The Wall Street Journal-20080123-Writers- Studios Set Informal Talks
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Writers, Studios Set Informal Talks
In a sign of progress between striking film and TV writers and the major Hollywood studios, the two sides said late yesterday that they would hold informal discussions this week in an effort to restart formal negotiations to reach a new labor contract.
In a letter to its membership, the Writers Guild of America said it had removed its proposals to unionize reality and animation writers, a point of contention in the talks. The writers went on strike Nov. 5.
Both the writers' guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates on behalf of the studios, declined to comment.
The structure of informal discussions is similar to the way in which the Directors Guild of America approached its contract negotiations with the AMPTP. For nearly two months, the leadership of the directors' guild and two studio executives, Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger and News Corp. President Peter Chernin, met quietly to hammer out the ground rules for negotiations. Once the formal talks began Jan. 10, a three-year deal was reached in less than a week.
Meanwhile, the writers' guild said yesterday that its members wouldn't picket the Grammy Awards Feb. 10, but it declined to provide the producers a waiver that would enable guild writers to work on the broadcast.
