S T R I K E P O I N T S

Tony Gilroy explains why a fair contract for writers is more important to him than awards.

On the day the writer-director of "Michael Clayton" heard the announcement of his two Oscar nominations, one for each side of his hyphen, he joined Writers Guild East members and more than 40 winners of major literary and entertainment industry awards, all gathered to say that trophies are nice, but a fair deal and secure future are better.

The first outline of the deal has been released, and while we take time to review the numbers and their significance in terms of our pattern of demands, we should take a moment to

CONGRATULATE the DGA.

No artist or craftsperson gains anything by being sucked into the AMPTP's attempts to turn on one another, creating dust storms of petty bickering that cloud our ability to see the big picture.

That said, we must insure that any contract fulfills our obligation to fight for the welfare of professional writers now and in the future.

On first glance, the deal would seem to be a classic case of not as good as you hoped, not as bad as you feared.

A measured, dispassionate response, then, while we study the details.

In solidarity.

-StrikePoints

Letterman, UA and now The Weinstein Company...


THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY AND THE WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA
ANNOUNCE INDEPENDENT AGREEMENT


NEW YORK, NY and LOS ANGELES, CA – (January 11, 2008) – The Weinstein Company (TWC) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) announced today that they have signed a comprehensive independent agreement. While the details are not being disclosed, the deal addresses the issues important to writers, including New Media.

As a result of this agreement, Writers Guild members will now be able to work with The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films, the genre division under the TWC banner.

The following is a joint statement from Bob and Harvey Weinstein, co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company:

“We believe this strike must be resolved now, it’s that simple.”

“Each day more people are losing their jobs because of this strike and a trickle down effect is impacting the entire industry. There seems to be no end in sight and this should be a concern to all of us.”

“While we understand and respect both sides of this issue, this agreement is a catalyst in bringing both sides back to the table so real conversations can begin.”

“We should not forget that this time of year should be a time of celebration for our industry and it won't be until this strike is resolved.”

David Young, executive director of the Writers Guild of America, West and WGA chief negotiator, said: “The Guild is proud to move forward with The Weinstein Company and hopes that other studios will follow its example. The conglomerates walked away from bargaining and have refused to resume negotiations, but this shows we can sign deals that are fair for writers and the companies that employ them.”

The terms of the agreement are similar to the Guild’s recent deals with Worldwide Pants and United Artists.

(This can't have made the advertisers happy)


Ratings for People's Choice Awards sink

What happens to an awards show forced to scuttle its live ceremony because of the Hollywood writers strike? For the People's Choice Awards, it meant losing nearly half its TV audience.

The two-hour taped show that aired Tuesday on CBS was watched by 6 million viewers, compared with the 11.3 million that watched last year, according to Nielsen Media Research figures.

The weak ratings reflect the damage being exacted on the entertainment industry awards season by the two-month-old Writers Guild of America strike. The Golden Globes also canceled its ceremony Sunday on NBC, which instead plans to air a news conference to announce winners.

Representatives of the People's Choice Awards did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment Wednesday.

The writers guild refused to grant waivers for its members to work on the awards shows, and the Screen Actors Guild said its members would honor picket lines and refuse to take part — depriving the ceremonies of their all-important star power.

The People's Choice Awards replaced its traditional live show and with a taped format, hosted by Queen Latifah, that had its crews deliver trophies to music, film and television stars on location.

Winners included Johnny Depp of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and Katherine Heigl of "Grey's Anatomy."

The guild also has refused to grant a waiver for the premier awards ceremony, February's Academy Awards. Its producer has vowed to stage the show as planned.

Talks between the guild and the alliance representing producers broke off in December and have yet to resume, with production on dozens of TV shows and some movies brought to a standstill.

Or welcome us back -- after the first non-having-a-deadline holiday in quite some time.

Here's what you know: A deal with Letterman's company World Wide Pants for his show and Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Here's what you might know: Letterman's first show back (tonight) features WGA writers reading the Top Ten List (the Letterman writers, Stanglers et al, were and will continue to be among the most loyal, dedicated strikers on the line)!

And here are some new posts by our pal Robbie Baitz over at HuffPo.