. to come about and until about 6 p.m. tonight to get signed.

“I am personally recommending that we ratify this deal,” Verrone said.

In urging the members to accept the deal, he said that although there were concessions, “it is the best deal the Guild has bargained for in 30 years. Admittedly, the contract has some holes.”

The writers succeeded in getting jurisdiction in new media and higher pay for work distributed on the Internet. Verrone said the guild would continue to push for rights in animation and reality.

The strike isn’t over Monday, he went on to say. The decision to lift the strike will come after the members have had a chance to vote on the contract Tuesday.

“We have repositioned this Guild as a powerful player in this town,” chief negotiator David Young told the crowd before he broke down the details of the contract.

More news on the strike

-- Times Staff Writer

After a two-and-a-half-hour-long gathering Saturday, writers streamed out of the third-floor ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Hotel expressing optimism about the deal and pride in the guild's solidarity.

Inside, a smiling Michael Winship, president of WGA East, paced the empty Crowne Plaza ballroom with a cellphone pressed to his ear, relaying the details of the meeting to his counterpart in L.A., Patric Verrone.

After he got off the phone, Winship said the overwhelming share of the more than 500 writers who turned out for the meeting were "very much behind" the new contract.

"We had a very good meeting with the membership," he said. "We had a very lively discussion, a free exchange of ideas. At the moment, I feel strongly that it has a very good chance of going through."

Winship said the guild members had a lot of questions, and they stayed until every one had been answered.

"Basically, people wanted to have the math explained to them," he said. "I think we came away with a good deal," Winship added. "I hope the membership endorses it. We struck on the issues of jurisdiction of new media and distributors' gross, and we made advances in both those areas. So I'm happy."

If the West Coast guild concurs, the union leaders will have to decide tomorrow when to lift the strike. They could wait until the membership votes on the contract, but under the guild's constitution, that vote must be held 48 hours after the board vote, if the members vote through in-person meetings, or 10 days after the board vote, if the members vote by mail. 

"The question is, do you rescind the strike before a membership vote, and some people don't want to do that," said Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

That could mean the strike won't officially end until midweek. 

But even without a clear sense of when the labor stoppage would be over, there was a sense among the New York writers that they had reached the end of a difficult journey.

Bill Scheft, a writer for the "Late Show with David Letterman," said he knew the contract was a good one when Terry George, a member of the negotiating committee, opened the meeting by saying: "We've defeated a tradition of rollbacks that began with the air traffic controllers."

"To me, that was the most significant moment," Scheft said. "To me, this was all about, do we have a system in place [for new media] where there was no system before. And the answer is yes."

Scheft said the mood in the room was largely positive, but cautioned that "we're talking about the East."

"The Shrine, that's where the action is," he added. 

For his part, filmmaker Michael Moore came out of the meeting substantially more enthusiastic than when he entered.

"This is an historic moment for labor in this country," Moore said. "To have the writers union stand up like we did, not give back a single thing and make them give -- it was a really great moment to sit in there and listen to everything."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

After about 90 minutes, East Coast writers began exiting a closed-door meeting in New York to discuss details of the pending pact -- and expressed optimism that the strike would soon be resolved.

"It sounds really positive and I think we negotiated a good deal" said Seth Meyers, one of the head writers on "Saturday Night Live." "I think we were right about the things we struck for."

Another writer, who declined to give his name but said he worked in episodic drama, said the room was filled with applause and excitement. "There a sense that we won," he said. "There's a good feeling that the strike will be rescinded sooner rather than later."

Tom Phillips, a news writer for CBS, said the meeting went very well: "I think the contract will be approved by a wide margin."

Phillip added that the reaction inside the room was mixed, with some people asking sharp questions, but said that "most people were enthusiastic."

"I think the topline is that WGA has jurisdiction for writing under new media," Phillips said. "That was basically what the strike was about. And that was a win."

Carmen Culver, a writer for movies and miniseries, called the agreement that was presented a complicated deal. "There were some parts I was very happy about and others less so," she said. "But I'm extremely proud of the guild for hanging tough. It's a great day for the labor movement. We have really stood up and said to these corporations that it all begins with the word. I think the big boys have been brought to their knees."

There was no lack of applause in the room for the negotiators and strike captains and all the work they have done. She added that most of the questions from members were about technical, complicated aspects of the deal. "You have to understand that we're writers, not lawyers."

Writers coming out of the New York meeting said that while the mood was very optimistic, they were unsure how quickly the strike would end, adding that the membership has yet to vote on the deal. There was no vote held at the meeting.

--Matea Gold

More news on the strike

NEW YORK--Hundreds of writers poured into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square on a gray Saturday afternoon, eager to hear details about the tentative deal struck on Friday.

"I have some questions about it, and I'm going to go in and ask them," said Joe Toplyn, a writer for "Monk." "Mostly, I'd like a little bit more explanation of what the terms mean. I hope there are a lot of questions, and that way everybody understands what they're voting for and we have no regrets, whatever happens."

Many writers heading into the meeting voiced uncertainty about the agreement, including filmmaker Michael Moore.

"I have good feelings and not good feelings about it, and I'm going to go listen to what they have to say," Moore said as he ambled into the hotel.

Added Kevin Wade, the creator of "Cashmere Mafia": "I just got a chance to read it this morning, and I'm anxious to hear from the people who negotiated it."

Others were already decided.

"I'm in favor of it," said Peter Brash, a writer for a soap opera. "It's been a hard battle, but I think we've gotten what we could, and it's time to settle."

Claudia Silver, a writer for childrens television, said that the deal appears promising, but she wants to hear more about it.

"I think people will be happy to get the strike over if they feel the deal that they get is fair," Silver said.  "But I don't feel people are at a point where they're like, 'Whatever they say, we'll take.' I think people are going to be very sensible and stick to what they need to, and if it's not good, they're not going to take it."

Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," said he believes the agreement achieves one major goal.

