WGA Strike Vote Scheduled For Tuesday
Stage Is Set For Writers To Return To Work Wednesday
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 2/10/2008 11:02:00 AM
On Tuesday, Writers Guild of America members get to write a new script.
The WGA East Council and the WGA West Board both voted Sunday to recommend ratification of the proposed contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. For their part, WGA members get to cast their ballots on Feb. 12, with a yes vote effectively ending the strike that has shut down production in Hollywood and the TV communities since Nov. 5.
If WGA rank and filers vote to end the strike, they would be back at work Wednesday, two days after show-runners were to resume their non-writing duties and set the pendulum in motion to begin production on broadcast and cable shows.
In turn, the actual ratification vote, by membership of both the WGA East and West, would then occur over the next 10 days.
In a letter to membership Sunday, WGA West president Patric Verrone wrote: "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."
Verrone went on to further explain the voting process, by writing: "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."
The expectation is that WGA members will vote yes and put an end to the strike, now in its fourth month, that cut off broadcast shows in mid-season, intruded upon the pilot process and now leaves network executives with many decisions to make in the weeks. Broadcast leaders will have to elect whether to tack on more episodes for shows in the current campaign, which could be extended into June, or wait until the start of the 2008-09 season for other series to resume.
On the cable watch, production on series like Lifetime’s Army Wives and FX’s Rescue Me and Damages was delayed, perhaps undermining their network’s scheduling plans. Others series like FX’s The Riches and Dirt had their second seasons reduced to seven installments apiece.
However with writing and production expected to begin over the next month, the bulk of cable’s original series should not be impacted for their summer runs.
Any broadcast extension into summer, though, could provide heightened competition to cable, which has traditionally thrived during June, July and August, a span that has traditionally been sleepy for the older medium.
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I hate the WGA and all they stand for!
C Westbrook - 2/12/2008 9:10:00 AM EST
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