While it's flattering that the New York Times would try to bestow such importance on Ms. Kalogridis and -- ahem -- "her friends," Michael Cieply's breathless account misses something obvious. A strike does not come to a possible (repeat, "possible") ending thanks to one person or even one website, no matter how awesome the website. The outcome of a strike is determined by the strikers. By the

United Hollywood extends its congratulations to all the winners of last night's SAG Awards and thanks all those who supported the WGA during their remarks.

- Read the official SAG press release about last night's ceremony.
- Coverage from the New York Times and from David Carr, aka "The Carpetbagger."
- A photo gallery from the LA Times.

And don't forget to stop by the SAG/WGA Unity rally at

(The following is an excerpt from Michael Russnow's Huffington Post piece. For the full article click here.)

I like George Clooney and I like Tom Hanks. Who doesn't? From their screen personas to their amiable chats with David Letterman. They seem like nice guys and appear committed to good works and deeds, from Clooney's work on behalf of Sudanese refugees to Hanks' paying homage to our military veterans.

However, I'm concerned about their outspoken efforts to head off a SAG strike. Not because it would obviously be preferable to avoid a work stoppage so soon after the three and a half-month WGA industrial action, but because what they appear to be doing works against the very potential for which the Screen Actors Guild was originally created.

It's all well and good to make statements of a general kind regarding the need for the conflicting parties (the AMPTP and SAG) to be bargaining at the negotiating table, but the methods these well-intentioned actors have employed seem to be of a hurrying design that, by their very nature, take the air out of the balloon of solidarity and play right into the hands of the AMPTP.

This media advisory was just sent out by the WGA:

The Writers Guild of America will hold a press conference today, Sunday, Feb. 10, 12 Noon PST, at WGAW headquarters to update the media on important developments related to contract negotiations between the WGA and the AMPTP companies.

Scheduled to appear: WGAW President Patric M. Verrone, WGAE President Michael Winship (available via phone line

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.

As this is written, the WGA and AMPTP are still under a news blackout regarding the ongoing informal negotiations.

However, the NY Times just reported that "major roadblocks" have been gotten past in the negotiations, and progress will be swifter in the negotiations going forward -- with an eye toward an agreement in principle coming out of negotiations fairly soon.

UH has confirmed from

The AMPTP walked away on Friday. The WGA never left the table.

The Guild has made itself crystal clear: Specific proposals have been detailed, compromises have been made, the leadership continues to be engaged in a constructive dialogue to quickly resolve the strike. The AMPTP is as clear about its position: You can't talk to writers because they're emotional and don't understand business.

With the AMPTP away from the table, the negotiation is playing out in the press. If you read Dave McNary in Variety today, there's only one answer to the impasse: the WGA has to accept the companies' demands and get back to work. The companies are too powerful, with their deep pockets and experienced PR resources. The writers' are too emotional, which is great when they're writing screenplays, but not good when you're engaged in a difficult labor negotiation.

Former WGAw board member Michael Russnow has been covering the strike on his personal site and recently began blogging "The Writers Strike for Dummies" on the Huffington Post. In his most recent entry, Russnow discusses the importance of setting precedents for compensation on the Web. We believed the AMPTP when they cajoled us to accept the cable deal in 1981 with the understanding that when they

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.

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

The reactions to the DGA deal and the resumption of the WGA-AMPTP negotiations have been coming fast and furiously. For a survey of the wide range of opinions, we've posted links at the end of this entry.

Personally, I've written about the need for WGA members to remain strategic in their thinking. Now I'm struck by another realization. When the strike is over, all of us in the industry will,

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's New York Times story about the arraignment of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed concludes with this sentence:
"C.I.A. officials have said that Mr. Mohammed was one of three detainees who were subjected to the simulated-drowning technique known as waterboarding during interrogation, which is described by some as torture."I look forward to Times stories about the earth, "which is described by some as round and as revolving around the sun."

[UPDATE: My colleague David Luban is quite right to note, in addition -- and perhaps more importantly -- that there's nothing "simulated" about the drowning. It's all-too-real drowning. It simply is not permitted to last until death.]

Below is an essay written by WGA negotiating committee member Howard Michael Gould.

In the interest of full disclosure: I am fairly certain that I coined the term "dirty thirty." -JA

ON UNITY, DEMONOLOGY, AND THE LEGEND OF THE DIRTY THIRTY

by Howard Michael Gould

We have in the Guild our own demonology, mostly rooted in the fractious Eighties, with its legacies of the Union Blues, the hated

(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

December 16, 2007

Dear Writers Guild of America Members,

I am writing to you on behalf of 120,000 proud members of Screen Actors Guild who stand with you in solidarity as your strike continues. We believe that now more than ever, we must remain strong and even more committed to achieving our common objectives. We are proud to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with you and SAG will be there for as long as it takes.