"The reason for this strike was to make sure we had coverage of the Internet, that it didn't become a guild-free zone, and I think we accomplished that," he said. "I wish some of the things that network programming got also applied to variety and cable."

"I think some people will push for more," Leight added. "But it becomes one of those analyses: how much more can you get for how much more pain?"

Andrew Smith, a writer for "The View," said he was suspicious of the agreement because he doesn't trust the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But he said that if  WGA leaders recommend that  members back it, he'll go along.

"I'm broke and I want to get back to work Monday," Smith said. "Everybody had a date in their head, probably Feb. 1, that if the strike wasn't settled, they would have to do something radical, like go fi- core [declare 'financial core,' a lower level of union membership]. So I think everybody's ready. But on the other hand, I don't want the other side to take advantage of that."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

On Friday afternoon, guild leaders Patric Verrone, David Young and John Bowman met with 300 strike captains in Los Angeles to present the terms of the deal,  even though the WGA constitution does not require such meetings.

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the deal and were encouraged to make public comments about the details. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday — before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

“They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it’s a good deal, they’ll call off the strike,”  strike captain Sivert Glarum said today.  “And if not, they won’t call off the strike.  I think that to be expedient they’re trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken.”

Glarum, an executive producer of CBS’ “Rules of Engagement,” estimates that about 80% of the strike captains who attended think  the contract is fair and understand the need to return to work as soon as possible. But several members expressed that they felt the guild was rushing them into a decision and they did not think they should return to work until the vote has been taken, he added.

“I don’t think the guild is trying to ram a deal down anyone’s throats,” he said. “I think the guild is very interested in hearing all writers’ input and that’s why we have these meetings. Most people didn’t wait 20 minutes in line to make a public comment.  So I think, while there were some people who did bring that up, I don’t think that the was overall feeling of the room.”

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

L.A. writers convene at the Shrine

About 3,500 members of the Writers Guild of America are gathered at the Shrine Auditorium to discuss the terms of the tentative deal struck with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Projected on a screen above the stage is a picture of a circle of pencils entitled: “Stronger Together.” 

About 7:30 p.m., the meeting opened with an ovation and WGA West President Patric Verrone saying, “Good evening. Welcome to the Grammys. We have a deal! More importantly, you have a deal.” The deal, he said, took until 1:30 a.m. to come about and until about 6 p.m. tonight to get signed.

“I am personally recommending that we ratify this deal,” Verrone said.

In urging the members to accept the deal, he said that although there were concessions, “it is the best deal the Guild has bargained for in 30 years. Admittedly, the contract has some holes.”

The writers succeeded in getting jurisdiction in new media and higher pay for work distributed on the Internet. Verrone said the guild would continue to push for rights in animation and reality.

The strike isn’t over Monday, he went on to say. The decision to lift the strike will come after the members have had a chance to vote on the contract Tuesday.

“We have repositioned this Guild as a powerful player in this town,” chief negotiator David Young told the crowd before he broke down the details of the contract.

More news on the strike

-- Times Staff Writer

After a two-and-a-half-hour-long gathering Saturday, writers streamed out of the third-floor ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Hotel expressing optimism about the deal and pride in the guild's solidarity.

Inside, a smiling Michael Winship, president of WGA East, paced the empty Crowne Plaza ballroom with a cellphone pressed to his ear, relaying the details of the meeting to his counterpart in L.A., Patric Verrone.

After he got off the phone, Winship said the overwhelming share of the more than 500 writers who turned out for the meeting were "very much behind" the new contract.

"We had a very good meeting with the membership," he said. "We had a very lively discussion, a free exchange of ideas. At the moment, I feel strongly that it has a very good chance of going through."

Winship said the guild members had a lot of questions, and they stayed until every one had been answered.

"Basically, people wanted to have the math explained to them," he said. "I think we came away with a good deal," Winship added. "I hope the membership endorses it. We struck on the issues of jurisdiction of new media and distributors' gross, and we made advances in both those areas. So I'm happy."

If the West Coast guild concurs, the union leaders will have to decide tomorrow when to lift the strike. They could wait until the membership votes on the contract, but under the guild's constitution, that vote must be held 48 hours after the board vote, if the members vote through in-person meetings, or 10 days after the board vote, if the members vote by mail. 

"The question is, do you rescind the strike before a membership vote, and some people don't want to do that," said Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

That could mean the strike won't officially end until midweek. 

But even without a clear sense of when the labor stoppage would be over, there was a sense among the New York writers that they had reached the end of a difficult journey.

Bill Scheft, a writer for the "Late Show with David Letterman," said he knew the contract was a good one when Terry George, a member of the negotiating committee, opened the meeting by saying: "We've defeated a tradition of rollbacks that began with the air traffic controllers."

"To me, that was the most significant moment," Scheft said. "To me, this was all about, do we have a system in place [for new media] where there was no system before. And the answer is yes."

Scheft said the mood in the room was largely positive, but cautioned that "we're talking about the East."

"The Shrine, that's where the action is," he added. 

For his part, filmmaker Michael Moore came out of the meeting substantially more enthusiastic than when he entered.

"This is an historic moment for labor in this country," Moore said. "To have the writers union stand up like we did, not give back a single thing and make them give -- it was a really great moment to sit in there and listen to everything."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

After about 90 minutes, East Coast writers began exiting a closed-door meeting in New York to discuss details of the pending pact -- and expressed optimism that the strike would soon be resolved.

"It sounds really positive and I think we negotiated a good deal" said Seth Meyers, one of the head writers on "Saturday Night Live." "I think we were right about the things we struck for."

Another writer, who declined to give his name but said he worked in episodic drama, said the room was filled with applause and excitement. "There a sense that we won," he said. "There's a good feeling that the strike will be rescinded sooner rather than later."

Tom Phillips, a news writer for CBS, said the meeting went very well: "I think the contract will be approved by a wide margin."

