by dint of. Lynn Elber, Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Many in Hollywood are nurturing new hope that an end is near for the 3-month-old writers strike that has brought the entertainment diligence to a standstill.
But they’re stopping well short of giddy optimism, even as informal talks between Writers Guild of America and studio executives enter their second week.
“I’m like everyone else. I’m hopeful,” writer Devon Shepherd, whose credits include Weeds and Everybody Hates Chris, said Tuesday
“We’re all just hoping that with time exceeding, cooler heads will prevail and people are because the bigger picture. The longer we stay out, it’s not only hurting us but hurting the industry,” he said.
The tone also was cautiously upbeat at Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards, where stars gathered after the writers fraternity said it would not picket.
“Every single day, everybody is making a emission,” said Big Love fate Jeanne Tripplehorn. “I think we’re all other hopeful than in the past.”
Jenna Fischer, star of the The Office, echoed that prospect on the red carpet.
“It feels hopeful for the primeval time,” Fischer said.
Away from the spotlight, however, uncertainty remained over what the guild and studio heads might achieve in the talks that began after a six-week negotiations impasse. The talks are the subject of a media blackout.
Optimists and pessimists need to moderate their attitudes, said a person familiar with the talks who was not authorized to publicly comment and requested anonymity.
The two sides are making progress on key issues involving compensation for projects distributed on the Internet, but hard work remains to be done, the person said.
The guild’s board of directors gathered Tuesday to discuss the status of the talks under the jurisdiction union again with studio executives.
The primary corporate representatives have been Peter Chernin, chief operating officer of News Corp., and Robert Iger, chief charged with execution of The Walt Disney Co.
The talks began after the Directors Guild of America reached its own deal with studios this month and studio moguls urged the writers to join the informal sessions.
Compensation for work offered on the Internet in like manner was a key issue during the directors talks and also is expected to be critical when the Screen Actors Guild begins negotiations. Its contract with studios expires in June.
The upbeat thinking about possible progress in the writers talks is being driven by more than the desire to get thousands of people back to work in New York and Los Angeles and stem losses estimated at $1 billion or more.
The film industry has a fervent desire to see the Feb. 24 Academy Awards, its biggest promotional showcase, staged in full-blown glory, without the threat of pickets.
The guild has thus far refused to confer a waiver that would take the Oscars off the list of struck shows and approve writers to participate.
Waivers have been granted to the upcoming Grammys and NAACP Image Awards.
The guild’s refusal to gain a deal with the Golden Globes, and a decision by stars to honor the strike and boycott the awards, decimated that ceremony.
“There’s no day, other than the Super Bowl, that’s bigger for American advertisers and therefore for American networks than the Oscars,” said Jonathan Handel, an entertainment industry attorney and former associate counsel for the writers guild.
“Both the studios and networks have an enormous amount riding on a successful Oscarcast,” he said.
In another development, CBS News staffers who are members of the writers guild have overwhelmingly ratified a new contract with the network.
The contract covers 500 employees who work in New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Chicago, in both TV and radio.
The deal provides raises of 3.5% once a year plus a $3,700 contract bonus. The contract, competent immediately, runs through April 1, 2010.
The staffers had been working under an expired contract for nearly three years.
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