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The Strike Is Over! Or Over In A Week! Or Everyone's Being Set Up For Another Crushing Letdown!
Posted by Mark at 3:45 AM on February 5, 2008
In case you were too consumed with your Super Bowl preparations to scroll through the scores of "THE STRIKE IS OVER!!!" e-mails filling up your BlackBerry, various reports touting "progress" fueled by a breakthrough in Friday's informal deal-chat surfaced over the weekend, filling Hollywood with the kind of cautious optimism the beaten-down residents of a crippled company town haven't allowed themselves to feel since the AMPTP's Nick Counter stormed away from negotiations after claiming that someone on the WGA negotiating team had given him "the stink-eye" back in early December, ushering in weeks of unrelenting gloom.
But despite the widespread, media-blackout-defying leaks (and mogul-supplied proclamations issued from a luxury suite at the big game in Arizona) indicating that a deal could be reached sometime this week (huzzah!), the Guild quickly cautioned its members not to blow the remainder of their strike funds on lavish going-back-to-work parties based on "rumors about either the existence of an agreement or its terms" (muted huzzah!). So until WGA leadership issues its official announcement of a new contract (to be accompanied by a photo of president Patric Verrone hugging a weeping trio of Les Moonves, Peter Chernin, and Bob Iger), everyone should resume their still-important picketing responsibilities, resisting the impulse to indulge in the occasional high-five recognizing that the end might be in sight.
- Progress Toward Ending Writers' Strike [NY TImes]
- Contract outlined in Hollywood writers strike [LAT]
- Strike: An end in sight? [Variety
- [THR]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
hack-a-rific
Posted 6:08 AM 5/2/08
Aren't the residents of this company town always beat-down?
hack-a-rific
heidiho
Posted 6:08 AM 5/2/08
@thehmsbeagle: Trying to see if she has your eyes? (:
heidiho
Big John
Posted 6:08 AM 5/2/08
Has unemployment run out for the writers yet?
Big John
thehmsbeagle
Posted 6:08 AM 5/2/08
This is going to make me sound creepy. I realize that. But is there any way that picture of Strike Baby could, uh, be bigger?
thehmsbeagle
Peggy Archer
Posted 6:08 AM 5/2/08
I'm cautiously optimistic, although even if the strike officially ends this week it'll be another month (or so) until I'm back to work.
Peggy Archer
SteamyMcFirecrotch
Posted 6:08 AM 5/2/08
Baby gets back(end)
SteamyMcFirecrotch
Sweet Panda Love
Posted 6:08 AM 5/2/08
The strike ain't over until Incredible Picketing Baby gets a three picture deal.
Sweet Panda Love
heidiho
Posted 6:08 AM 5/2/08
Um... yay?
heidiho
CrankYank
Posted 7:08 AM 5/2/08
The rule for celebrity autopsies and strike contracts: I don't do nuthin 'til I see it in writing.
CrankYank
Sweet Panda Love
Posted 9:08 AM 5/2/08
@Big John: Unemployment...what the fuck? You think the writers have been getting unemployment checks the past three months?
Sweet Panda Love
abbybetten
Posted 11:08 AM 5/2/08
I can't wait to file for unemployment the day the strike ends. That's right, Big John... we don't get EDD Cheese during the strike. And for B (okay, C)-list screenwriters like myself, it's going to take two or three months - maybe more - to get another writing job. It's not like the strike ends and gold coins start falling from the sky. Unless you're Paul Haggis. But then you have to give Scientology ten percent.
abbybetten
Cacafuego
Posted 11:08 AM 5/2/08
@Sweet Panda Love:
Some people really have no clue as to how strikes operate. Or what self-employed/under contract means.
Cacafuego
Double Banger
Posted 12:08 PM 5/2/08
Now that the studios have force majeured themselves some savings, they can afford the extra DVD royalty. See how everything works out in the end?
Double Banger
Miss d
Posted 12:08 PM 5/2/08
*hahahahah* Unemployment? - if you count raiding under every couch cushion, in every house & foyer you come across...
Miss d
gwendemarco
Posted 4:08 PM 5/2/08
So, does the DVD royalty cover BluRay cuz I hear that's going to be huuugge.
gwendemarco