Phillip added that the reaction inside the room was mixed, with some people asking sharp questions, but said that "most people were enthusiastic."

"I think the topline is that WGA has jurisdiction for writing under new media," Phillips said. "That was basically what the strike was about. And that was a win."

Carmen Culver, a writer for movies and miniseries, called the agreement that was presented a complicated deal. "There were some parts I was very happy about and others less so," she said. "But I'm extremely proud of the guild for hanging tough. It's a great day for the labor movement. We have really stood up and said to these corporations that it all begins with the word. I think the big boys have been brought to their knees."

There was no lack of applause in the room for the negotiators and strike captains and all the work they have done. She added that most of the questions from members were about technical, complicated aspects of the deal. "You have to understand that we're writers, not lawyers."

Writers coming out of the New York meeting said that while the mood was very optimistic, they were unsure how quickly the strike would end, adding that the membership has yet to vote on the deal. There was no vote held at the meeting.

--Matea Gold

More news on the strike

NEW YORK--Hundreds of writers poured into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square on a gray Saturday afternoon, eager to hear details about the tentative deal struck on Friday.

"I have some questions about it, and I'm going to go in and ask them," said Joe Toplyn, a writer for "Monk." "Mostly, I'd like a little bit more explanation of what the terms mean. I hope there are a lot of questions, and that way everybody understands what they're voting for and we have no regrets, whatever happens."

Many writers heading into the meeting voiced uncertainty about the agreement, including filmmaker Michael Moore.

"I have good feelings and not good feelings about it, and I'm going to go listen to what they have to say," Moore said as he ambled into the hotel.

Added Kevin Wade, the creator of "Cashmere Mafia": "I just got a chance to read it this morning, and I'm anxious to hear from the people who negotiated it."

Others were already decided.

"I'm in favor of it," said Peter Brash, a writer for a soap opera. "It's been a hard battle, but I think we've gotten what we could, and it's time to settle."

Claudia Silver, a writer for childrens television, said that the deal appears promising, but she wants to hear more about it.

"I think people will be happy to get the strike over if they feel the deal that they get is fair," Silver said.  "But I don't feel people are at a point where they're like, 'Whatever they say, we'll take.' I think people are going to be very sensible and stick to what they need to, and if it's not good, they're not going to take it."

Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," said he believes the agreement achieves one major goal.

"The reason for this strike was to make sure we had coverage of the Internet, that it didn't become a guild-free zone, and I think we accomplished that," he said. "I wish some of the things that network programming got also applied to variety and cable."

"I think some people will push for more," Leight added. "But it becomes one of those analyses: how much more can you get for how much more pain?"

Andrew Smith, a writer for "The View," said he was suspicious of the agreement because he doesn't trust the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But he said that if  WGA leaders recommend that  members back it, he'll go along.

"I'm broke and I want to get back to work Monday," Smith said. "Everybody had a date in their head, probably Feb. 1, that if the strike wasn't settled, they would have to do something radical, like go fi- core [declare 'financial core,' a lower level of union membership]. So I think everybody's ready. But on the other hand, I don't want the other side to take advantage of that."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

On Friday afternoon, guild leaders Patric Verrone, David Young and John Bowman met with 300 strike captains in Los Angeles to present the terms of the deal,  even though the WGA constitution does not require such meetings.

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the deal and were encouraged to make public comments about the details. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday — before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

“They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it’s a good deal, they’ll call off the strike,”  strike captain Sivert Glarum said today.  “And if not, they won’t call off the strike.  I think that to be expedient they’re trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken.”

Glarum, an executive producer of CBS’ “Rules of Engagement,” estimates that about 80% of the strike captains who attended think  the contract is fair and understand the need to return to work as soon as possible. But several members expressed that they felt the guild was rushing them into a decision and they did not think they should return to work until the vote has been taken, he added.

“I don’t think the guild is trying to ram a deal down anyone’s throats,” he said. “I think the guild is very interested in hearing all writers’ input and that’s why we have these meetings. Most people didn’t wait 20 minutes in line to make a public comment.  So I think, while there were some people who did bring that up, I don’t think that the was overall feeling of the room.”

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

New York writers rally behind 'significant moment'

After a two-and-a-half-hour-long gathering Saturday, writers streamed out of the third-floor ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Hotel expressing optimism about the deal and pride in the guild's solidarity.

Inside, a smiling Michael Winship, president of WGA East, paced the empty Crowne Plaza ballroom with a cellphone pressed to his ear, relaying the details of the meeting to his counterpart in L.A., Patric Verrone.

After he got off the phone, Winship said the overwhelming share of the more than 500 writers who turned out for the meeting were "very much behind" the new contract.

"We had a very good meeting with the membership," he said. "We had a very lively discussion, a free exchange of ideas. At the moment, I feel strongly that it has a very good chance of going through."

Winship said the guild members had a lot of questions, and they stayed until every one had been answered.

"Basically, people wanted to have the math explained to them," he said. "I think we came away with a good deal," Winship added. "I hope the membership endorses it. We struck on the issues of jurisdiction of new media and distributors' gross, and we made advances in both those areas. So I'm happy."

If the West Coast guild concurs, the union leaders will have to decide tomorrow when to lift the strike. They could wait until the membership votes on the contract, but under the guild's constitution, that vote must be held 48 hours after the board vote, if the members vote through in-person meetings, or 10 days after the board vote, if the members vote by mail. 

"The question is, do you rescind the strike before a membership vote, and some people don't want to do that," said Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."

That could mean the strike won't officially end until midweek. 

But even without a clear sense of when the labor stoppage would be over, there was a sense among the New York writers that they had reached the end of a difficult journey.

Bill Scheft, a writer for the "Late Show with David Letterman," said he knew the contract was a good one when Terry George, a member of the negotiating committee, opened the meeting by saying: "We've defeated a tradition of rollbacks that began with the air traffic controllers."

"To me, that was the most significant moment," Scheft said. "To me, this was all about, do we have a system in place [for new media] where there was no system before. And the answer is yes."

