The boards for both branches of the Writers Guild of America on Sunday unanimously approved the tentative deal reached on a new contract. The boards are also taking the final decision on liftng the strike to membership in a vote on Tuesday.
In the meantime, showrunners will get going even sooner, heading back to work Monday to get crews set up and production facilities going again, as will writers who have producing duties on their shows. Ballots to ratify the three-year deal are also going out to members, and will be returned within a 10-12 day period.
Patric Verrone commented on the deal agreement, saying, "This is the best deal this guild has bargained for in 30 years."
Verrone also went on to praise the work of the three CEOs who stepped up in the decisive moments of negotiations, including News Corp. chief Peter Chernin, Disney head Robert Iger and CBS' top dog, Leslie Moonves. Until the business chiefs sat down at the bargaining table, Verrone said, "We spent about three months getting nowhere."
In light of the huge support among writers for the deals in members' meetings on both coasts Saturday, it's expected that they'll be in favor to end the strike in Tuesday's vote, and be able to return to work as early as Wednesday. For writers pushed out of contracts in force majeure situations, many will be hired back, but in a case-by-case scenario, in which the status of each show will affect the deals.
As the final logistical steps are taking place, as least most of Hollywood will start getting back into motion. — Anna Dimond
With this good news, I've changed the info on my favorite TV shows' list to show how many episodes we can expect to see from those shows still this season (i.e. before the end of May). In some cases, despite this strike ending, some shows will sadly not be returning until next Fall. Regardless of when they return, I think we can all agree that this announcement is very good news.
No comments:
Post a Comment