Following the agreement made Thursday between the Directors Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, film and television writers and studios began informal talks Tuesday in hopes to return to formal negotiations over the Writers Guild of America strike.
With speculation about the many upcoming award shows hanging in the balance because of the 12-week-long strike, resolution is now looking like much more of a possibility after negotiations last broke down Dec. 7.
While no date has been confirmed, writers were invited to enter new talks with the studio soon after the directors’ deal was announced. A guild-wide meeting for all writers was held to decide their next step later in the day, following informal talks with the studios.
The directors’ deal covers many of the main issues the writers have been striking for since Nov. 5, including increased residuals for paid Internet downloads, the mapping out of directors’ jurisdiction over material created specifically for the Internet, and residuals established for free, ad-supported Internet streaming.
Many within Hollywood are hoping that agreement will help break new ground in negotiations with the writers and possibly put an end to the strike once and for all.
Howard Suber, a professor in the School of Theater, Film and Television producers program, commented on the negotiations’ impact on the strike last week before the deal was announced.
“The minute one major guild signs an agreement, it then becomes the model for the other guilds,” he said. “The (directors guild) contracts tend to be the model that the other guilds had to fall in line with.”
Longtime writers’ guild member Richard Walter, a UCLA screenwriting professor, said he found the news encouraging.
“I have to say this encourages me to believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
This three-year deal between the directors and the studios will not go into effect until July 1, but the timing of the negotiations was something many involved in the strike, including Walter, saw as a crucial stepping stone for negotiations and even to a possible resolution between the writers and the studios.
“I’ve always been saying that we would be out until they started negotiating with the directors and that the (contract) would become a template or a model that would be acceptable, if tweaked here and there, both for the (screen actors) and the (writers),” Walter said.
Walter also said the strike, along with the subsequent hardships across the entertainment industry, may have helped leverage the directors to a better bargaining position with the studios.
“It seems to me that the strike has gone quite well and the impact has been greater than they anticipated,” he said.
Before the directors’ deal was announced, most of the strike coverage had been related to the high number of upcoming awards shows, most of which have not received waivers by the writers’ guild. Those show may suffer the same fate as this year’s Golden Globes, which was reduced from a traditionally lavish banquet to a quiet press conference.
While the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which will take place Jan. 27, has been given the go-ahead by the writers because of the close relationship between the two guilds since the beginning of the strike, many other ceremonies such as the Grammys and the Oscars still hang in the balance.
The Grammys did receive some good news on Tuesday when the writers guild announced they would not picket the Feb. 10 ceremony. Although the guild has not yet issued a waiver allowing writers to work on the show, attendance will probably be higher than originally expected since stars will not have to cross a picket line.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is currently planning two different ceremonies for the Oscars, depending on if the writers have made a deal by then, according to Hollywood trade magazine Variety.
“It would be such a dreadful pity to lose the Oscars,” said Walter. “It shows America at her best, I think.”
Some are speculating that once both sides of the strike return to the table, there will be an added incentive to strike a deal in time for the Oscars, scheduled for Feb. 24.
Writers guild member Caroline Williams, also a 2004 School of Theater, Film and Television graduate, said she believes it is in everybody’s best interest to end the strike in time for the ceremony.
“I think that stakes are definitely higher when it comes to Oscars. There is extra motivation on everybody’s part. … It’s good for everybody’s morale every year to do that, and it would be sad if it didn’t happen, but hopefully we’ll come to an agreement before then.”
Williams, a former staff writer for “The Office,” has already suffered a blow herself because of the strike. She was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for her work on one of the show’s episodes from last season, but the ceremony has been cancelled altogether because of the strike.
“It’s definitely a disappointment because any other year we would have a ceremony and a dinner. There’s really no celebration, which is really unfortunate,” said Williams.
“But I think its great the guild is using these awards shows to further their cause.”
Whatever happens next concerning the strike, it seems the stakes are getting higher every week for everyone involved.
“Let’s argue about the numbers a little bit and get everybody back to work,” Walter said.