Writers Strike Over?

[chantheman]

hopefully its true

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/business/media/08strike.html?hp

Ric Frances/Associated Press

The writers’ chief negotiator, John Bowman.

Over the last two weeks, Laeta Kalogridis, a movie and TV writer and a founder of United Hollywood, a pro-union Web site, emerged as an unlikely peacemaker.

Working the phones and e-mail during her forced hiatus, she operated as a conduit between David J. Young, a militant leader of the guild, and Peter A. Chernin, the News Corporation president, who was similarly protective of company interests.

As Ms. Kalogridis joined those trying to resolve the dispute, players on both sides finally shifted ground, most importantly on the issue of new-media compensation. That cleared the way to a deal that will be reviewed by writers in meetings here and in New York on Saturday.

If all goes well, the boards of the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East could end the walkout as early as next week, allowing production of most television dramas and comedies to resume and tens of thousands of people to return to work.

The breakthrough occurred on what many writers regard as a make-or-break issue: Web streaming of TV shows after their initial broadcast, which they suspect will soon replace the reruns that have paid them tens of thousands of dollars an episode.

Under a compromise proposal, in the third year of their deal, writers would be paid 2 percent of the revenue. In the tentative contract that the Directors Guild of America agreed to last month, on which much of the prospective writers’ settlement has been modeled, producers agreed to pay $1,334 for a first year’s use, and a percentage afterward.

The arrangement offers bragging rights to writers, who can claim to have won what the entertainment conglomerates said they would never give: a residual based on their gross revenue from the Internet.

Representatives of the production companies and the writers’ guilds continued their news blackout Thursday and declined to comment for this article, as did Ms. Kalogridis. But interviews with more than a dozen people involved in the possible settlement described a process so fragile that many still think that Saturday’s meetings could derail it.

As recently as last Friday, producers were preparing a “doomsday scenario,†in which they were ready to declare that the talks had failed, opening the possibility of an extended strike. That the collapse was averted owed much to Ms. Kalogridis, and diplomacy that turned an icy standoff into the kind of hot-and-bothered bargaining in which Hollywood deals are forged.

As is often the case in Hollywood, an agent was an important link. Rick Rosen is a partner at the Endeavor agency, which represents Ms. Kalogridis. Mr. Rosen is also a lifelong friend of Mr. Chernin, who had opened informal talks with the writers — along with Robert A. Iger, chief executive of Walt Disney, and Leslie Moonves, chief executive of CBS — immediately after the directors announced their agreement on Jan. 17.

Before those informal face-to-face meetings, Mr. Chernin had advised the union representatives to hire a seasoned Hollywood lawyer. If this effort did not work, Mr. Chernin and others feared, the stalemate could easily extend into the spring, when the writers’ strike might well merge with one by the Screen Actors Guild, whose contract expires June 30.

But at a meeting two weeks ago, Patric M. Verrone, the West Coast writers’ guild president; the chief negotiator, John Bowman; and Mr. Young did not bring in a deal maker. Instead, they spent much of the session catching up with points in the directors’ deal, to the frustration of Mr. Iger and Mr. Chernin.

Mr. Rosen — who, according to biographical sources, grew up in Harrison, N.Y., as did Mr. Chernin — was among several Hollywood insiders who stepped forward at that point. They lobbied executives and writers to make a deal. Mr. Young had at first resisted the push for outside help, but agreed to bring in Alan Wertheimer, a high-powered lawyer whose clients have included Ron Bass and Tom Schulman, both members of the guild’s board.

As the talks resumed, the participants began to compromise. Notably, Mr. Verrone — an architect of the tough stance taken by the guild from the outset — appeared to step back somewhat after the union dropped a pet demand of his, for jurisdiction over animation and reality-television writers.

In the meantime, Mr. Bowman, a well-heeled television writer, became more assertive.

Mr. Bowman’s emergence as an independent voice had long been sought by company representatives, who surmised even before the strike began that he would be a more flexible bargainer than Mr. Verrone and Mr. Young. But that would happen only if he were edged away from the guild president, a friend with whom he attended Harvard in the early 1980s.

The empowerment of Mr. Bowman was rooted in a brewing rebellion on the guild negotiating committee, where a rump group feared that a longer strike could lead to a split in the union. Some committee members began asking if Mr. Young, a longtime blue-collar labor organizer who had never settled a major entertainment contract, should be ousted from his leadership role. At the same time, they privately urged growing dissident groups within the guild to sit tight.

