Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Another WGA Strike Update

Today's LA Times had a story on the striking Writers Guild of America (WGA).

The Times indicates that agreement may be near. "The West Coast board of the Writers Guild of America has reacted favorably to the outlines of a pending agreement reached between guild negotiators and Hollywood studios."

The deal reached between the studios and the directors served as the jumping-off point for the new round of discussions between the studios and the writers.

The two sides reached a tentative agreement on Friday, and attorneys are now drawing up the actual contract language based on that agreement. If the WGA board sees and approves that language, the strike could end, and the contract could go to the membership for a vote this weekend.

The fate of the upcoming Academy Awards show hangs over the negotiations like the Sword of Damocles.

The Times says:

The deal includes a doubling of the residual rate for movies and TV shows sold online and secures the union's jurisdiction over content created specifically for the Web, above certain budget thresholds. It also establishes payments for shows streamed online that improve upon what directors were given in their new contract.

The WGA leadership is pressing members not to abandon their picket lines until the deal is sealed.

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