MOVEMENT!

This was about the best e-mail I could have received today. Some have speculated that the settling of the DGA strike so quickly would put pressure on all sides to conclude the WGA strike. So it is with profound joy that I read Patric Verrone's latest strike update mail today (1/22/08.) The AMPTP is FINALLY ready, it seems, to sit back down and negotiate. Brother, let's hope so.

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period, we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion with industry leaders that we hope will lead to a contract. We ask that all members exercise restraint in their public statements during this critical period.

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. You will hear more about this in the next two weeks.

On another issue, the Writers Guild, West Board of Directors has voted not to picket the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. 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 and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).

Best,

Patric M. Verrone

Strike Update

This just in from the WGA (1/18/08.) Could this mean possible forward movement on a settlement? We'll see...

To Our Fellow Members,

As you know, the Directors Guild announced yesterday that it has reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP. We are waiting for the full terms of the deal to be made available so that we can carefully analyze and evaluate the language and numbers. Until then, members can review the DGA's press release (found here:

For more than a month we have been urging the conglomerates to return to the table and bargain in good faith. Now that negotiations with the DGA are finished, the AMPTP has reached out to us to begin informal talks. We are committed to moving the process forward to achieve the best contract possible.

Know, too, that we have signed four more agreements with important, independent feature producers. They are Mandate Pictures, Bob Yari's Sixth Floor Literary Properties, Overt Operations/Anonymous Content, and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment. These deals return more people to work and provide further incentive to the media conglomerates to settle our contract soon.

We invite all our members to a consolidated picket line next Tuesday at Paramount studios. As always, picketing information can be found at:

http://www.wga.org/subpage_member.aspx?id=2536.

We look forward to working for you and with you as we move towards a successful resolution. We are all in this together.

Best,

John F. Bowman
Chair, WGA Negotiating Committee

Patric M. Verrone
President, WGA West

Michael Winship
President, WGA East