Scheft said the mood in the room was largely positive, but cautioned that "we're talking about the East."

"The Shrine, that's where the action is," he added. 

For his part, filmmaker Michael Moore came out of the meeting substantially more enthusiastic than when he entered.

"This is an historic moment for labor in this country," Moore said. "To have the writers union stand up like we did, not give back a single thing and make them give -- it was a really great moment to sit in there and listen to everything."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

After about 90 minutes, East Coast writers began exiting a closed-door meeting in New York to discuss details of the pending pact -- and expressed optimism that the strike would soon be resolved.

"It sounds really positive and I think we negotiated a good deal" said Seth Meyers, one of the head writers on "Saturday Night Live." "I think we were right about the things we struck for."

Another writer, who declined to give his name but said he worked in episodic drama, said the room was filled with applause and excitement. "There a sense that we won," he said. "There's a good feeling that the strike will be rescinded sooner rather than later."

Tom Phillips, a news writer for CBS, said the meeting went very well: "I think the contract will be approved by a wide margin."

Phillip added that the reaction inside the room was mixed, with some people asking sharp questions, but said that "most people were enthusiastic."

"I think the topline is that WGA has jurisdiction for writing under new media," Phillips said. "That was basically what the strike was about. And that was a win."

Carmen Culver, a writer for movies and miniseries, called the agreement that was presented a complicated deal. "There were some parts I was very happy about and others less so," she said. "But I'm extremely proud of the guild for hanging tough. It's a great day for the labor movement. We have really stood up and said to these corporations that it all begins with the word. I think the big boys have been brought to their knees."

There was no lack of applause in the room for the negotiators and strike captains and all the work they have done. She added that most of the questions from members were about technical, complicated aspects of the deal. "You have to understand that we're writers, not lawyers."

Writers coming out of the New York meeting said that while the mood was very optimistic, they were unsure how quickly the strike would end, adding that the membership has yet to vote on the deal. There was no vote held at the meeting.

--Matea Gold

More news on the strike

NEW YORK--Hundreds of writers poured into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square on a gray Saturday afternoon, eager to hear details about the tentative deal struck on Friday.

"I have some questions about it, and I'm going to go in and ask them," said Joe Toplyn, a writer for "Monk." "Mostly, I'd like a little bit more explanation of what the terms mean. I hope there are a lot of questions, and that way everybody understands what they're voting for and we have no regrets, whatever happens."

Many writers heading into the meeting voiced uncertainty about the agreement, including filmmaker Michael Moore.

"I have good feelings and not good feelings about it, and I'm going to go listen to what they have to say," Moore said as he ambled into the hotel.

Added Kevin Wade, the creator of "Cashmere Mafia": "I just got a chance to read it this morning, and I'm anxious to hear from the people who negotiated it."

Others were already decided.

"I'm in favor of it," said Peter Brash, a writer for a soap opera. "It's been a hard battle, but I think we've gotten what we could, and it's time to settle."

Claudia Silver, a writer for childrens television, said that the deal appears promising, but she wants to hear more about it.

"I think people will be happy to get the strike over if they feel the deal that they get is fair," Silver said.  "But I don't feel people are at a point where they're like, 'Whatever they say, we'll take.' I think people are going to be very sensible and stick to what they need to, and if it's not good, they're not going to take it."

Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," said he believes the agreement achieves one major goal.

"The reason for this strike was to make sure we had coverage of the Internet, that it didn't become a guild-free zone, and I think we accomplished that," he said. "I wish some of the things that network programming got also applied to variety and cable."

"I think some people will push for more," Leight added. "But it becomes one of those analyses: how much more can you get for how much more pain?"

Andrew Smith, a writer for "The View," said he was suspicious of the agreement because he doesn't trust the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But he said that if  WGA leaders recommend that  members back it, he'll go along.

"I'm broke and I want to get back to work Monday," Smith said. "Everybody had a date in their head, probably Feb. 1, that if the strike wasn't settled, they would have to do something radical, like go fi- core [declare 'financial core,' a lower level of union membership]. So I think everybody's ready. But on the other hand, I don't want the other side to take advantage of that."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

On Friday afternoon, guild leaders Patric Verrone, David Young and John Bowman met with 300 strike captains in Los Angeles to present the terms of the deal,  even though the WGA constitution does not require such meetings.

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the deal and were encouraged to make public comments about the details. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday — before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

“They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it’s a good deal, they’ll call off the strike,”  strike captain Sivert Glarum said today.  “And if not, they won’t call off the strike.  I think that to be expedient they’re trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken.”

Glarum, an executive producer of CBS’ “Rules of Engagement,” estimates that about 80% of the strike captains who attended think  the contract is fair and understand the need to return to work as soon as possible. But several members expressed that they felt the guild was rushing them into a decision and they did not think they should return to work until the vote has been taken, he added.

“I don’t think the guild is trying to ram a deal down anyone’s throats,” he said. “I think the guild is very interested in hearing all writers’ input and that’s why we have these meetings. Most people didn’t wait 20 minutes in line to make a public comment.  So I think, while there were some people who did bring that up, I don’t think that the was overall feeling of the room.”

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

East Coast writers optimistic strike is coming to an end

After about 90 minutes, East Coast writers began exiting a closed-door meeting in New York to discuss details of the pending pact -- and expressed optimism that the strike would soon be resolved.

"It sounds really positive and I think we negotiated a good deal" said Seth Meyers, one of the head writers on "Saturday Night Live." "I think we were right about the things we struck for."

Another writer, who declined to give his name but said he worked in episodic drama, said the room was filled with applause and excitement. "There a sense that we won," he said. "There's a good feeling that the strike will be rescinded sooner rather than later."

Tom Phillips, a news writer for CBS, said the meeting went very well: "I think the contract will be approved by a wide margin."

