This was just sent by WGA West President Patric Verrone to membership:

Dear Fellow Members,

I am are pleased to inform you that this morning the WGA Negotiating Committee unanimously and unconditionally recommended the terms of the proposed 2008 MBA to the WGAW Board and WGAE Council. The Board and Council then voted unanimously to recommend the contract, and to submit it to the joint

2008 MBA RATIFICATION — MEMBER INFORMATIONAL MEETING

All WGAW members who have questions about the tentative contract are encouraged to attend a special informational meeting where senior staff and elected officials will review the deal terms and address members’ questions and concerns. The meeting will take place on Thursday, February 21, 7 pm - 9 pm at Sportsman’s Lodge, 12825 Ventura Blvd,

The WGA Negotiating Committee, on behalf of the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), today issued the following statement regarding Contract 2007 negotiations:

“The Writers Guilds met today with the AMPTP and discussed issues of jurisdiction for original content for the Internet, Reality TV, Animation, and Basic Cable. The talks also were focused on contract enforcement. For the last two days, we have had substantive discussions of the issues important to writers, the first time this has occurred in this negotiation. However, we are still waiting for the AMPTP to respond to all of our proposals, including Internet streaming of theatrical and television product and digital downloads. Bargaining resumes tomorrow at 10 a.m.”

LOS ANGELES – The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) have issued the following statement regarding Contract 2007 negotiations:

“The Writers Guild has reached a binding independent agreement today with Worldwide Pants that will allow Late Night with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to return to the air with their full

In recent days, a spirited response to the WGA contract, purportedly by WGA member and science fiction legend Harlan Ellison, has been making its way around the Internet. In a phone conversation this morning, Mr. Ellison confirmed he wrote it. "Yes, I got a little angry," he chuckled. "A friend said, 'If Ellison wants to convince people, he should speak more kindly. You catch more flies with

Last week, Wall Street firm Bear Stearns issued a report stating that even if the Writers Guild got every single provision it has been asking for in a new contract, the impact on the conglomerates' bottom line would be "negligible." It's encouraging to see Wall Street saying what we've known all along: that the WGA's proposals are fair, reasonable and affordable. (They don't even keep up with

For clarity -- and because not everyone could get to one of the meetings last night in NY or LA -- here's a handy little FAQ for some of the questions we're hearing.

What's the 48 hour vote for again?

It's a vote on whether or not to lift the strike (which in the Constitution is called "the restraining order".) If the vote passes, writers can go back to work.

It's not a vote on the contract,

This email was just sent to strike captains. It contains info on the NegCom vote, the Board and Council votes, the pending vote to lift the strike, and the pending vote to ratify the contract.

DEAR STRIKE CAPTAINS,

This morning, the WGA Negotiating Committee unanimously and unconditionally recommended the terms of the proposed 2008 MBA to the WGAW Board and WGAE Council. The Board and Council

Emotions are flying fast and furious around this issue: do we hold a ratification vote before we lift the strike? Or do we go back to work as quickly as Monday, and hold the vote afterwards?

To get our position up here as quickly and accurately as possible, we decided to do separate grafs signed by each of us, and combine them into one post.

We're all coming at this from different perspectives

From the emails we are receiving, there is no point in the proposed contract more controversial than the provision on ad-supported streaming. The two emails below were originally submitted to us unsolicited, but we have posted them together because they form such a useful point/counterpoint argument on this issue. See you in the comments! -JA

ONLINE STREAMING TERMS: PROStatement by Christopher

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

This is reprinted from the LA TIMES. If you're interested in seeing John Ridley's original Op-Ed piece defending his position, it's here. If you'd like to see Craig Mazin's brief aside on Ridley's choice, go here. Personally, I'd just like to add one thing that people never quite seem to grok about going fi-core -- it means you can't vote on any contract (or anything political within the Guild)

We're working on analysis now, as is the WGA and pretty much everyone else in town. Here's the DGA's statement:

DGA AND AMPTP REACH TENTATIVE AGREEMENT
ON TERMS OF NEW CONTRACT

DGA Gains Solid Wage Increases with No Rollbacks Plus Precedent-Setting Jurisdiction Over New-Media and a Doubling of EST Residuals Rate

LOS ANGELES – The Directors Guild of America (DGA) announced today that it has

(Breaking news from the WGA - the AMPTP has agreed to come back to the table on November 26th. Now, let's hope they are prepared to make a fair deal. This is progress. Everyone wants to go back to work. Everyone wants fair compensation for their work.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 16, 2007

The Mets and Minnesota Twins have come to a tentative trade for All-Star pitcher Johan Santana. He goes to the Mets for outfielder Carlos Gomez, and pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey.

