US writers' strike officially ends

[Abigail]

The US writers' strike that has put television and film production on hold for more than three months has officially ended.

Writers Guild of America members voted nearly unanimously to halt the action after achieving a deal to give them "a foothold in the digital age".

The result - with nearly 3,500 for and 283 against the agreement - was announced yesterday evening Pacific Time, during the early hours of today GMT.

WGA West president Patric Verrone gave a press conference in Los Angeles to confirm the agreement.

"Our membership has voted and writers can go back to work," he announced. "This was not a strike we wanted but one we had to conduct in order to win jurisdiction and establish appropriate residuals for writing in new media and on the internet.

"Those advances now give us a foothold in the digital age. Rather than being shut out of the future of content creation and delivery, writers will lead the way as TV migrates to the internet and platforms for new media are developed."

Michael Winship, who leads WGA East, added: "The success of this strike is a significant achievement not only for ourselves but the entire creative community, now and in the future.

"The commitment and solidarity of our members made it happen and have been an inspiration not only to us but the entire organised labour movement. We will build on that energy and unity to make our two unions stronger than ever."

The Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation has estimated the action cost $733m in lost production spending and another $1.3bn indirectly.

The three-year deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers will now be formally ratified by WGA members in a postal vote.

[Chloe O'brien]

Yahoo :clap: All my favourite programmes will be back on. Come on Kiefer and Co get off your butt's and get back to kicking A$$

[Abigail]

Lost executive producer Carlton Cuse has said his team is ready to make episodes quickly to try to fit in five more this season.

Cuse said he was looking forward to returning after striking with the Writers Guild of America but that his team faced hard work.

They are aiming to make five more shows though the series will still be three short of the planned run.

He said: "We're going to have to hit the ground running, go from zero to 100 mph in a matter of days to make as many episodes as possible. We will have to condense some stories."

Cuse said the internet had enabled writers to keep up with the details of WGA negotiations. Of meetings on Saturday that appear to have hailed the end of the action he said: "It was incredible. It was so gratifying to see that at the end of the strike, we were still united as a guild despite all the talk that writers are hellbent ideologues who can't understand a complex deal."

[Abbie]

:cheer: Whooooooooo Finally, I'll have to go find out whats gonna happen with LOST :D And celebrate with them

[Abbie]

Lost executive producer Carlton Cuse has said his team is ready to make episodes quickly to try to fit in five more this season.

Cuse said he was looking forward to returning after striking with the Writers Guild of America but that his team faced hard work.

They are aiming to make five more shows though the series will still be three short of the planned run.

He said: "We're going to have to hit the ground running, go from zero to 100 mph in a matter of days to make as many episodes as possible. We will have to condense some stories."

Cuse said the internet had enabled writers to keep up with the details of WGA negotiations. Of meetings on Saturday that appear to have hailed the end of the action he said: "It was incredible. It was so gratifying to see that at the end of the strike, we were still united as a guild despite all the talk that writers are hellbent ideologues who can't understand a complex deal."

And as soon as I posted it and about Lost I saw this :hmm: I rather wait a bit then have the stories condensed

[Abbie]

Just found this, on what ended the strike:


Sunday, February 10, 2008
Members Email: Contract Update

This was just sent by WGA West President Patric Verrone to membership:

Dear Fellow Members,

I am are pleased to inform you that this morning the WGA Negotiating Committee unanimously and unconditionally recommended the terms of the proposed 2008 MBA to the WGAW Board and WGAE Council. The Board and Council then voted unanimously to recommend the contract, and to submit it to the joint membership of WGAW and WGAE for ratification. The ratification vote will take place over the next few weeks by mail ballot and at a special membership meeting. You will receive ballot materials and a notice of informational meetings during the next week.

There is, however, another issue to address: whether to lift the restraining order, and end the strike, during the ratification process. We are asking the members to decide this issue. A vote will take place on Tuesday, February 12, 2008.

A yes vote means you are voting to end the strike immediately; a no vote means you are voting to continue the strike during the ratification process.

Ballots can be cast at the Guild Theater from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm. If you aren’t able to cast a ballot in person, proxy ballots can be downloaded at http://www.wga.org/contract_07/proxy-2008.pdf and faxed. Proxy ballots and voting instructions are at wga.org. Until the votes are counted, we are still on strike. We will announce the vote count on Tuesday night.

There will be no picketing Monday or Tuesday: all pickets are suspended until the WGA membership votes to either end or continue the strike.

Thank you for your solidarity and support. We are all in this together.

Best,

Patric M. Verrone
President, WGAW

[Abbie]

Some Lost news on the result of the strike:


Lost: Carlton Cuse Says Season 4 Will Have, at Most, 13 Episodes
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Carlton Cuse has spoken. Cuse, the co-show runner of Lost with writing partner Damon Lindelof, talked to The Hollywood Reporter and announced their plans for the remainder of Lost's fourth season. Cuse and Lindelof are heading back into production with the hope of completing five more episodes. There are eight episodes finished, and five additional would take the season 4 total to thirteen, one less than previously reported on BuddyTV and elsewhere. Granted, this is Cuse and Lindelof's goal – it is possible that they won't get the five extra they're hoping for finished. But, in possibly bigger news, Cuse said that they will end season 4 how they originally planned, which means that the season 4 story arc will have to be condensed.

For a show like Lost, losing three episodes means losing a ton of room for story telling. Lost is plot-heavy and given how far in advance the series arc has to be planned out, condensing eight episodes worth of story into five episodes is going to be a tall task. As we've seen in the first two episodes of season 4, the plot has moved fast and furiously. This was the beauty of Lost's prescribed season 6 end date – the writers no longer had to stall.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Obviously, this is going to make those final five (or four, or three) season four episodes riveting television, but I worry how this might negatively effect the future of the series. I had assumed that Lost would attempt to make up their strike-sacrificed episodes in season five and/or season 6, but now that doesn't look to be the case. With Cuse proclaiming that the season 4 story will end as originally prescribed, I think we have to then assume that they have no intention of making up the lost (pun intended) episodes in the future. Selfishly, I don't want to be shorted three episodes of my favorite TV show