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

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

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 (

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

This was written by WGA member and HuffPo journalist Robert Elisberg.

I’ve been asked to send in a few thoughts under the mighty UH Deadline. Though a disclaimer is not really necessary, you’re getting one anyway. This is on a cursory look at a summary, written under deadline. Not only might your mileage vary…mine might, as well.

Overall, I think there are some extremely good things in terms of

If you are currently renting a unit in this building on 350 W. Ash Street in the Little Italy district of downtown San Diego, please pay attention to the following...

the following units have already been served Notices of Default in late December of '07:

--Unit 604
--Unit 1001
--Unit 1205

The following units do not yet have NODs filed, but they are all owned by the same family as the units above:

--Unit 905
--Unit 1207
--Unit 1102
--Unit 901

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

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

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

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.

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

(From WGA Member Ed Decter.)

I was walking the picket line with a young television writer who worked on THE UNIT. He was explaining to me that David Mamet always asks three things about a scene:

1. What does each character want?
2. Why now?
3. What happens if they don't get it?

Since I don't have an MBA, CPA, JD or any other degree my father wanted me to get, the only way I can look at our current labor situation is through the eyes of a screenwriter. If I was writing a screenplay, let's call it "The Big Strike of 2007," and the two main characters were the WGA and the AMPTP, before I would start writing I might ask myself the three Mamet questions. When thinking about the WGA "character" things seem very clear:

What does the WGA want?

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 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 “

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Here's the text of the AMPTP's "Joint Statement" on the front of their website. As frustrated as we all have been with the congloms -- 41 days after they walked out -- this invitation is very significant.

Nowhere in the invitation does anyone mention preconditions or thresholds for these informal talks. There are no demands here that we take "distributor's gross" off the table, for example -

I had the privilege of speaking in December to students at Medfield (Mass.) High School, who had been assigned my book as part of an extended unit on the Constitution. The unit culminated in a "constitutional convention" conducted by each of the three classes taught by Richard Desorgher, who had, I think tellingly, won an award for being Massachusetts' "teacher of the year" in the 1990s. I find the conclusions of the classes to be of great interest. I am enthusiastic about some of the conclusions, less so about others. But the point is that these students were able to ask first-rate questions about the operation of our constitutional system and to come to their own conclusions. They represent reasons to have hope about the future, especially if they can be encouraged to carry their "active citizenship" into the future rather than become turned off from politics.

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

The one on the right is Kobe. Trustme, it makes sense. Sort of.
I don't know how to put this but I'm kind of a big deal. People know me. I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.

What am I talking about, you ask? Well, starting today -- and lasting until they pry it from my cold, dead hands -- I will be writing the NBA Closer column for Deadspin. (No, seriously, here's my first column.)

UPDATE: The Fremantle picket and rally on Friday will feature a performance by Tenacious D. Also scheduled to appear: Writer Boi. We are told more bookings will be announced.

Most Recent UH News

• Info on the Holiday Harvest Food Drive at picket sites
• E-mail from John Bowman on the current WGA proposals
• Financial details of the WGA proposals, analysis of the AMPTP's partial proposal

Just my 2 cents: we're in a very important moment in the strike. How we play out the end-game will color relationships for a long time afterwards. Reading the email traffic and the writer-bulletin boards, I have to admit, I'm concerned that people are feeling very emotional about the deal.

Personally, whenever I'm finalizing my own deal on a new project, I'm usually feeling pissed off that I