WGA Declares "Huge Victory" With New Contract

Posted by Jeff Fecke, Shakesville at 1:41 PM on February 9, 2008.

BREAKING: The strike is now officially over after the WGA voted to approve the agreement reached with the studios.

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UPDATE: SUNDAY 12:30 PM: At the WGA's news conference today, union leaders declared the new contract is "a huge victory for us". Trumpeted WGAW President Patric Verrone, "This is the first time we actually got a better deal in a new media than previously." Verrone credited News Corp. No. 2 Peter Chernin and Disney chief Bob Iger, and also CBS boss Les Moonves, with "being instrumental in making this deal happen" after the WGA spent 3 months "getting nowhere" with the AMPTP negotiators and lawyers. WGA negotiating committee chief John Bowman added that, "What happened to the Golden Globes was instrumental in getting the CEOs to this table. It was a huge symbol." Bowman said it was "imperative" that the WGA "get in on the ground floor of New Media. Henceforth, we're in from the start. It's 2% of distributor's gross. They can't have a business model without taking that into account."

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WGA and studios reach a tentative agreement to end the writers' strike:

When they arrived, the strike captains were given a three-page memo describing the details and were encouraged to make public comments about the tentative contract. In addition to discussing the terms, the guild leaders also explained why they are considering lifting the strike as early as Monday--before a vote to ratify the contract has been taken.

"They want to take the temperature of the membership and feel that if the overall membership feels it's a good deal, they'll call off the strike," strike captain Sivert Glarum, an executive producer of CBS' "Rules of Engagement," said today. "And if not, they won't call off the strike. I think that to be expedient they're trying to get everyone back to work and save the TV season because it might be in the best interest of everyone if we all go back to work before the vote is taken."

That's not a foregone conclusion, of course; some members of the union are understandably leery about going back to work before a formal vote. Still, it looks like this is going to come to an end in time to save Lost, and frankly, I'm very much looking forward to seeing The Daily Show with writers again.

Jeff Fecke is a regular blogger for Shakesville.