Deal Has Been Reached to End Writers' Strike

[Aaron]

Thank God. It was getting ridiculous.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/23057002

[Marcusarilius]

I smell more BDs!!!

[JasonR]

I was getting tired of reality TV....

[coolmilo]

This is great news. Now the writers can start earning a living again and we can enjoy new episodes of The Office. Win/win.

[Blu-Beard]

'bout time

[miokti]

and now we do the dance of joy

[Magic]

Originally Posted by JasonR

I was getting tired of reality TV....

Me too. Except for American Gladiators of course. I'm in love with Crush and Venom. Oh baby!

[Sylin]

Originally Posted by Magic

Me too. Except for American Gladiators of course. I'm in love with Crush and Venom. Oh baby!

Amen to that! Crush is ridiculously hot. I hear she used to be an MMA fighter.

Originally Posted by Joe Cain

Ditto. Direct action gets the goods.

Except in this case it didn't. Most writers are returning to lower-paying gigs or no gig at all.

Matter of fact, throughout modern American history, labor strikes seldom, if ever, have worked. Any illusion of gain is short-lived, and the repercussions (ie. the "big picture") are typically long-term and detrimental.

I've posted in another thread my thoughts about the poor motivations behind the writer's strike, so I won't repeat it all here. But suffice to say, while these greedy writers were on the picket line, their hardworking colleagues--such as production crews, light and sound techs, and others on the studio payroll--were put out to pasture.

[Magic]

Originally Posted by ikcizokm

Amen to that! Crush is ridiculously hot. I hear she used to be an MMA fighter.

I've heard that too. There's something very exciting about a woman that sexy that could kick the living shit out of me.

[cathexist]

Good to hear...looking forward to watching more of The Office now that I'm addicted to it.

[cathexist]

p.s. I wonder what's going on with Scrubs then...

[Lord_Stewie]

Great now i will be able to see what happens with Heroes.

[unreal1080p]

Guild leaders plan to present the contract to thousands of writers in Los Angeles and New York on Saturday. The guild board could approve the contract Sunday and writers could return to work the next day.

http://www.variety.com/VR1117980589.html

http://www.wga.org/contract_07/wga_tent_summary.pdf

I guess we'll know for sure Sunday evening/Monday morning.

[Zipzap713]

Finally. The strike is nearly over. Now I just have to wait a little longer for House and Chuck

[GarettP]

Yay My DVR will start filling up again in April/May! I hope Rescue Me gets to work ASAP since we now have FX/HD, can't wait to see Rescue Me in HD, looked great on Blu!

[BluDomain]

http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/...with-deal.html

Saturday, February 9, 2008
Letter From The Presidents With Deal Summary


This was sent early this morning to membership. The delay in publishing the deal points, we've learned, was because the companies dragged their feet enshrining some of the final details in an attempt to renege on some of what they had promised. The last-minute fight to keep that from happening took until late last night.

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 at the following link - http://mail.citrustudio.com/ct/18431...8531C64503D7B- 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. Details of the Los Angeles meeting can be found at http://mail.citrustudio.com/ct/18431...D8531C64503D7B.

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,

Patric M. Verrone
President, WGAW

Michael Winship
President, WGAE


Posted by United Hollywood at 6:00 AM

[Hassoon]

Great news.

Hope it goes from "tentative" to concrete .

[Tizflizz]

awesome news

[unreal1080p]

Originally Posted by Hassoon

Great news.

Hope it goes from "tentative" to concrete .

http://www.wga.org/contract_07/wga_tent_summary.pdf

[TruBlu2]

Pay the writers and end the strike already!