The deal is subject to Santana passing a physical, and the Mets have 72 hours to sign him to a contract extension. Santana is also expected to waive his no-trade clause if the contract is hammered out. He is looking for a seven-year deal, around $20 million per year. I'm sure that a deal will get done by the deadline.

This is very good news. The Mets get the ace starting pitcher they need, the Red Sox keep their blue chip prospects, and the Yankees don't get their tentacles around Santana.

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,

The Mets and Johan Santana reached an agreement tonight on a six-year extension to his current contract, so after he takes a physical tomorrow, he will officially become a member of the New York Mets, and his trade from the Twins goes into effect.

The deadline for getting a deal from the Mets was extended two hours tonight, and Santana personally came in on the negotiations. The deal he reached with the Mets is he will get a six-year extension to his current contract, worth $137.5 million, along with a seven million dollar signing bonus to his 2008 salary. The total of the seven years comes out to just over $150.7 million. He will average about $22 million per year over the life of the contract.

The Mets also gave him six guaranteed years, something the Mets were reluctant to do. This will also make Santana the highest paid pitcher ever.

The balance of power has just shifted in the National League, and this should make the Mets the odds on favorite to win the 2008 National League pennant.

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

We already posted our thoughts on Michael Cieply's dramatic New York Times narrative of how WGA contract negotiations got over an impasse. Now, David Blum has written a very amusing piece in the New York Press parodying Cieply's breathless style... about Michael Cieply.

With the strike now over, there is a lot of talk about "winners and losers," most of which is premature. But pieces like

The following letter was sent to Charles Slocum of the Guild west and Mona Mangan of the Guild east.

Dear Chuck, Mona and all WGA colleagues,

The Writers' Guild of Great Britain Executive Council met today (Monday) and members were delighted that a deal is being recommended and the strike is likely to end within the next few days.

We salute the WGA, east and west, on the unity and discipline

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

This was submitted by WGA member Marc Guggenheim.

It’s déja vu all over again in Hollywood.

On October 31, 2007, the day the WGA’s contract with the studios was set to expire, the AMPTP issued the following statement to the WGA:We’ve been working hard to come up with a package in response to your last proposal. But we keep running up against the DVD issue. The companies believe that movement is possible on other issues, but they cannot make any movement when confronted with your continuing efforts to increase the DVD formula, including the formula for electronic sell-through.

This Modest Proposal was submitted by Andy Reaser. -JA

Last week, the studios proposed a residual fee of $250 for the unlimited
reuse of our content online for one year. Let's just assume for a moment
that such a low fee is fair. If that's really all the studios should pay to
reuse our content, then I think we should encourage advertisers to demand
something similar: $250 for the unlimited reuse of a time slot.

Under the current system, when an advertiser, Budweiser say, buys a
timeslot, they only get to play their expensive commercial ONE TIME. That
doesn't seem fair, does it? Wouldn't it make more sense for Budweiser to buy
a thirty second slot during Sunday night primetime, and then for a fee of
$250 get to use that timeslot over and over for the rest of the year?

I know such an arrangement would be untraditional. It would cripple the

Even during my blogging mini-hiatus, I'm heartened to see that - according to my friends at Google Analytics at least - regular readers are still sticking around and popping back from time to time. Which is lovely.

Sorry it's been so quiet. I have two big pieces of news to share in the coming week or two that for reasons that will become apparent I'm unable to discuss now, but they both are contributing to the PFF downtime.

Normal service will be resumed very shortly. Thanks for sticking around. I look forward to boring you all again very soon ;-p

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

This is excerpted from the email that Warners strike captain Brian Hartt sent to other captains this week, with permission. Brian is an Emmy-nominated writer who coordinates all of the Warners picket teams, as well as being the showrunner on Mind of Mencia who helped get 4 West Coast and 2 East Coast shows on Comedy Central covered by the WGA contract . His tireless work and dedication are inspiring.

As I'm sure you all know, the AMPTP walked away from the table Friday.

You all should have, by now, gotten John Bowman's response to the "nice try" press release by the company's lap dog. Let me stress something that John mentioned - their press release came out minutes after they walked away.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 26, 2008

Writers Guild Members Overwhelmingly Ratify New Contract

For the last few days, many of us have been feeling that the AMPTP was getting ready to "sucker punch" us. The hiring of an attack dog PR firm (known as the "Masters of Disaster") made it pretty obvious that the congloms didn't intend to settle, and they planned on making things ugly.

Well, the other shoe sure dropped on that one.