Talk’s Progress as Second Week Starts to Heat Up

January 30, 2008

(Long Island, N.Y.) Talks between The Writers Guild of America and TV Studio executives enter the second week of renewed negotiations in the hopes of finally putting to an end a 3-month strike among Guild members against TV producers to grant them certain privileges and stipulations before agreeing to renew their contract. The talks were explored again after the Directors Guild of America struck a fairly good and quick deal with Studio executives earlier this month and bequeath a good deal of pressure for both parties to agree upon key issues to settle the Writers strike which has already cost TV producers and Studios millions of dollars in lost revenues.

After heated negotiations last November which abruptly ended on a walkout by Guild members, optimism soars high this time as both sides have already agreed on a number of issues previously clashed upon. This includes the approval given by TV executives to give payment to writers for Internet distributed work and the Guilds nod in taking proposals to unionize animation and reality TV writers which the executive demanded early on. Some key issues still need to be amicably set before a full agreement can be reached. Such issues include the new media compensation the Guild members are pushing for and the longevity of the new contract to be signed.

Writer Devon Sheperd who’s works includes popular TV series “Weeds” and “Everybody Hates Chris” says “I’m like everyone else. I’m hopeful, we’re all just hoping that with time passing, cooler heads will prevail and people are seeing the bigger picture. The longer we stay out, it’s not only hurting us but hurting the industry”

If the negotiations result in a positive accord among the two sides within the next couple of weeks, it would certainly give a huge boost to the TV industry that has already lost over $1 Billion due to this strike as multiple events occur next month that prove money makers for the industry in past Oscars, Grammy’s, NAACP image awards and the much anticipated Superbowl happening on February 4th.

Jonathan Handel, the former associate counsel for the Writers Guild says, “There’s no day, other than the Super Bowl, that’s bigger for American advertisers and therefore for American networks than the Oscars, both the studios and networks have an enormous amount riding on a successful Oscarcast”

Posted by News LI Editor · Edited by Brianna - Filed Under Entertainment