Writers Won't Picket Grammys

Also, WGA Leaders Hold Informal Talks With Studios

(AP)  The striking writers guild said Tuesday it has decided against picketing the upcoming Grammy Awards.

The announcement followed news that guild officials held informal talks Tuesday with Hollywood studios that could lead to the resumption of negotiations, a person familiar with the bargaining strategy said.

The talks preceded an expected guild meeting later in the day that was to address the union's next step as it seeks a new contract, said the person who was not authorized to publicly comment and asked for anonymity.

Bargaining between the writers guild and the studios' trade group, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, broke down Dec. 7 after the alliance demanded the guild take a half-dozen issues off the table, including unionization of reality TV shows. The guild refused.

The informal talks held Tuesday were designed to lay the groundwork for a return to formal bargaining.

The approach mirrored a series of meetings held by the Directors Guild of America and studio heads before they reached a tentative three-year deal, announced last week after less than a week of formal negotiations.

The strike that started Nov. 5 has shut down production of most scripted TV shows, disrupted movie schedules and the Golden Globes ceremony and has put next month's Academy Awards at risk.

The informal writers-studio talks began on the day Oscar nominees were announced.

[DocD--2008]

With the *** they have been writing, they should all just be fired and the industry should start with fresh new people with no union.

You say what you are asking for is fair, but could care less about all the other people YOU put out of work for YOUR money grubbing hands.

If you do get your raise, I hope the grips and all others sue the *** out of you for their loss that you caused.

[nolalou]

yongamerical, you think writing for movies and TV is not a real job? Then you try it! You think those scrips just write themselves?

What the writers are asking for is very reasonable, a cut of money made from internet viewing of TV shows and movies.

[yongamerica]

The writers guild, like all of Hollywood is a ballon full of hot air. No substance, no more real than the latest film release.

Get a real job

[hypnotoad72]

I''d care only if I went into that industry. But they do not want anything new; they want dug up tv shows remade with maudlin drivel drama, made into a big screen movie, or so-called "reality" shows that are almost worse.

For once, living in the past isn''t so bad after all. Scary, huh?

[erasmus6]

Wouldn''t the writers be shocked if when they finally decided to get back to work they found out they no longer needed to because everyone decided there was better things to do than obsess over the t.v. and film industry and found better things to do?