Pens at the ready! It was announced Tuesday that the WGA voted to end the three-month-long strike that has crippled Hollywood.
According to E! Online, 92.5 percent of the Guild voted on Tuesday, with an overwhelming 3,492 saying yea and a mere 283 voting nay. The strike may be over, but the Guild members have not officially approved the new contract. Another vote will be taken as contract ratification ballots are mailed out this week. Guild members will then have until February 25 (the day after the Oscars ceremony) to vote.
The bottom line, however, is that the writers are back at work. WGA president Patric Verrone announced Tuesday,
"The strike is over. Our membership has voted, and writers can go back to work. 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."
Many writers returned to work Wednesday, but not all had jobs to return to. Sixty series were shut down during the strike, but not all of these will resume production. Pilots from this season that had not yet established themselves will most likely be axed.
In addition, according to the New York Times, about 70 development deals have been scrapped and won't be picked up any time soon. This means that writers in these deals were given healthy stipends to come up with shows, but those shows may never see the light of day.
The pilot season for this coming fall has been cut back substantially. A slim pilot season means hungry writers. Established writers will be looking for work now that these development deals are gone, and with the push towards more reality shows than scripted productions, the industry could get ugly fast.
The WGA considers the new contract a triumph, despite the cost. A New York Times article stated that the AMPTP estimates that the strike cost writers almost $300 million and had cost other below-the-line workers and members of other film unions almost $500 million.
With the new contract, Guild members will receive compensation for streaming Internet programming and the reuse of TV shows and movies to be streamed online. A summary of the new contract can be found here.
Though the contract ultimately establishes the "When they (the producers) make money, we (the writers) make money" precedent, the effects may not be seen for some time. In the long run, however, this contract provides the Guild with a starting point for future negotiations when perhaps more platforms for new media are available.
Stay tuned for news on when your favorite shows will be back on the air.