Phillip added that the reaction inside the room was mixed, with some people asking sharp questions, but said that "most people were enthusiastic."

"I think the topline is that WGA has jurisdiction for writing under new media," Phillips said. "That was basically what the strike was about. And that was a win."

Carmen Culver, a writer for movies and miniseries, called the agreement that was presented a complicated deal. "There were some parts I was very happy about and others less so," she said. "But I'm extremely proud of the guild for hanging tough. It's a great day for the labor movement. We have really stood up and said to these corporations that it all begins with the word. I think the big boys have been brought to their knees."

There was no lack of applause in the room for the negotiators and strike captains and all the work they have done. She added that most of the questions from members were about technical, complicated aspects of the deal. "You have to understand that we're writers, not lawyers."

Writers coming out of the New York meeting said that while the mood was very optimistic, they were unsure how quickly the strike would end, adding that the membership has yet to vote on the deal. There was no vote held at the meeting.

--Matea Gold

More news on the strike

NEW YORK--Hundreds of writers poured into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square on a gray Saturday afternoon, eager to hear details about the tentative deal struck on Friday.

"I have some questions about it, and I'm going to go in and ask them," said Joe Toplyn, a writer for "Monk." "Mostly, I'd like a little bit more explanation of what the terms mean. I hope there are a lot of questions, and that way everybody understands what they're voting for and we have no regrets, whatever happens."

Many writers heading into the meeting voiced uncertainty about the agreement, including filmmaker Michael Moore.

"I have good feelings and not good feelings about it, and I'm going to go listen to what they have to say," Moore said as he ambled into the hotel.

Added Kevin Wade, the creator of "Cashmere Mafia": "I just got a chance to read it this morning, and I'm anxious to hear from the people who negotiated it."

Others were already decided.

"I'm in favor of it," said Peter Brash, a writer for a soap opera. "It's been a hard battle, but I think we've gotten what we could, and it's time to settle."

Claudia Silver, a writer for childrens television, said that the deal appears promising, but she wants to hear more about it.

"I think people will be happy to get the strike over if they feel the deal that they get is fair," Silver said.  "But I don't feel people are at a point where they're like, 'Whatever they say, we'll take.' I think people are going to be very sensible and stick to what they need to, and if it's not good, they're not going to take it."

Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," said he believes the agreement achieves one major goal.

"The reason for this strike was to make sure we had coverage of the Internet, that it didn't become a guild-free zone, and I think we accomplished that," he said. "I wish some of the things that network programming got also applied to variety and cable."

"I think some people will push for more," Leight added. "But it becomes one of those analyses: how much more can you get for how much more pain?"

Andrew Smith, a writer for "The View," said he was suspicious of the agreement because he doesn't trust the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But he said that if  WGA leaders recommend that  members back it, he'll go along.

"I'm broke and I want to get back to work Monday," Smith said. "Everybody had a date in their head, probably Feb. 1, that if the strike wasn't settled, they would have to do something radical, like go fi- core [declare 'financial core,' a lower level of union membership]. So I think everybody's ready. But on the other hand, I don't want the other side to take advantage of that."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

On Friday afternoon, guild leaders Patric Verrone, David Young and John Bowman met with 300 strike captains in Los Angeles to present the terms of the deal,  even though the WGA constitution does not require such meetings.

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the deal and were encouraged to make public comments about the details. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday — before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

“They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it’s a good deal, they’ll call off the strike,”  strike captain Sivert Glarum said today.  “And if not, they won’t call off the strike.  I think that to be expedient they’re trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken.”

Glarum, an executive producer of CBS’ “Rules of Engagement,” estimates that about 80% of the strike captains who attended think  the contract is fair and understand the need to return to work as soon as possible. But several members expressed that they felt the guild was rushing them into a decision and they did not think they should return to work until the vote has been taken, he added.

“I don’t think the guild is trying to ram a deal down anyone’s throats,” he said. “I think the guild is very interested in hearing all writers’ input and that’s why we have these meetings. Most people didn’t wait 20 minutes in line to make a public comment.  So I think, while there were some people who did bring that up, I don’t think that the was overall feeling of the room.”

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

East Coast writers: Let's make sure there are 'no regrets'

NEW YORK--Hundreds of writers poured into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square on a gray Saturday afternoon, eager to hear details about the tentative deal struck on Friday.

"I have some questions about it, and I'm going to go in and ask them," said Joe Toplyn, a writer for "Monk." "Mostly, I'd like a little bit more explanation of what the terms mean. I hope there are a lot of questions, and that way everybody understands what they're voting for and we have no regrets, whatever happens."

Many writers heading into the meeting voiced uncertainty about the agreement, including filmmaker Michael Moore.

"I have good feelings and not good feelings about it, and I'm going to go listen to what they have to say," Moore said as he ambled into the hotel.

Added Kevin Wade, the creator of "Cashmere Mafia": "I just got a chance to read it this morning, and I'm anxious to hear from the people who negotiated it."

Others were already decided.

"I'm in favor of it," said Peter Brash, a writer for a soap opera. "It's been a hard battle, but I think we've gotten what we could, and it's time to settle."

Claudia Silver, a writer for childrens television, said that the deal appears promising, but she wants to hear more about it.

"I think people will be happy to get the strike over if they feel the deal that they get is fair," Silver said.  "But I don't feel people are at a point where they're like, 'Whatever they say, we'll take.' I think people are going to be very sensible and stick to what they need to, and if it's not good, they're not going to take it."

Warren Leight, executive producer of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," said he believes the agreement achieves one major goal.

"The reason for this strike was to make sure we had coverage of the Internet, that it didn't become a guild-free zone, and I think we accomplished that," he said. "I wish some of the things that network programming got also applied to variety and cable."

"I think some people will push for more," Leight added. "But it becomes one of those analyses: how much more can you get for how much more pain?"

Andrew Smith, a writer for "The View," said he was suspicious of the agreement because he doesn't trust the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But he said that if  WGA leaders recommend that  members back it, he'll go along.

