Writers, Producers Will Talk Again On Tuesday

It’s been almost a month since the members of the WGA went on strike. Since then we’ve seen lots of writers on the picket lines (wearing T-shirts and smiling in L.A., bundled up and less cheery in New York), tons of hilarious YouTube videos, and even a series of short films directed by Oscar winners and featuring every star you can imagine (find them all here). No one is saying when the strike will be over yet, but since talks between the WGA and AMPTP resumed this week, there’s been some hope, as well as a lot of rumors.

When negotiations began anew on Monday, the WGA set up a media blackout, which meant no one would be giving official reports about how talks were going. The main source for any news was Nikki Finke, who runs the blog Deadline Hollywood Daily and has a crazy amount of insider information. All week she’s reported that progress was being made—that they had reopened debates about Internet revenue and the studios had made an offer—but today’s report is less optimistic. She reprints an e-mail sent out by WGA leaders to members that says, “Among the rumors was the assertion that the AMPTP had a groundbreaking proposal that would make this negotiation a "done deal." In fact, for the first three days of this week, the companies presented in essence their November 4 package with not an iota of movement on any of the issues that matter to writers.”

Elsewhere, though, specifically at Hollywood Elsewhere, rumors are flying that the whole thing could be over by Pearl Harbor Day, which would make the strike little more than a blip on TV production schedules and totally rework the way we’ve been imagining our spring TV watching to be. The WGA has taken a break until Tuesday to consider the offer the AMPTP made on Thursday; though the WGA had those harsh words to say in the above e-mail, the AMPTP believes they’ve done something to “shake it loose.”

What does this mean for the rest of us, you ask? Well, it’s a good sign that the WGA hasn’t just told the AMPTP to take their offer and stick it, though it’s clear they’re not ready to come crawling back just yet. Basically, no one knows what’s going to happen. Finke is by far the most informed person giving out any information to the public, and Deadline Hollywood is a must-read for anyone interested on the minute-by-minute details. For now, though, as we have for the last month, we just have to wait and hope.

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