STRIKE-STRUCK: A NEW HOPE

Now that the AMPTP has completed negotiations with the DGA, they're finally willing to come back to the table with the WGA over their contract differences. Hopefully, once they come back to the table, they'll come to their senses and accept the WGA's proposals.

Here is the statement they've released on their website:

JOINT STATEMENT

The agreement between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Directors Guild of America establishes an important precedent: Our industry’s creative talent will now participate financially in every emerging area of new media. The agreement demonstrates beyond any doubt that our industry’s producers are willing and able to work with the creators of entertainment content to establish fair and flexible rules for this fast-changing marketplace.

We hope that this agreement with DGA will signal the beginning of the end of this extremely difficult period for our industry. Today, we invite the Writers Guild of America to engage with us in a series of informal discussions similar to the productive process that led us to a deal with the DGA to determine whether there is a reasonable basis for returning to formal bargaining. We look forward to these discussions, and to the day when our entire industry gets back to work.

As United Hollywood pointed out, "Nowhere in the invitation does anyone mention preconditions or thresholds for these informal talks. There are no demands here that we take 'distributor's gross' off the table, for example -- which was one of their precondition of resuming talks -- in fact, they just agreed to distributor's gross with the DGA."

So it looks like progress can finally be made and this strike may get settled.

Unless of course, it's a trap.........

BCnU!
Toby OB