The AMPTP today unveiled a New Economic Partnership to the WGA, which includes groundbreaking moves in several areas of new media, including streaming, content made for new media and programming delivered over digital broadcast channels.  The entire value of the New Economic Partnershipwill deliver more than $130 million in additional compensation above and beyond the more than $1.3 billion writers already receive each year.  In response, the WGA has asked for time to study the proposals.  While we strongly preferred to continue discussions, we respect and understand the WGA’s desire to review the proposals.  We look forward resuming talks on Tuesday, December 4.

We continue to believe that there is common ground to be found between the two sides, and that our proposal for a New Economic Partnership offers the best chance to find it.

Now, the idea that the WGA asked to suspend the talks until December 4th is interesting, and Nikki at Deadline Hollywood Daily has this to say about it:

My sources say this came as something of a surprise to the moguls’ side because their negotiating team was “ready to keep bargaining through the weekend”. On the other hand, the AMPTP side finally presented the terms with so much fanfare that it really surprised the WGA negotiators who’d been increasingly doubful there’d ever even be such a moment.

Now, this could all just be so much labor strife puffery from both sides.  But, I remember the 1988 strike, and this is much more movement, much earlier, than we had then.  Let’s hope everyone comes to their senses soon.  Ugly Betty News commentor Jessica said best what is at stake here:

…how about some sympathy for all the people this strike is hitting in harder places than what to watch on Thursday nights? Everyone knows the writers plight and most support them, but this thing is industry-wide. Actors and production crews, not stars that can go without but extras and day-players barely making rent, are out of work.

So true.  The moguls are just doing what moguls do, and many of the writers are treating the strike like a big party. But real people are being hurt right in the middle of the holiday season. Hopefully, this news can be a harbinger of the end of all of this.

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The talks between the two sides in the Writers Guild strike began anew today, and there is a strong hope there may have been a breakthrough!  From Deadline Hollywood:

As the WGA strike begins its 4th week, I’ve been told positive news about today’s resumption of contract talks between the writers and the producers. So positive, in fact, that I’m almost fearful to post it. But here goes: a very reliable source tells me that there appears to be a deal seemingly in place between both sides.

Oh, my goodness, that would be good news  I am holding my breath – Ugly Betty is having a wonderful year creatively, and it would be a shame for the show to go dark. 

More after the jump:

Deadline Hollywood continues… 

Look, I don’t want to raise false hope here. But this source has been very accurate in the past. The negotiations starting today will have a news blackout, so don’t expect any significant leaks. But consider the real possibility there’s been a breakthrough. Still, I must caution that this is Hollywood — where defeat is snatched from the jaws of victory nearly every time. 

We should all heed the warnings of DHD.  I wish the agreement could be reached sooner – but before Christmas would almost assure that Ugly Betty would have its full run this year. Cross your fingers!

Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily

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After months of contentious negotiations, writers and their employers were unable to reach agreement on a new contract to replace the one that expired Wednesday at midnight. Talks broke down over payments for DVDs and for shows distributed on the Internet.

On Friday, the union’s board of directors accepted the recommendation of its negotiators to stage what would be the writers’ first strike in nearly two decades.

…

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa met with guild officials earlier this week at City Hall, offering to help mediate the dispute.

However, the parties were so polarized that few were optimistic about the probability of an eleventh-hour deal. In addition, some studio executives wondered whether negotiating a pact with a moderate faction of the Writers Guild would accomplish much, since the hard-liners appeared to be calling the shots at the union.

.

This is just awful. I understand totally WHY the WGA is going on strike, but it nevertheless is a hard pill to swallow. As E-Online’s Kristin puts it:

The effects of the strike will be felt first on nighttime shows such as Leno, Letterman, Kimmel and (this one’s hard to stomach) The Daily Show, which obviously require scripts on a daily basis.

Then the soap-opera scripts will run dry.

And then, somewhere around January or February, most of the series currently on the air will run out their completed episodes and be replaced by reality and news programming, reruns or that burning log in the fireplace normally reserved for Christmas Day (essentially, whatever the nets can muster).

So, when we’re talking about Grey’s, Ugly Betty, The Office, etc., you can expect to get weepy in January. But of course, it also depends on how long the strike lasts. It could be as short as five days or as long as the last strike in 1988—22 weeks—or even longer.

So, that’s where we stand. Just like Betty and her illicit love affair with Henry, we know heartbreak is just a few months away. We can see it coming. We know there’s nothing we can do about it. Good sense would tell us to just stop watching now, so we don’t get drawn in too far and our hearts break even harder.

But, just as Hilda said in the last episode: we need to hold on to the time we have with Betty while we have it. More than likely, she’ll be gone (and we don’t know for how long) in January or February. So, we’ll embrace this Thursday’s Posh Wedding episode, we’ll follow the soap opera elements,and laugh at people who just don’t get it.

And we’ll pray for some unseen miracle.

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In case you’ve ignored the sounds of rising panic rippling over Hollywood lately: The networks and studios have been negotiating a new contract with the union representing TV and film writers, and . . . let’s just say it’s not going well.

…

In any case, the Writers Guild of America isn’t finding much common ground with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, with the sides far apart on issues like splitting revenues from new media and whether reality shows should be unionized. At the conclusion of talks Thursday, the AMPTP fired off a statement ripping the guild for raising what it said were “a number of red herrings and irrelevant financial information.” The guild has publicly dissed the producers’ group as “not serious” (both sides are due back at the bargaining table Tuesday). If members give the OK, the guild could call a strike as early as Nov. 1.

The news has been out there for a while, but things have recently gotten quite serious:

If it happens, a strike could wind up being even more damaging than the infamous 1988 writers’ walkout, which academics and other observers have generally characterized as a lose-lose. Back then, thousands of people were thrown out of work for more than five months, and some estimates peg the entertainment industry’s strike-related losses as high as $500 million.

…

In fact, the 1988 strike already offers clues about what we might expect this time around. Back then, newsmagazines like “48 Hours” caught on while scripted shows went dark. Some series, most notably “Moonlighting,” never recovered from the disruption. And some folks made a valiant attempt to carry on: The host of NBC’s “Late Night With David Letterman” gamely tried to write his own “Top 10 List” for a while.

Here’s the Ugly Betty connection:

Studios are cramming to shoot as many episodes of existing series as they can before any work stoppage. Crews on NBC’s “Heroes” and ABC’s “Ugly Betty” have been hustling like crazy, with multiple units racing to shoot two episodes simultaneously last week.“The studio wants to get as much stuff shot as we can by Nov. 1, but we can only write the show as fast as we can write it,” Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, executive producers of “Lost,” wrote me in an e-mail. (Cuse sits on the guild’s 17-member negotiating committee.)

Holy cow – that’s some schedule.

The source article goes in-depth into the reasons for the labor strife, and how the business has changed since the last big writer’s strike in 1988.  It’s worth a read.

Here’s hoping they can get all of this worked out, and soon.  Not only would millions be devastated if Ugly Betty went dark, however temporarily, but the cast and crews cannot sustain schedules like they have been, without nervous breakdowns.

I’ll try to keep you informed on how the negotiations are proceeding.

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