This was sent to membership Friday night, asking for patience as the WGA assesses the deal and moves foward with the AMPTP:

To Our Fellow Members,

As you know, the Directors Guild announced yesterday that it has reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP. We are waiting for the full terms of the deal to be made available so that we can carefully analyze and evaluate the language and numbers.

This was sent today by WGA Presidents Patric Verrone and Michael Winship to membership:

To Our Fellow Members,

While fully mindful of the continuing media blackout, we write you to address the rumors and reports that undoubtedly you have been hearing.

The facts: we are still in talks and do not yet have a contract. When and if a tentative agreement is reached, the first thing we will do is

This letter was just sent out to SAG members by Doug Allen (Executive Director and Chief Negotiator) and Allen Rosenberg (President). Emphases in red are from us at UH -- LK.

Dear SAG Member:

Everyone hopes the WGA strike will end with a fair deal for the writers. There has been much speculation about the impact on the WGA strike of the tentative agreement between the Directors Guild of America

This was sent to WGA members today, explaining some of the reasoning behind the Worldwide Pants deal.

To Our Fellow Members,

We are writing to let you know that have reached a contract with David Letterman's Worldwide Pants production company that puts his show and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson back on the air with Guild writers. This agreement is a positive step forward in our effort

SAG Board member and regular U.H. contributor Justine Bateman sends this open letter to all WGA members. -JA

To the WGA membership,

As you prepare to examine the proposed deal points and assemble for your meeting tonight, if the decision is made to continue striking, I will see you on the lines Monday. If you decide to recommend the deal to the membership at large for a vote and it is ratified,

This was sent today to WGA members from Presidents Verrone and Winship:

To Our Fellow Members:

On Tuesday, members of the Writers Guilds East and West voted by a 92.5% margin to lift the restraining order that was invoked on November 5th. The strike is over.

Writing can resume immediately. If you were employed when the strike began, you should plan to report to work on Wednesday. If you're not

We've learned that a conference call took place this afternoon, with the heads of all the Hollywood agencies, to go through the DGA deal summary point by point.

Among other things that happened on that call was a unanimous feeling that the DGA deal was one they all felt was a good one, considering how entrenched the AMPTP has been up until now. Some aspects of the deal are even surprising (

We've taken down our earlier post comparing the economic values of the DGA deal summary vs. the WGA proposal.

The document we were linking to was an internal working paper, and the figures were premature. Since the comprehensive version of the DGA deal is still not available, final figures can't yet be accurately calculated. We don't feel that it's productive to the discussion to post until

The Weinstein Co. said today it is close to reaching a deal with the WGA. Company officials said they expected the interim agreement to be signed by the end of the today, Thursday.

If the deal is finalized, it would mark the second independent studio deal the WGA has reached thus far during the strike. Monday, the WGA made a separate agreement with United Artists.

More when (if) this becomes

Variety is announcing that the DGA has reached a deal with the AMPTP. We at UH haven't yet gotten a copy of this deal yet, but as soon as we do, we'll be bringing you any information we have on what the terms are.

Stay tuned, we'll have more soon....

We're trying to get our hands on the deal document, which will be much more detailed than the DGA's official deal summary. There may be exceptions and special provisions (like the 100,000 unit breakpoint for television downloads and the 50,000 unit breakpoint for feature film downloads) that need to be examined more carefully. For example, in speaking about distributor's gross, the deal summary

The following was submitted by WGA member and long-time "Simpsons" writer Mike Scully. -JA

To My Fellow WGA Members,

Opinions regarding how writers should react to the DGA/AMPTP agreement seem to fall into two camps: “It’s a good deal! Take it!” or “It’s a terrible deal! Reject it!” I believe there are also many writers who fall into the “Undecided” category, so at the risk of showing off

The following letter was written by Carlton Cuse and sent today to members of the WGA. His candor and honesty are deeply appreciated by all of us here at UH. The AMPTP is counting on us becoming more divided as time goes on. But we believe the opposite will happen -- is happening, right now. We are staying strong.

To my fellow WGA Members,

I want to clear up any misunderstanding about where I stand.

On November 16 I, regretably, was quoted by a Wall Street Journal reporter saying I was going to perform some of my non-writing, post-production duties on episodes of LOST to protect the show for the fans. However, I'm sure to the delight of the AMPTP, my statement became the story and gave the false impression that there was disunity among showrunners over the issues of this negotiation.

Patric Verrone and Michael Winship just sent this message to the membership. The WGA is determined to stay at the table until we have a deal. If the AMPTP wants to negotiate in good faith, and end the strike, we are at the table.

Dear Fellow Members,

Before we head into negotiations this morning, we want to give you an update on where we stand.

