Ok, here we go again -- this is just a rumor, folks, but this time we do have confirmation from a couple of sources that seem reliable.

People close to the DGA negotiations are telling us and others that the deal is done, and will be announced in the very near future.

Once again, I want to stress this is a rumor. If it's true, the most important thing we can all do is stay calm and evaluate the

Nikki Finke, the journalist behind Hollywood must-read website Deadline Hollywood Daily, and Emmy-nominated actress Kim Delaney will be the special guests today, November 30th, on United Hollywood Live (12-1 PM Pacific/3-4 PM Eastern).

A large part of the show will deal with this week's negotiations and the latest AMPTP rollback offer.

Tune in by CLICKING HERE (or by using the widget located along the right hand side of UnitedHollywood.com). The show, which airs Monday, Wednesday and Friday, is also available as a podcast immediately after each broadcast via the widget.

STATUS: False.
Several people called and/or emailed under the assumption that because negotiations had resumed, all the showrunners were back on the job. I'm guessing the origin of this rumor was a post on Variety's Scribe Vibe blog from the 26th: Many of TV's top showrunners headed back to the office this week, resuming their non-writing chores (such as editing, supervising post production, etc.). One studio exec said "more than half" of his series' showrunners were back at work, both on the comedy and drama side.

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.

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

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.

If you've never been in a Hollywood development meeting, one of the most frustrating things for writers about such gatherings is often the lack of consensus amongst those giving the studio notes. With so many people involved - from the creative exec, to the director of development, to the VP to the Senior VP, to INSERT RANDOM PERSON HERE - each giving their opinion and input, they're rarely all on the same page.

But have the studios brought "development hell" to the current strike negotiations?

According to a showrunner who was briefed on the situation, there is real dissension in their ranks. Each of the corporations comprising the AMPTP has a labor lawyer in the room negotiating for them (not to be outdone, Time Warner has three!). Furthermore, some of the companies are willing to make a deal today and are getting more than a little pissed at those who are holding out.

The strike is over. The WGA contract has been ratified. SAG and AFTRA are now center stage and there is still a lot of work to do before the town gets back to normal. At this moment it's useful to look back at our own history. There are lessons to be learned about how the process can move forward even against what seems like overwhelming odds.

There are many who labored behind the scenes to support the writers' strike. At United Hollywood we worked with people who put their energy on the line but wanted to stay off the media's radar. Not content to just talk a good game, these are members and supporters who knew that if they wanted to make a difference, they had to work at it.

One group in particular came of age during the early part of the strike: the writer-directors. Nicknamed the WD-40, forty writer-directors met to search for ways they could help facilitate the negotiation.

From the beginning of the strike, most journalists accepted the AMPTP's lead and described the DGA and WGA as antagonistic to one another. Nicholas Counter was frequently quoted in the trades as preferring the DGA as a negotiating partner. The writer-directors objected to that characterization and felt that the AMPTP was doing what it always did in positioning the Guilds against one another to diminish each union's power.

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

On this Turkey Day, the writers of United Hollywood wish to extend our thanks to everyone across the world who has offered so much help, support and encouragement. We invite you all to watch "Speechless," a new campaign featuring dozens of actors who want to see creative talent get a fair deal. "Speechless" will run exclusively at Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily through the Thanksgiving weekend. Three new videos are scheduled each day. Read the full press release here.

And we hope you'll find this video from Tuesday's labor solidarity march as inspiring as we do.

In her story on the Worldwide Pants deal, Nikki Finke quotes an angry
feature writer who wants to go back to work now that a handful of TV
writers are going to get paid. I wanted to respond to his anger
because I believe this person is dead wrong in his objections to the
deal. Among other things, he claims that NBC/Uni's addition to the
GE balance sheet is a "rounding error."

As someone who

On Monday, February 11 from 2-6pm, United Hollywood and Strike Swag invite all members of the United Hollywood community to be photographed for a PR campaign to promote the new United Hollywood site.

The concept of the campaign is to show writers, actors, directors, crew, staff and fans standing united to meet the challenges of the digital present. That's right, the challenges of now.

Uh oh. Never trust the smile of a crocodile?

Alex Ben Block of Hollywood Today reports that the AMPTP's public gestures of reconciliation may mask a plan to derail negotiations and cancel Christmas.There are signs the writers unity is working – reports of dissention among the ranks of the AMPTP’s key members; a softer stance by management in PR and negotiations in the past few days; and comments suggesting that management proposals are flexible.

However, what I am hearing is that this could be another sucker punch for the writers, who think they have finally broken though into a new level of negotiations where the two sides talk things over instead of talking at each other.
...
In its public utterances, the AMPTP continues to use its indoor voice, no doubt fine tuned by a new PR team.
...

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

(We want to welcome SAG Member Justine Bateman as a regular contributor to United Hollywood. We hope to continue opening the site up to more voices from SAG and other unions. Justine reminds us that this fight belongs to all of us. We're all on the same page.)

Attention all SAG Actors:

I believe it's appropriate at this time to call all actors into action in support of the Writer's Guild on strike.
I know many of us have been walking the picket lines and attending the rallies, but I want to challenge ALL SAG members to see if they can commit an HOUR-A-DAY to walking the picket lines.
The AMPTP has been jerking the Writer's Guild around.
1. They offered nothing but insulting Roll-Backs to the WGA in the negotiations that caused the strike.

Something's very different on the picket line.

