Writers reach tentative deal
2008-02-09 20:40
Los Angeles - The union representing
striking Hollywood writers said on Saturday it had reached a
"tentative deal" with the studios after a three-month walkout
that has crippled television production, hurt the local economy
and overshadowed the awards season.
"While this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all
that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and
sacrifice, our strike has been a success," the Writers Guild of
America said in a memo e-mailed to members.
Members will meet in New York and Los Angeles later on
Saturday to discuss specific terms, the ratification process
and ending the strike, the union added.
Some 10 500 screenwriters walked off the job on November 5,
four days after the WGA's old contract expired, shattering 20
years of Hollywood labour peace in a dispute that hinged on how
much writers should earn for work distributed over the
internet.
The WGA memo said the tentative deal "creates formulas for
revenue-based residuals in new media, provides access to deals
and financial data to help us evaluate and enforce those
formulas, and establishes the principle that, 'When they get
paid, we get paid.'"
Officials from the Alliance of Motion Picture and
Television Producers, the bargaining arm of the studios, were
not immediately available for comment.