WGA and AMPTP to Resume Neogiations Nov. 26

The WGA and AMPTP will resume negotiations on Nov. 26 although the strike will continue through the talks.

Picketing will take place as planned Monday and a big writers march is planned for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday on Hollywood Boulevard. No strike activities will be held the rest of the week because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Pickets will reappear the same day negotiations resume. WGA West president Patric Verrone alerted guild members during the weekend that their picketing obligations remain in place.

"This announcement is a direct result of your efforts ... the hours you have spent on the picket lines, the days you've spent educating friends and colleagues, the boundless energy you've put into engaging with not only the Hollywood talent community but people all over the country and the world," Verrone said.

"We must remember that returning to the bargaining table is only a start," he added. "Our work is not done until we achieve a good contract, and that is by no means assured. Accordingly, what we achieve in negotiations will be a direct result of how successfully we can keep up our determination and resolve."

The resumption of talks in the face of continued picketing represents a concession by AMPTP president Nick Counter, who had said he wouldn't return to bargaining under such circumstances. There was no immediate AMPTP explanation for the move.
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The writers strike already has brought to a halt production of many TV series, including NBC's "The Office" and ABC's equally high-profile "Desperate Housewives." It has sent late-night talk shows into reruns, and the Los Angeles-based "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" has had to cancel plans to shoot in New York after a showdown with WGAE about its continuing production.

Movie development also has been hampered, including an end for now to work on Sony's "Angels & Demons," a prequel to "The Da Vinci Code."

The curtailed productions might have provided motivation for studio execs to resume negotiations, though some have suggested that show cuts actually translate into cost savings on some lots. On the labor side, there appeared a chance that early broad support among TV showrunners might waiver if negotiations didn't get back on track soon.

"The truth about the showrunners is that we all agreed to stay out for the first week of the strike, but once it became clear that the Teamsters were not going to honor our picket lines, the unity to stay out dissolved," a top showrunner said Sunday.

With the parties headed back to the table, attention will focus chiefly on the quarrelsome topic of new-media compensation. The writers want greatly expanded pay for content re-used or originated over the Internet and mobile platforms, with the studios arguing that their fledgling new-media businesses can't support overly generous residuals.