Writers Bend But Don't Break In Latest Talks

If you give a little, hopefully you’ll get a little in return. That seems to be what The Writers Guild is going for during the current round of negotiations with the AMPTP. While the producers haven’t yet agreed to officially come back to the table, they have been having informal talks with the WGA for the past few days.

The talks were spurred by last week’s agreement between the AMPTP and the Director’s Guild of America. Many in the industry see the DGA agreement as a possible template for a WGA deal and an end to the strike that has put Hollywood at a virtual standstill since November 5th. The DGA agreement is said to cover the WGA’s key issues, which include new media distribution such as streaming internet content and downloads to iPods, cell phones and other electronic devices.

While the WGA has agreed to a news blackout while the talks continue, WGAw president Patric Verrone and WGAe president Michael Winship sent out an email to guild members that outlined the talks so far. It says in part, “In order to make absolutely clear our commitment to bringing a speedy conclusion to negotiations, we have decided to withdraw our proposals on reality and animation. Our organizing efforts to achieve Guild representation in these genres for writers will continue.”

Giving up reality and animation can be seen as the WGA bending to the AMPTP’s will. On the other hand, WGA leadership has been adamant that it will not give up anything without getting something in return. The removal of these two issues from the table could be a signal that negotiations have broken past the stalemate of the past few months and are actually going forward.

Another interesting bit of information in the email involves the already damaged awards season. While the Oscar telecast is still in danger of being picketed if a deal is not reached by its February 24th airdate, another major awards show has been given a pass. The Grammy Awards, scheduled to air February 10th, will not be picketed by striking writers. The WGA says of its decision, “Members of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) face many of the same issues concerning compensation in new media that we do. In the interest of advancing our goal of achieving a fair contract, the WGAW Board felt that this gesture should be made on behalf our brothers and sisters in AFM.”

As far as awards shows go, The Grammys aren’t a huge concession on the WGA’s part. The telecast isn’t set to have a host and musicians generally wouldn’t have a difficult time crossing a WGA picket line. The big question at this point is still The Oscars. Hopefully the Golden Globe fiasco is putting enough pressure on the AMPTP to reach a deal in this round of negotiations to save the venerable awards show and put everyone back to work.