Your fight is our fight. Our National Executive Director Doug Allen and I are working around the clock with Patric Verrone and David Young to coordinate our strike support efforts. I'm sure you have seen some of the thousands of Screen Actors Guild members who've been walking the picket lines in Los Angeles, New York and around the country for the last six weeks.

Robert J. Elisberg, WGA Member and contributor to The Huffington Post, wrote a piece excerpted here called, "WGA Strike Primer: Settling a Final Debt."

It's not officially over yet, of course. There still is the matter of approving the contract. It's a 10-day process, a blink by strike standards, but long enough. Arguments of all views will be made, we do know that -- these are writers after all

I was spending time catching up on some of my favorite blogs today and I realized that I hadn't posted my summary of books that I read in October.

• A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini - (5/5)(Finished 10-2-07)
• The Total Money Makeover - Dave Ramsey - (5/5)(Finished 10-11-07)
• The Omnivore’s Dilemma - Michael Pollan - (4.5/5)(Finished 10-28-07)

It wasn't a great month for quantity but it was a terrific month for quality. I hope to improve the amount I am able to read in November but if I am only able to read three books then I hope they are winners! ;)

In the coming days, we'll be running pieces on the proposed contract.

We'll include our own takes on what's good and bad, the official "pro" and "con" statements that will be issued by the Guild, and -- we hope -- op-ed pieces submitted to us here by readers.

Feel free to submit your analyses of the deal points and your opinions about the contract to unitedhollywood@gmail.com. We won't be able

The New York Daily News had its Top 10 sports stories of the year in their paper today. Most, but not all of the stories, had a New York slant to them as you'd expect. Here is their list:

1. The Mitchell Report
2. Torre's Farewell
3. Bonds' Record, and Record?
4. Mets Fall Apart
5. A-Rod Being A-Rod
6. Debacle On 33rd Street (Knicks)
7. Bad Newz for NFL (Michael Vick)
8. Bye-bye, I-Man
9. They're Not Done Yet (Yankees comeback)
10. News Catches Ankiel

This was sent out today by the WGA:

LOS ANGELES and NEW YORK – The membership of the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) today voted overwhelmingly in favor of lifting the restraining order and ending their 100-day strike that began on Nov. 5. 3,775 writers turned out in Los Angeles and New York to cast ballots or fax in proxies, with 92.5% voting

During the 2007 season, I saw a guy at Professor Thom's one night that made me do a double take. He was wearing a David Ortiz jersey, and the resemblance he bore to the Red Sox slugger was simply scary.

His name is Chris Johnson, a native of Massachusetts who currently lives in the New York area. I remember saying to my friends, "Hey, David Ortiz is here!" I got to meet Chris, and he's just like Big Papi, even personality-wise. He's a big, hulking guy with a broad smile and very outgoing personality. Just a sweetheart of a guy.

I saw Chris many times during the season, and he always greeted me with a wide smile. It was fun watching a game with him, especially when Ortiz did something big. I remember Papi hit a mammoth home run one night, and it seemed like most people in the bar looked at him and "thanked" him for the home run. All Chris could do was smile and say "you're welcome" or "it was my pleasure."

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

For those of you who missed this news, here is the announcement from Friday about bargaining with individual companies. Since the AMPTP has so many competing agendas and can't reach consensus, perhaps its individual members will consider their own self-interest and negotiate their own deals.

A Message to the WGA Membership from its Negotiating Committee

Gosh, I don't know. Do you?

I've been asked many times if the strike is going to end this week. Nikki Finke posted a very optimistic report from an insider yesterday morning, and that has set off a wave of enthusiasm. "Fire up the margarita machine!" you say.

Well, not so fast. First of all, it's November, and who drinks margaritas in November?

Michael Winship, president of Writers Guild of America East, sent this message to East members today.

Fellow Members of the Writers Guild of America, East:

A very Happy New Year to you all. In spite of our current turmoil, I hope you’ve been able to find some time to enjoy and appreciate the holiday season with friends and loved ones.

I hit the wall the Friday before Christmas, momentarily

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23

THE DAILY SHOW WRITERS V. THE COLBERT SHOW WRITERS
will have a mock debate showdown on why America should care about the Writers' Strike. Moderated by DEE DEE MYERS (former Clinton press sec and West Wing consultant.)

THIS IS A NATIONAL EVENT HOSTED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESSS
who are eager to hear our side of the issues.

FOLLOWING THE DEBATE MICHAEL WINSHIP WGA east

This is the second piece (and sequel to the first) by WGA strike captain Alfredo Barrios, a former corporate attorney turned writer.

I was asked to comment on the DGA deal. I decided to wait a few days. Like most of you, I was waiting for more information about the deal than a broad sketch in a press release.

In the meantime, it's my understanding that a small group of self-described “