"I'm broke and I want to get back to work Monday," Smith said. "Everybody had a date in their head, probably Feb. 1, that if the strike wasn't settled, they would have to do something radical, like go fi- core [declare 'financial core,' a lower level of union membership]. So I think everybody's ready. But on the other hand, I don't want the other side to take advantage of that."

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

On Friday afternoon, guild leaders Patric Verrone, David Young and John Bowman met with 300 strike captains in Los Angeles to present the terms of the deal,  even though the WGA constitution does not require such meetings.

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the deal and were encouraged to make public comments about the details. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday — before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

“They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it’s a good deal, they’ll call off the strike,”  strike captain Sivert Glarum said today.  “And if not, they won’t call off the strike.  I think that to be expedient they’re trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken.”

Glarum, an executive producer of CBS’ “Rules of Engagement,” estimates that about 80% of the strike captains who attended think  the contract is fair and understand the need to return to work as soon as possible. But several members expressed that they felt the guild was rushing them into a decision and they did not think they should return to work until the vote has been taken, he added.

“I don’t think the guild is trying to ram a deal down anyone’s throats,” he said. “I think the guild is very interested in hearing all writers’ input and that’s why we have these meetings. Most people didn’t wait 20 minutes in line to make a public comment.  So I think, while there were some people who did bring that up, I don’t think that the was overall feeling of the room.”

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

WGA pact: A rush to judgment?

On Friday afternoon, guild leaders Patric Verrone, David Young and John Bowman met with 300 strike captains in Los Angeles to present the terms of the deal,  even though the WGA constitution does not require such meetings.

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the deal and were encouraged to make public comments about the details. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday — before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

“They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it’s a good deal, they’ll call off the strike,”  strike captain Sivert Glarum said today.  “And if not, they won’t call off the strike.  I think that to be expedient they’re trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken.”

Glarum, an executive producer of CBS’ “Rules of Engagement,” estimates that about 80% of the strike captains who attended think  the contract is fair and understand the need to return to work as soon as possible. But several members expressed that they felt the guild was rushing them into a decision and they did not think they should return to work until the vote has been taken, he added.

“I don’t think the guild is trying to ram a deal down anyone’s throats,” he said. “I think the guild is very interested in hearing all writers’ input and that’s why we have these meetings. Most people didn’t wait 20 minutes in line to make a public comment.  So I think, while there were some people who did bring that up, I don’t think that the was overall feeling of the room.”

More news on the strike

--Maria Elena Fernandez

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

Terms of the tentative deal

In a letter e-mailed this morning, the Writers Guild of America, East and West, alerted their members that they have reached a tentative deal. Its broad terms, which could bring an end to the writers strike that began on Nov. 5, are outlined in a summary sent out to guild members. Download the PDF

More news on the strike

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

WGA announces tentative deal

The following memo went out to WGA members early this morning:

To Our Fellow Members,
We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It 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."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary on our website and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and 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. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same
challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Michael Winship
President
Writers Guild of America, East

Patric M. Verrone
President
Writers Guild of America, West

More news on the strike

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

'Big Love' creator: 'This may be it'

Will Scheffer, co-creator of HBO’s “Big Love,” said he and his partner Mark V. Olsen are eagerly anticipating diving back into work after this weekend, when many in the industry expect the WGA strike will be resolved.

“I do think there’s a great amount of excitement and optimism, people feeling like this may be it,” he said.

The Writers Guild is holding meetings Saturday with its membership in Los Angeles and New York to discuss the tentative deal that's been hashed out during the last few weeks, and union leaders promise they won't take action on the agreement until they hear from the rank-and-file.

Scheffer said some writers will be willing to accept whatever deal is put before them in order to end the strike, and others won't accept “anything less than 150% of what we’ve been struggling for.”

But the vast majority feels that “if our leadership is presenting this to us, we really believe in them and we’re ready to support them and get back to work,” Scheffer added.

The “Big Love” writers were in the midst of drafting the first six episodes of the show’s third season when the strike was called in early November.

“We have to get back on our feet and catch up and remind ourselves what we were writing,” said Scheffer, who added that they will probably end up reworking quite a bit of the original material. “That’s an interesting effect of the strike: That forced downtime changes your creative mandate in a way that never would have happened had there not been a strike.”

“Things kind of have a way of shaking down,” he added. “In the shower, you get new ideas. We’ll revisit all the scripts. There will be some minor changes and maybe a few major changes that we didn’t expect that kind of presented themselves.”

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

Ready to get back to work at Silvercup Studios

NEW YORK -- Among those eagerly awaiting the end of the strike is the staff at Silvercup Studios in Queens, where “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Cashmere Mafia” and “New Amsterdam” were shooting before the labor stoppage.

“We’re anxious to have them come back and get to work,” said Alan Suna, the facility’s chief executive.

Throughout the strike, the massive studio complex sought to backfill its empty stages with commercial shoots but still had to contend with unused space.

“We’ve cleaned and painted and spruced up a variety of things that we otherwise don’t have an opportunity to do until a hiatus,” Suna said. “If they called us right now and said they’d be here in five minutes, we’d be ready for them.”

Ramping production back up will take some doing, however. Silvercup allowed the shows to keep their main sets up, but they had to break down their swing sets before they left.

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

WGA to meet with members in L.A. and New York

The Writers Guild of America, West, is hosting a key membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles to brief striking writers on the status of negotiations with studios and get their reaction to a proposed new contract that’s in the throes of being finalized.

Also on Saturday, the WGA East will hold a general membership meeting in New York at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m. Last weekend, the writer and studio sides agreed to the outlines of a new three-year contract that, if approved by the WGA West board and the East Coast Council, would end the strike that's now in its fourth month.

John Bowman, chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee, sent an e-mail letter to members last night noting that neither the negotiating committee nor the boards would take any action on the contract until after this weekend’s informational membership meetings.

