There may be joy in Mudville after all! Variety is reporting that the WGA and the producers are scheduled to have their first formal meeting since Dec. 7, now that the Director’s Guild has come up with a deal that many people are hoping the writers will accept as well. Neither group has made an official statement about the meeting, but Variety’s sources expect the meeting to happen within the next few days.

If you remember, the DGA was negotiating many of the issues that the WGA had taken up in their contract re-negotiations, namely about residuals from content that is shown on the Internet. Apparently the DGA didn’t get exactly what the WGA has been asking for, but hey, a deal is better than no deal, right Howie Mandel? Variety also reports that there have probably been backchannel negotiations between the writers and the producers in the last few days, which means things will move along a lot quicker once everyone is finally back to the table.

John Wells, the executive producer of ER who is privy to the details behind the DGA’s deal, is incredibly optimistic about how this could shake things up. “"This is a genuinely landmark deal. I've been involved in negotiations for 20 years. This is the best deal I've seen that anyone's been able to negotiate." He even predicted an end date for the strike: “This deal should be done in two weeks."

For the record, two weeks from last Friday, when he was quoted, is February 1. As in, 23 days before the Oscar broadcast. As in, one day after the season premiere of Lost. I know the end of the strike will save Hollywood and all that, but it will save Lost and the Oscars too! I’m wary of getting too optimistic about this, since it will be heartbreaking for things to collapse again, but lets just say I’m not cancelling my Oscar party, and might schedule a get-together for the *crosses fingers* ninth episode of Lost. A girl can dream!