Since Thanksgiving, the energy on the picket lines has fallen off. One picketer was even seen reading a book while he walked the picket line.

It seems like only yesterday that we were chanting to stop trucks from crossing the picket line or "2-4-6-8, Why won't they negotiate." The turnout and the energy paid off. The AMPTP rejoined us at the negotiating table and that was great.

But now....we wait....in a news blackout.

Getting the agreement to restart the negotiations felt climactic, because so much energy had to be expended to get the AMPTP to do the right thing, but "restarting" the talks didn't mean "concluding" them.

United Hollywood Live (12pm Pacific/3pm Eastern) today will discuss the non-granting of waivers to awards shows like the Oscars and Golden Globes, the WGA meeting in Santa Monica Monday night and the City Council meeting this morning among other topics.

Tune in by CLICKING HERE (or by using the widget located along the right hand side of UnitedHollywood.com). The show, which airs Monday, Wednesday and Friday, is also available as a podcast immediately after each broadcast via the widget and on iTunes (search: United Hollywood).

Fans and WGA supporters are encouraged to become a part of the broadcast via live IM chats, video feeds and phone calls to the studio. They can also add the United Hollywood Live widget to their websites.

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

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.

Today, Tuesday, 11/20/07, Los Angeles will experience a labor rally in support of the WGA strike. Marching west on Hollywood Boulevard from Ivar and gathering in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater, thousands upon thousands will join together to celebrate the importance of labor unions in American life.

And how will you know about this momentous occasion? You'll have to be there.

At the last rally in front of Fox Studios, 4,000 writers and their supporters marched and rallied, but when you watched the evening news, you'd never know it . There was plenty of time that night to talk about lost kittens but nothing about the peaceful march that closed down Pico Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars.

Today's rally marks a crucial juncture: a mass demonstration of our strength before the negotiations restart.

The last day of official picketing ended with a high point at Fox.

Writers were joined on the picket line by many supporters. The honking at the Pico gate reached new decibel levels as crowds of picketers filled the sidewalk and waved their signs at the passing traffic.

The signs told the story: "WGA-DGA-SAG", "The House is Not Divided," "DGA-WGA Member," "Union Solidarity".

The appearance of so many SAG and DGA members made the point that even though the AMPTP spin machine works hard to create the impression that there is dissension between the unions and in the ranks of the WGA, the opposite is true.

Of course the strike has created tensions. How could it not?

There should be tensions when so much is at stake and so much has been sacrificed in the fight with the congloms. But our common interests outweigh that tension, and our solidarity is real.

Two articles in the New York Times today (11/16/07) put a personal perspective on the strike. Bill Carter's "Late Shows Move to Help The Workers Not on Strike" and Jennifer Steinhauer's "Writers' Strike Opens New Window on Hollywood".

Carter reports about efforts by Talk Show Hosts to keep their staffs paid, even if they can't be on the air. Steinhauer profiles the personal stories of writers, costumers, assistants, electricians, and thousands of others who are now or who will soon be out of work.

What these stories have in common is one underlying fact: the AMPTP won't sit down with the WGA.

Notwithstanding the AMPTP's full page ads, they'd rather spend their energy and money on avoiding talking to the writers and negotiating a fair deal. And why?

United Hollywood Live (12pm Pacific/3pm Eastern) will be joined by Robert J. Elisberg, whose excellent article on The Huffington Post questions why the AMPTP - made up of competitors - is allowed to negotiate as a single entity against the WGA. The show will also feature a live remote from the Trekkie Day rally at Paramount Studios where the writers of all Star Trek Incarnations will join us on the picket line.

United Hollywood has secretly obtained a transcript of one of the earlier negotiating sessions which illustrates just what the writers are facing at the bargaining table...

WGA: We'd like a whopping four pennies more on each DVD sold.
AMPTP: We're going to punch you in the face and take your dog.
WGA: We'd like to be compensated for our work that's distributed over the Internet.
AMPTP: We're going to punch you in the face and take your dog.
WGA: We don't think it's fair you're trying to have short-form content written non-guild.
AMPTP: Fine. We won't take your dog. That's off the table. After you shout from the rooftops and thank us, which proposal are you going to take off the table?

This piece was submitted by WGA member Ron Moore, creator of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica.

At this moment, informal talks are underway between representatives of the AMPTP and the leadership of the WGA. A news blackout is in effect and there will be precious little, if any, word leaking out from the talks and we’re all going to have to get by with rumor, speculation and the precious bits

col-lu-sion [kuh-loo-zhuhn]

secret agreement or cooperation between two or more parties for a fraudulent, illegal, or deceitful purpose

The New York Times reported that David Letterman is pursuing an interim agreement with the WGA that would allow his late-night talk show back on the air, even if the strike is still ongoing. As the Times article linked above states, "that could potentially put Mr. Letterman at an enormous advantage over most of his late-night colleagues."

WHY WE WRITE

Damon Lindelof
Steven Peterman
Marshal Gordon
Greg Berlanti
Carol Mendelsohn

AROUND THE WEB

Nikki Finke is NYO's Media Mensch of the Year
The New York Observer salutes Nikki for being an "online outlaw" and refusing to let the story of the WGA strike die.

F4W at the Rose Parade photoset
Shots of the Fans4Writers crew and the skywriting they arranged. Nice job, and thanks!

At 4 p.m. today, United Hollywood will take to the Internet "airwaves."

To tune in and listen, click here.