Before we begin, here's a caveat: WE ARE NOT LAWYERS. WE ARE NOT BUSINESS AFFAIRS EXECS. WE ARE NOT PROFESSIONAL NEGOTIATORS.

We're a group of volunteer WGA strike captains, and we're posting our reactions to the DGA deal summary that was released today. These are our thoughts alone. They are not official, they don't reflect the WGA's opinion, and frankly, they will probably include a few

Here's the press release that just went out:

THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY AND THE WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA ANNOUNCE INDEPENDENT AGREEMENT

NEW YORK, NY and LOS ANGELES, CA – (January 11, 2008) – The Weinstein Company (TWC) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) announced today that they have signed a comprehensive independent agreement. While the details are not being disclosed, the deal addresses the

The other shoe has dropped. The DGA concluded their deal with the AMPTP. The congloms will spin their settlement with the DGA as proof that they are willing to close a deal quickly when their negotiating partners are reasonable business people. But we know that's just their high-priced PR consultants speaking. They didn't work out a deal with the WGA because they weren't willing to treat

(The following was just sent to the membership from WGAw president, Patric Verrone and WGAe president, Michael Winship.)

To Our Fellow Members,

We have responded favorably to the invitation from the AMPTP to enter into informal talks that will help establish a reasonable basis for returning to negotiations. During this period, we have agreed to a complete news blackout. We are grateful for this

Nikki Finke and the New York Post are reporting that the WGA is close to finalizing a deal with United Artists which would allow its members to work on projects for the studio. This would mark the first major movie studio to come to terms with the Guild.

The agreement with Tom Cruise's and Paula Wagner's UA, a division of MGM, is said to be similar to the on the WGA made with David Letterman's

To My Fellow Members,

This afternoon, the Directors Guild announced that it would commence formal negotiations with the AMPTP tomorrow. In a joint press release with the Screen Actors Guild, the Writers Guilds, West and East, wished the DGA well and offered our hope that they achieve a fair deal that incorporates principles that will benefits all creative artists. We further stated that, while

The following letter was sent out earlier today by the WGA east and west. We'd have brought it to you sooner, but SOMEONE called us a "spam blog." Nice timing, huh? Anyway. -JA

To Our Fellow Members,

For our first joint communication of 2008, we are pleased to report very good news. This morning, United Artists signed an independent agreement. This company, now co-owned by Paula Wagner and

Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper is reporting that UA wasted no time and has a tentative deal with Paul Haggis to co-write an adaptation of the Ranger's Apprentice series of young-adult adventure novels.

This was sent in an email to strike captains:Informal talks between WGA negotiators and reps for the other side will commence this week. WGA leadership has been studying the Executive Summary of the DGA's Temporary Agreement to determine which parts of their deal might form a framework for our own negotiations with the Companies. While nothing formal has been proposed, and the DGA's full

It's just been announced that the WGA has made a deal with David Letterman’s company, Worldwide Pants. This is part of the larger strategy of making deals with individual companies within the AMPTP.

There are strong feelings about this on both sides – people who think we should have done the deal, people who think we shouldn’t have. Here’s why I think the WGA made the right choice:

Some

This is still a rumor, but it's definitely gaining steam -- word is spreading that the DGA has finalized a deal with the congloms, and will announce the deal tomorrow.

We don't know what the terms of the deal will be, if indeed it does exist. We're not going to speculate because, if it's true, we'll find out the specifics soon enough.

But we over at UH will make one suggestion: everyone stay

(The following is a letter from the presidents.)

To Our Fellow Members:

Today, it is our pleasure to inform you that members of the Writers Guilds of America, East and West, have voted to ratify the MBA contract with 93.6% approval. With a total of 4,060 votes cast, the tally was 3,802 to 258. These numbers reaffirm the tremendous level of support and commitment our membership has continuously demonstrated over these last few crucial months.

We are also pleased to report that the trustees of our health fund voted yesterday to follow the recommendation in our strike settlement agreement to provide additional coverage and an extension of the earnings cycle for a full quarter (three months) to participants who would otherwise lose health coverage following an earnings cycle that included all or a portion of the strike period. Participants whose health coverage is paid for by points will only be charged points if they have ten or more points as of April 1, 2008.

The DGA deal looks great. At least that is what everyone in the press is saying. And the writers better be grateful and take it... or else.

The “or else’ part has been well reported. Even before the DGA came to an agreement with the studios, we were hearing about the ramifications of not taking their deal. It would be catastrophic. It would split the WGA. I read it again in the trades Friday

This was submitted by Phil Alden Robinson, writer-director-producer, and member of both the WGA and the DGA.

While we anxiously await the results of the "informal talks", I've been doing some hard thinking about the DGA deal. There's quite a bit in there to be pleased with - deal points that should serve us well in the future, and that never would have been achieved without our strike. But there