Strike Bulletin: The Directors Step In, The Globes Open Up

Friday afternoon brought a joint announcement from the the AMPTP and the Directors Guild of America that they will commence negotiations, an agreement based on some determined behind the scenes work, apparently including quiet preliminary sessions between News Corp second in command Peter Chernin and Disney president Robert Iger with DGA leaders Gil Cates and Jay Roth.

DGA President Michael Apted sent guild members a notice that read in part:

We would not enter negotiations with the AMPTP unless we were within shouting distance of an agreement on our two most important issues: jurisdiction for our members to work in new media and appropriate compensation for the reuse of our work on the Internet and other new media platforms.... I am very mindful of how many members are unemployed and believe that our reaching a deal will bring the industry closer to getting back to work. There are still hurdles to jump. However, we would not be going forward unless we believed we could make a good deal.

As is our practice, once we enter negotiations tomorrow, there will be a total news blackout on the talks.

As Variety assessed the move:

DGA talks have taken on heightened significance in the context of the 11-week-old writers strike. Perception in the biz is that DGA has become the de facto negotiator for the WGA given the lack of communication between WGA and AMPTP since the latter broke off the last round of talks with writers on Dec. 7.

With the actual end to the DGA's previous agreement coming, like SAG's, in late June, the writers and actors may feel a bit pre-empted; thus this late-in the-day joint announcement:

The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW), the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced today:

We wish the DGA well and hope that they achieve a fair deal that incorporates principles that will benefit all creative artists. The DGA has to do what is best for its membership, but it is important to remember that they do not represent actors and writers.

Seemingly linked to those negotiations starting up was a declaration by the , American Federation of Television & Radio Artists that it will put off next week's start of its contract negotiations so the companies, per their request, can concentrate on current negotiations. The deal was conditional on a start to AFTRA talks no later than February 19.

In the day's other major development, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association--apparently getting some leverage from an NBC news division that had little desire to step in for the network's entertainment side to cover the Globes announcements after no deal could be made with the WGA for a waiver--announced they would open the event to all media comers for live broadcast. Jeff Hermanson, assistant executive director of WGA, West and the guild's enforcer, said,

We're happy to give the HFPA assurances that we will not picket. Nor are we opposed to a small number of talent helping announce the winners. Look, the HFPA has been respectful and honest with us, unlike many of the other parties involved in this situation. They should have been permitted to hold an awards show without NBC intransigently insisting on televising it knowing that the telecast of an awards show produced by a struck company would develop in a picket line.

Finally, the Weinstein Company's Harvey Weinstein reached a waiver agreement with the WGA resembling that made by United Artists the previous week and allowing him to proceed with projects using guild writers. "We need to get people back to work," Weinstein told the New York Times. The deal may be a further precursor to guild deals with other significant production companies.