More news on the strike

--Claudia Eller

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

Vanity Fair Oscar party scrubbed

The writers strike has claimed its first major Oscar night casualty: the Vanity Fair Oscar party.

The magazine announced on its website today that the event -- set to take place this year at Craft restaurant in Century City -- had been canceled for the first time in the 15 years the soiree has been held, "in support of the writers and everyone else affected by this strike."

"We want to congratulate all of this year’s nominees and we look forward to hosting our 15th Oscar party next year," the statement read.

Magazine spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said the decision wasn't made hastily. 
"We've been talking about it for a while and we've been considering the decision for a while," she said. "We just didn't think it was the appropriate year to throw a big party."

The move will doubtless put a damper on Oscar festivities even if the writers strike is settled before the show. Vanity Fair's party has been such a magnet for A-list celebrities that the number of high-profile post-Oscar bashes has declined over the years, with few hosts willing to compete with the magazine's heat. Studios have, for the most part, moved their festivities to evenings before the  ceremony.

With last year's closing of Vanity Fair's usual haunt -- the fabled Morton's restaurant -- observers were looking forward to seeing how the event would shape up at its new location, Tom Colicchio's Craft. When the move was announced in October, Editor Graydon Carter told Variety that Craft was "the ideal place for the party: great food -- which we will not be serving family-style, by the way -- great location with a dramatic entrance and a big, sweeping space."

Invites to the party, a star-studded event featuring icons of pop culture, are the most sought-after in Hollywood. Carter is known for his select guest list for the Oscar-watching dinner followed by an all-night cocktail event. Regulars include Kelly Lynch and her husband, screenwriter Mitch Glazer; Barry Diller; Diane von Furstenberg; and Fran Lebowitz. 

It's historically been an expensive affair -- some years costing as much as $1 million. This year, Kseniak said, the magazine held off sending out 900 or so invitations because of the strike (which now seems close to a resolution). Construction on the party wasn't to begin for another week or so, Kseniak said. She wouldn't say how much money the magazine stood to lose with its last-minute cancellation. Much of the materials already ordered, she said, can be used next year.

-- Gina Piccalo and Irene Lacher

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

Writers, studios said to have resolved key issues

Hollywood's striking writers and major studios have resolved their key differences in contract negotiations, moving them closer toward a final agreement that would end a 3-month-old walkout.

After two weeks of talks, the parties Friday bridged the gap on the central issues surrounding how much writers should be paid for work that is distributed via the Internet, said three people close to the talks who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential.

A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of America's board by late next week, the people said.

Attorneys from studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement, which would have to be ratified by the union's 10,500 members.

Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, declined to comment, citing a press blackout.

Writers began their strike Nov. 5 in a dispute largely over new-media pay.

Talks revived two weeks ago, after studios quickly negotiated a contract with directors.

The writers' agreement is modeled on the directors' pact, which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet.

Guild negotiators David Young, Patric M. Verrone and John Bowman are scheduled to brief the union's negotiating committee on the proposed deal Monday.

Writers and studios alike have confronted heavy pressure to find a way to end a strike that has cost thousands of workers their jobs, threatened the upcoming television season and kept in limbo the Academy Awards show Feb. 24.

A number of top writers, including several members of the Writers Guild's negotiating committee, have viewed the directors' pact as a flawed but workable model for their own agreement and had strongly conveyed that message to guild leaders.

Many writers, however, complained that the directors' contract offered meager residuals on shows that were streamed on advertising-supported websites and limited the union’s jurisdiction over shows created for the Web. Progress in the talks suggested that studios may have improved the terms for writers in those areas.

More news on the strike

-- Richard Verrier

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

SAG negotiator, president send out words of caution on DGA deal

In an e-mail to Screen Actors Guild members, National Executive Director Doug Allen and SAG President Alan Rosenberg outline criticisms of a recently negotiated deal between directors and studios. They stressed that the agreement would not be a template for an actors contract. The current contract expires June 30:

January 29, 2008

Dear SAG Member:

        Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers.  There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the employers' representative, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).  Some have rushed to anoint their deal as the “solution” for the entertainment industry.  We believe that assessment is premature.

        All we know of the deal are the general terms described in a joint AMPTP/DGA press release.  That press release leaves many important questions unanswered.  Apparently, many elements of this deal remain unresolved and/or have not been reduced to writing.

        The DGA press release suggests progress in some areas, but until the details are known, that is only speculation.  Several examples:  The formula for new media “electronic sell through (paid downloads or EST)” is based on the higher distributor’s gross revenues, rather than producer’s gross revenues, but the definition of distributor’s gross is vague and not sufficient to protect against manipulation by the employers.  Also, information regarding employer “deals and data” will be available to the DGA to monitor distributor’s gross and paid downloads on the Internet, but the press release does not detail what data, who provides the data, and what happens if the data is not provided.  The devil is in the details.  In the tri-guild audits under the current guilds’ collective bargaining agreements (including the DGA’s), for example, some audits are still open after eight years, because of problems with enforcement under current contract language.

        Some have suggested that the new DGA deal contains a “fair market value” test for revenues included in the new media residuals calculation, to protect against self-dealing when one part of a conglomerate sells new media content to another part of the conglomerate at an unfair, low price in order to reduce residuals.  We hope this is true,  but the press release does not use “arms-length transaction” or “fair market value test” language, and says only, “If  our exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, (DGA has) improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.”  This language could mean anything, and certainly does not guarantee against self-dealing by media conglomerates to hurt creative talent.

        Fair market value and distributor’s gross are two issues that the AMPTP demanded that the WGA take off the table, along with four other items, which resulted in talks breaking off in December.  Now after prolonging the strike for another month, the AMPTP has negotiated these two issues with the DGA.

