Striking Writers Poised to Return to Keyboards

Rick Kushman - Sacramento Bee

Signs are good that Hollywood writers could decide as soon as today to end the strike that has crippled the entertainment industry and get back to work early this week.

The writers spent Saturday on both coasts picking through details of a tentative new contract with the studios and networks, and leaders of the Writers Guild of America held long meetings in New York and Los Angeles, where they urged members to accept the deal and end picketing.

A vote on the three-year contract by the full 10,500-member guild is possible within days, though if the WGA board and negotiating committee believe the contract has enough support, the leaders could vote today to end the 13-week strike.

"We believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks," Patric Verone and Michael Winship, presidents of the guild's West and East Coast branches, wrote to members in an e-mail Saturday. "The time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike."

The tone of the meetings on Saturday, according to people there, was questioning but generally optimistic, and that makes the WGA leaders' plan to call off the strike today more likely.

Rank-and-file writers in New York expressed general support for the studios' offer as the guild's leadership urged acceptance of the deal.

"It sounds really positive," said a beaming Seth Meyers, head writer and performer on "Saturday Night Live." "I think they negotiated a good deal. I think we were right about the things we struck for."

A deal would mean movie and TV studios in New York and across Hollywood could have their writers on the job this week.

The most immediate impact for viewers would be on late-night TV. Shows ranging from "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" to "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" will have full monologues, scripted gags and the A-list guests who had been staying away to honor the picket lines. Expect more than a few strike-and-writer jokes. It would also mean a green light for a full-speed Academy Awards show scheduled for Feb. 24 on ABC.

What is much less clear is how prime time will be affected. Some comedies could be ready to air new episodes in a few weeks, but some scripted dramas will take up to two months to have fresh episodes.

But the networks aren't commenting about when they might bring new episodes of any specific show back to the air, or whether they would reduce their heavy use of reality shows that don't use guild writers.

The writers went on strike Nov. 5 and the core of the dispute between the WGA and the studios and networks has revolved around what kind of payments, if any, writers would get for their work in the digital world of online streaming and downloading.

Writers argued that with fewer and fewer reruns airing on TV, and with more shows appearing in the digital universe, they were entitled to the same share of profits they'd been getting for old-school TV. The studios said the new media world was still too uncertain, and, instead, offered flat fees for work used online.

The tentative contract has a little of both. A key provision gives writers a straight 2 percent of a distributor's gross profits from streaming when the contract reaches its third year. WGA leaders have said that was a critical clause, because it shows flexibility in the formula that will likely be important as the media world continues to evolve.

A break in the worst part of the stalemate -- which started in early December after the studio/network alliance walked away from negotiations -- came in mid-January after the directors guild reached its own tentative agreement with the alliance. That deal included some provisions similar to what the writers had been asking for, so it gave the writers and studios some common ground and a reason to start talking again. Both sides were also getting pressure across Hollywood to end the strike before it affected the Academy Awards.

The sides reached an agreement in principle last week, but the crucial phase of drafting the contract language stayed touchy and was not finished until the early morning hours Saturday.

During the 13 weeks, the strike slowed movie production, damaged late-night TV, destroyed the Golden Globes show and turned prime time into a jumble of repeats and reality shows. TV ratings were down about 20 percent in January compared with last year, and the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. estimated that Southern California's economy took a $1-billion-plus hit.

If the writers accept the deal, Hollywood may not be entirely out of the labor-strife woods. The 120,000-member Screen Actors Guild's contract expires June 30, and SAG, which was a strong ally in the WGA strike, faces a number of similar financial issues.

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