We've had the phones ringing off the hook today, with people telling us they've heard that "a deal is imminent" and "both sides have agreed to the deal points." This rumor has picked up so much steam in such a short time that it's a little scary.

We're in a news blackout. So we can't get confirmation or denial from the WGA. But here's what we do know: last time we all got excited about a rumor

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....

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

As Deadline Hollywood reports, the DGA announced today that formal negotiations are commencing with the AMPTP beginning tomorrow (yes, that's Saturday.)

You can see Patric Verrone's comments below; as he states and as he's said many times before, we all hope the DGA makes a deal that will get the town back to work. However, if the deal they make doesn't address the needs of writers, the WGA is

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

So, what does the DGA deal potentially mean for writers? Depends on which email you read first in your inbox. Jonathan Tasini of Working Life (published by Labor Research Association, a New York City-based labor advocacy organization) examines the specifics of the deal point by point.

He states "there are some good things here but also some areas of concern." Three of those areas of concern are

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

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 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.

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 (

Could tomorrow be the final mass picket of the strike? One way to help make that a reality is to show up at what could be the final mass picket of the strike!

Send a signal to the companies: If you want to make sure no last-minute legalistic monkey business derails the progress toward a fair and reasonable WGA deal, take a few laps around Disney tomorrow. We even made you a map.

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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

Monday, we reported that rumors were swirling claiming the DGA had made a deal with the AMPTP. While admittedly unconfirmed, the whispers were coming from so many corners, we felt we had to at least tell folks what we were hearing.

But stop the presses (or at least don't hit the blog "Publish" button just yet).

Based on off-the-record information from two credible sources we contacted in order

This was sent early this morning to membership. The delay in publishing the deal points, we've learned, was because the companies dragged their feet enshrining some of the final details in an attempt to renege on some of what they had promised. The last-minute fight to keep that from happening took until late last night.

To Our Fellow Members,

We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement

RUMOR: WGA members are starting to hire "freelance picketers" to do their strike duty.
STATUS: Unconfirmed

Universal strike captain Jan Kimbrough noticed this Craig's List posting on Day Four:Reply to: gigs-473080663@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-11-08, 3:15PM PST

I can't make it to my picket tomorrow and I need somebody to take my place. I want to go see friends in San Diego while I have time off work, and I'll pay somebody $40 to cover my four-hour shift. My strike "captain" doesn't care as long as there are people out there. I'll give you my shirt and signs and all that crap.

If this works out on Friday then let's do it next week too. I'd really rather not have to deal with it.

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

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

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

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

RUMOR: A group of "A-list" writers is holding a meeting this weekend to formulate strategy on how to "force" the WGA to accept whatever deal the DGA signs with the AMPTP.
STATUS: Confusion reigns!

United Hollywood has been in touch with both WGA insiders and Nikki Finke today regarding the truth here. Some UH contributors are now convinced that the group is very real, numbers approximately

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

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.

The following was submitted by SAG board member and regular U.H. contributor Justine Bateman.

Remember how at the beginning of the WGA's negotiations, the CEOs made a threat about getting rid of residuals? Well, by my reading, the DGA deal does that for TV.

Are you ready to trade an entire year's worth of TV residuals for a one-time fee of $1,200?

Currently, writers and directors both make

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.

Think you know how to get the AMPTP back to the negotiating table? Want to teach Nick Counter and the rest of the AMPTP how to make a fair deal and end the strike? Okay, here's your chance.

UnitedHollywood is challenging you to shoot a video showing us how you would get the AMPTP to make a fair deal. Videos can be up to four minutes long with one condition, you must use the phrase “fighting

Howard A. Rodman is a member of the WGA Board and founder of the Guild's independent film writers committee. Two films he wrote, SAVAGE GRACE and AUGUST, will have their US premieres at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

10. The AMPTP says that we're too crazy, too ideological, too amateurish to make a deal, and this lets us say, oh yeah?

9. The Networks That Are Not CBS will be hard put to

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

Statement from Chief Negotiator David Young and the WGA Negotiating Committee.

We have attempted to negotiate with the AMPTP companies since July. First they ignored our opening proposals. Then they told us we had to choose between their two horrible proposals. Then we removed DVDs from the table. Their response was to walk out of negotiations and tell the press that we were the ones who walked. Last week they presented us with another set of ultimatums. They didn’t even wait for a reply but broke off negotiations and walked out again.

There is a strategy at work here.

In any negotiation there are bottom line goals and “fringe” goals. The AMPTP wants to make the WGA reduce our demands to the bottom line so we’ll negotiate down from an acceptable deal to a bad deal If we do this, as we did with DVDs, you can be sure they would not hand us the deal we want. They would simply try to further wear us down.