02-09-08 2:30am:  Last weekend all indications were that the WGA and the AMPTP had come to an informal agreement and a new deal was forthcoming.  While the Guild and producers were hammering out the details this past week, the Guild thought it prudent to schedule meetings Saturday on both coasts in order to brief their members and possibly put an end to this strike.  Earlier on Friday, every indication was that by day’s end, the WGA would have a formal contract to email out to its membership so they would be informed when everyone met on Saturday.  As of this update (Saturday, 2:27am PST), there has been no such communication and things are beginning to look rather bleak.

According to Nikki Finke and other sources, the Saturday meetings are now at risk of not happening.  If there is no contract to present there is no reason to come together to talk.  Word is that both sides are still working on the contract details, even at this hour.  They are claiming that they will stay at the table until it is done.  But if there isn’t something in place soon then the conferences will likely be called off and the best chance we have had to bring this strike to an end will be obliterated.

Nikki is reporting that the lawyers for the AMPTP are nitpicking minor details, looking for one last crumb to ensure they can claim victory in the end.  Neither Chernin nor Iger, the purported masterminds behind the deal, are said to be the driving force behind these delays.  According to Nikki, it’s the AMPTP lawyers.  They alone are holding this deal hostage.

It comes down to this:

Right now, the writers have a solid bargaining chip or two.  The Oscars hang in the balance.  Pilot season too.  And whatever might be salvaged of the current season of originally scripted shows will be gone after this weekend.  If this deal isn’t done and presented to membership tomorrow, you can kiss it all goodbye. The studios have a reason to get this done before Monday.  If it isn’t resolved then they may just bunker in for the nuclear option.  At that point the writers will likely hold out until SAG strikes in June and who knows how long it will last?

We’ll just have to wait and see.  The moment I hear any news I will post an update.

02-09-08 2:45am:  The email with the contractual details has finally been sent out.  To read the details go to www.wga.org.  The language of the agreement is specific to New Media and doesn’t include the full contract.  But what they posted focuses on the big deal breakers.  Now we wait to see what happens.  It does look like the meetings will take place later today.

02-09-08 4:00pm:  Word coming out of the WGA East confab is that thing are looking positive, for the most part.  Nikki Finke’s source tells her:

“East meeting was insanely civil. Not one chair thrown. I was at the meeting in the same ballroom the second week of the strike, when the same people were sitting up there and were characteristically defensive about why we had gone out and if they knew what they were doing. Today, those same people were not only confident, they were not in the least defensive about the deal — they were realistic, 180 degrees from the chaos and disarray I smelled three months ago. And they ain’t actors. I think if they felt they needed to ram something down our throats, you would have picked up on that immediately. The two big moments for me came very early, when each member of the negotiating committee spoke briefly. Terry George said, ‘We have defeated a tradition of rollbacks that began with the air traffic controllers.’ That crystallized what we were up against and how far we had come and changing the dialogue. A couple minutes later, Melissa Salmons said, ‘For years, I have lived in fear of that DVD formula, that it would be with me for my life. Now we have a deal that have movement in it.’ (Later on, she told a daytime writer that the staff of Days of Our Lives, who had all been fired last week, were getting their jobs back. And that a striking writer, if fired, had to be replaced by a striking writer. Not a scab, and not a fi-core member. Big ovation.) I’ll stop short of calling it a love fest, but not all that short. Legit questions were raised and respectfully answered. Again, no defensiveness. There was an informal applause poll, and the room was overwhelmingly in favor of ending the strike before a membership ratification vote.”

However, there is still a major issue on the table that has the potential to stop things dead in their tracks.  During the informal negotiations, the WGA claims they were promised a “Favored Nations” clause in the contract by Chernin and the other studio bosses.  This means that if one of the other major guilds(SAG/DGA) were to negotiate better terms in their contract that those terms would automatically be applied to the new WGA contract.  In other words, if SAG negotiates an increase in DVD residuals in their contract, the WGA would be given the same increase without having to go back and negotiate.  At the moment, it looks like the studios are balking at this deal point.  They have only agreed to give “Favor Nation” status to increases in New Media and not things like DVD residuals, heathcare benefits or pensions.  And even then, the studios have yet to put anything in writing.  We’ll have to wait and see if this is enough to detonate the deal.

02-09-08 9:00pm:  Maria Elena Fernandez on the LA Times Strike Blog is reporting:

“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 be up to the membership after the vote on the contract.”

02-09-08 9:15pm:  Nikki is now reporting the strike is, for all intents and purposes, OVER!  Here’s what she said:

“I’ve received word from inside the Shrine Auditorium meeting that the WGA West membership seemed “very positive” about resolving the strike as soon as possible and accepting the deal negotiated by the guild leadership. A writer attendee just left the confab and told me: “There was cheering and standing ovation after standing ovation for all the leadership, especially Patric Verrone and Dave Young. Patric said the strike would be lifted 48 hours after the WGA boards meet Sunday to recommend the contract, but it was very unclear exactly what day we all go back to work. He said we would go back to work in 48 hours after the deal is recommended, so that may be Tuesday or Wednesday, and then the membership vote would be taken 10 days later. There is no question in my mind that because of the atmosphere in that room this strike will be called off. It’s over.”

Fantastic news!!  Looks like everyone should be back to work by Wednesday at the latest.  When I hear more details I will post them.  Also, I am still trying to put together an accurate list of shows and their status/return dates.  Should have something by midweek on that.