        That is the good news.  There are also even more serious problems with other provisions described in the DGA press release, particularly those involving new media. For example, why are residuals for electronic sell-through (paid downloads or EST) for directors based on their lower DVD formula (.3%) rather than the higher pay TV formula (1.2%) in their current agreement?  All three guilds – SAG, WGA, and DGA – filed for arbitration to overturn management’s attempt to impose the DVD formula for residuals on the calculation of residuals for downloads under the current agreement.  The DGA stated in their arbitration filings that payment of the lower amount is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the proper residual formula is the higher pay TV percentage.  The concession by the DGA in the new deal, to use the formula that management improperly imposed under the current agreement, is an AMPTP roll-back.  The new agreed-upon percentages for television (.7%) or feature films (.65%) are much lower in the DGA deal than the percentage that the DGA claims is appropriate in its arbitration (1.2%).  And these “increases”, which are based on the discredited DVD formula, do not increase residuals on the sale of DVD’s, but only apply to downloads; despite the fact that DVD’s  will generate billions in revenue to the studios and networks for years to come.

        The very high thresholds in the DGA deal for full jurisdiction for made for new media content may well incentivize non-union work below the threshold amounts ($15, 000/minute, $300,000/program, $500,000/series, whichever is lower).  What will stop the industry from making cheap, non-union pilots at below $300,000 per episode, for testing first on the Internet before the productions migrate to broadcast or basic cable?

        Your Guild has signed 210 Internet producers to SAG contracts in the past two years and only seven of them (or 3%) would fall inside the high DGA jurisdictional thresholds.  We have worked hard, just as we do with low budget features, to capture this Internet work and to make sure it is done union.   This DGA proposal appears to abandon jurisdiction over a huge swath of actual Internet productions, which we currently cover.

        This deal gingerly addresses certain issues now, with the apparent hope that in three years or more, revenues will grow and the agreement can be improved to capture more of it.  Bargaining history in the entertainment industry, however, teaches that it is much harder to get a fair share of revenue after management puts it in their pockets for years.  Residual compensation should be based on a fair share of revenue generated by covered content from the first dollar.  Rather than a “percentage of revenue, payment from first dollar” approach to residuals, the DGA deal instead provides for a 17 day window for free streaming of television programs over the Internet without compensation (24 days for the program’s first season).  The deal also allows a one year buy-out of $1200 for Internet use v. $20,000 for one re-run on broadcast television.

        For these specific reasons, and because so much of the new DGA/AMPTP deal is unknown, no one should assume this new deal is a template for anyone else, certainly not for actors.  It is up to the leadership and membership of the DGA to decide if their new deal with the studios and networks is acceptable, but whatever they decide, their decision will not determine what will be satisfactory for the leadership and membership of Screen Actors Guild.  Each guild must act in the best interest of its own membership, including rejecting management-imposed “pattern bargaining.”

In solidarity,            

Alan Rosenberg                      Doug Allen                                 
President                               National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator

More news on the strike

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

DGA board unanimously OKs labor pact

The board of directors of the Directors Guild of America has voted unanimously to recommend ratification of a deal with Hollywood studios. The DGA will now present the proposal to its full membership.

More news on the strike

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

Below-the-line picket at SAG awards canceled

A threat by a group of below-the-line Hollywood crew members to picket Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to protest the ongoing writers strike has been called off. In an e-mail sent to other crew members, set decorator Mel Cooper, who had called for the rally, said the picketing was canceled “due to the positive motion of the talks” now that negotiators for the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are back at the bargaining table.

Thousands of people who work behind the scenes in movies and television, including vendors, have been adversely affected by the strike, which is now in its 12th week. Organizers had been hoping to picket the Shrine just as celebrities begin arriving in their limousines Sunday afternoon to gain maximum media exposure for their protest. Cooper said that if the current talks aimed at resolving the strike break down, they will plan another rally to highlight the financial impact the strike is having on their lives.

-- Robert W. Welkos

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

Marvel deal: Even superheroes sign up

Marvel Studios has signed an interim deal with the striking Writers Guild of America, the union said.

The move follows recent separate guild pacts with other independent production companies such as Lionsgate, United Artists, the Weinstein Co. and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants.

Marvel Studios is launching its own film brand with the upcoming "Iron Man" (opening May 2 and distributed by Paramount Pictures) and "The Incredible Hulk," which opens June 13.

-- Jevon Phillips

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

Lionsgate poised to sign interim writers pact

Jumping on the bandwagon with other independent production companies, Lionsgate is on the verge of signing an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America that is expected to be finalized in the next two days.

Based in Santa Monica, the publicly held entertainment outfit is behind such movie hits as the 2006 Oscar winner “Crash” and the “Saw” horror franchise, as well as the popular TV series “Mad Men” on AMC and “Weeds” on Showtime.

People close to the matter said Lionsgate was motivated to sign an interim deal to get rolling on its current TV shows, which also include the new NBC series “Fear Itself” and a planned small-screen version of “Crash" for Starz Encore.

If the deal concludes as expected, Lionsgate would join other independent companies that have recently signed agreements with the guild, including United Artists, the Weinstein Co., Spyglass Entertainment and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Inc.

Such deals, however, would be supplanted by any new contract that the writers sign with the studios. Talks between the parties resumed this week, raising hopes that an end to the 12-week-old strike is within sight.

The Writers Guild has hired entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer to advise the union in its negotiations. Wertheimer, who helped negotiate the Worldwide Pants deal, represents screenwriters such as Eric Roth ("Munich") and guild board member Tom Schulman ("Dead Poets Society").

More news on the strike

-- Claudia Eller and Richard Verrier

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

WGA, producers issue joint statement on talks

Joint statement from the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers:

On Wednesday, January 23rd the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin informal discussions to determine if there is a basis for both parties to return to formal negotiations. Both the AMPTP and the WGA have agreed to make no public comments about the informal discussions until those discussions have concluded.

More news on the strike

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut

WGA members told of new talks, Grammy waiver

Sent to the WGA membership today by their leaders:

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

In order to make absolut