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The Strike Is Over, It’s (Almost) Official

By fred | February 11, 2008

WGAE President Michael Winship said they “had a very good meeting with the membership. We had a very lively discussion, a free exchange of ideas. At the moment, I feel strongly that it has a very good chance of going through. Basically, people wanted to have the math explained to them. I think we came away with a good deal.”

“It sounds really positive and I think we negotiated a good deal. I think we were right about the things we struck for.” declared Seth Meyers, one of the head writers on Saturday Night Live, adding that the show would resume quickly, perhaps as early as February 16.

Carmen Culver, a writer for movies and miniseries, called the agreement that was presented a complicated deal. “There were some parts I was very happy about and others less so. But I’m extremely proud of the guild for hanging tough. It’s a great day for the labor movement. We have really stood up and said to these corporations that it all begins with the word. I think the big boys have been brought to their knees.”

Of writers had questions about the deal, most of them were about technical, complicated aspects of the deal. “You have to understand that we’re writers, not lawyers,” said one of the writers.

David Fury, executive producer of 24, said : “We gained a lot, and it lays the groundwork for three years from now [when the contract will expire]. No one’s walking around saying we got everything we wanted, but we showed them that our union is strong and maybe they’ll think twice the next time about trying to scare us [with unfavorable deal terms].”

“The strike was definitely worth it. There’s not a single gain that we made that we would have got if we hadn’t been on strike. But it’s time to end it. It’s time to go back to work,” said Dirty Sexy Money creator Craig Wright.

Verrone also went on to praise the work of the three CEOs who stepped up in the decisive moments of negotiations, including News Corporation chief Peter Chernin, Disney head Robert Iger and CBS’ Leslie Moonves. “We spent about three months getting nowehere” until the business chiefs sat down at the bargaining table, said Verrone.

So while it’s not really official as writers still have to vote tomorrow, it’s pretty much a done-deal : the strike is over. I’ve been waiting for this moment for such a long time, I can’t epress how happy I am !

Showrunners are back to work today, getting things started, and writers will follow Wednesday after they vote to lift the strike on Tuesday. For writers pushed out of contracts with use of the “force majeure” clause, many will be hired back, but in a case-by-case scenario, in which the status of each show will affect the deals.

And as I reported earlier, many shows will go back in production right away, and you can expect new episodes relative “soon”. And the best news ? Yes, this season of Lost should get about 6 more episodes, bringing its total to 14 episodes - that’s only two less episodes than originally planned - allowing for writers to give us a real ending and a season finale !

Hallelujah!

PS: The Screen Actors Guild’s contract expires on June 30, and has not set a date to start negotiating with the moguls yet. Asked about the possibility of a SAG strike, the WGA leaders concurred that “no part of the Industry wants a second strike“. Oh yeah, you got that right!

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