Even as Mr. Bowman became more vocal, Mr. Young was listening closely to Ms. Kalogridis, who had become a guild confidante. Described by associates as vibrant and impassioned, Ms. Kalogridis — whose credits include the “Bionic Woman†television series — had joined with a half dozen associates to make their United Hollywood site (unitedhollywood.blogspot.com) a rallying spot for striking writers. As recently as last week, the Web site shook the continuing talks by posting a strong critique of the directors’ deal by Phil Alden Robinson, the writer and director of “Field of Dreams†and a board member.

Ms. Kalogridis and her friends, in fact, had become a pipeline to the guild members holding out for sizable gains, whose support would be needed if any deal was to be reached. And she, like Mr. Bowman, had become convinced that the current round of talks must not be allowed to fail.

Perhaps more important, Mr. Young came to share that conviction. On the company side, Mr. Iger and Mr. Moonves, as well as Barry Meyer, chief executive of Warner Brothers, appeared to coalesce around the same view. Meanwhile, Mr. Chernin, who left for London in the middle of the talks but was never out of touch, hung tough on the final point: the writers’ demand that companies should pay a percentage, not a flat fee, for Internet streams.

Officials of the directors’ guild had already signaled that they would not object if the writers appeared to one-up them on that matter. They reasoned that writers would need to show some gain from their strike, and concluded that actual income from the Internet would remain so small in the next three years, that a percentage payment in 2010 was likely to yield little.

Mr. Young put together the ultimate compromise — a flat fee for part of the contract’s life, a percentage during the rest. Ms. Kalogridis, late last week, then found herself in the thick of a bargaining process that eventually won a handshake on the point. She stressed to Mr. Rosen and others that guild members would never approve a deal that did not have a percentage payment for Web streams. Mr. Rosen became an advocate with Mr. Chernin. Mr. Chernin, at one point, invited Ms. Kalogridis to communicate with him directly. And shortly afterward, he signed off.

[ProfMonnitoff]

Didn't read the article but I need more episodes of Gossip Girl so yes please.

[mellowbonsai]

also, should there be an extended strike, lost fans would carry the show's plot to fruition in the real world in some bizzare, fanatic end-times scenario just to simulate what would happen next in the plot

edit: spoiler: http://zaza.ytmnd.com/

[hawkeye]

does this mean american gladiators will be canceled???

[chrisj]

im sure its hard to write for american gladiators

[hawkeye]

im sure its hard to write for american gladiators

there are no writers, that's why they started it. you haven't noticed all the new reality shows poping up to take the place of written shows?

i just hope the writers havent been sitting around doing nothing, i hope they came up with some good ideas for storylines while on strike

[FAM0US.]

So Entourage is back?

[Mr Waffles]

there are no writers, that's why they started it. you haven't noticed all the new reality shows poping up to take the place of written shows?

i just hope the writers havent been sitting around doing nothing, i hope they came up with some good ideas for storylines while on strike

these reality shows that are on now had been in the works before the strike but the strike forced them to all air early and at the same time.

i never really realized how quick they can write, produce, and air a tv show until the strike ended. I thought the whole season was written before any shooting was done.

[willy cheesesteak]

Didn't read the article but I need more episodes of Gossip Girl so yes please.

cosignnnnnn

[weirdnjfan1]

So Entourage is back?

I hope so, if I read what's on Wikipedia (which I'm taking loosely) according to Adrien Grenier, the show might not come back if the Strike doesn't end. Which would piss me off to no end. I'm also gonna be sending nuts to USA if I don't get my Burn Notice this year.

[CaribQueen]

Didn't read the article but I need more episodes of Gossip Girl so yes please.

Me too!

I'm glad it's over.

[weirdnjfan1]

Me too!

I'm glad it's over.

It's not really over yet. The AMPTP and the WGA have reached a deal. It's now up to the writers to accept the deal or not. There's massive committee meeting happening tomorrow to decide if the strike will go on or not, so don't start celebrating yet. We'll find out tomorrow or not if the strike will end or just keep going.

[Egbert- Joe]

It's not that they have to accept the deal. They just need to work on making sure the actual contracts are proper. They need all the semantics, wording, and legal stuff to be right so that they don't get fcuked over later on.

Entourage was never going to be affected unless the strike went into the summer. It's a summer series so from the end of February to June is more than enough time to get the first few episodes written and shot.

[thaiison]

Entourage was never going to be affected unless the strike went into the summer. It's a summer series so from the end of February to June is more than enough time to get the first few episodes written and shot.

correct, now i hope for some new gossip girl and the start of heroes volume 3, hope it'll air soon

[weirdnjfan1]

The writer's have agreed to a contract that will be good until 2011. Let the good times roll.