Tentative Deal Reached In Writers' Strike

Hollywood writers got their first look Saturday at details of a tentative agreement with studios that could put the strike-crippled entertainment industry back to work.

A summary of the proposed deal was posted on the Writers Guild of America's Web site hours before members were to attend meetings on the East and West Coasts to voice their opinions.

The writers planned to gather behind closed doors Saturday afternoon in New York and later in Los Angeles to consider the deal that guild leaders said "protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery."

Variety reports that the WGA West board of directors and the WGA East Council will meet Sunday to formally endorse the contract, with the possibility that writers could be back at work as early Monday.

If teh deal is accepted, this month's Oscars ceremony, which has been under the cloud of a union and actors boycott, would also be a winner.

CBS News correspondent Steve Futterman says the deal would give writers much of what they wanted, but not everything. Writers will get increased residuals (payments) for programs downloaded or streamed on the Internet, which was the key issue in this strike.

But there will still be a brief period of time - up to 24 days - of what's called a "promotional window" when programs can be shown online or downloaded without any payment.

The union leadership is hailing the deal, saying it protects the future, when Internet-delivered entertainment could inevitably claim an increasing, and perhaps even dominant, market share.

An outline of the three-year deal was reached in recent talks between media executives and the guild, with lawyers then drafting the contract language that was concluded Friday.

According to the guild's summary, the deal provides union jurisdiction over projects created for the Internet based on certain guidelines, sets compensation for streamed, ad-supported programs and increases residuals for downloaded movies and TV programs.

The writers deal is similar to one reached last month by the Directors Guild of America, including a provision that compensation for ad-supported streaming doesn't kick in until after a window of between 17 to 24 days deemed "promotional" by the studios.

Writers would get a maximum $1,200 flat fee for streamed programs in the deal's first two years and then get a percentage of a distributor's gross in year three - the last point an improvement on the directors deal, which remains at the flat payment rate.

"Much has been achieved, and while this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success," guild leaders Patric Verrone and Michael Winship said in an e-mailed message to members.

Verrone is president of the Writers Guild of America, West, while Winship heads the smaller Writers Guild of America, East, which together represent 12,000 members. About 10,000 have been affected by the strike.

The guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, have not publicly commented on the proposed contract because of a joint media blackout.

One observer said the guild gained ground in the deal but not as much as it wanted.

"It's a mixed deal but far better than the writers would have been able to get three months ago. The strike was a qualified success," said Jonathan Handel, an entertainment attorney with the TroyGould firm and a former associate counsel for the writers guild.

The walkout "paved the way for the directors to get a better deal than they would otherwise have gotten. That in turn became the foundation for further improvements the writers achieved," Handel said.

Michael Eisner, a former Walt Disney Co. chief executive, told CNBC the proposed deal was good enough to end the strike.

"It's impossible the writers will turn it down," said Eisner, whose successor at Disney, Robert Iger, was among the studio chiefs who helped shape the proposal with leaders of the writers guild.

Writers were wavering between hope and skepticism this weekend as they prepared to learn details of the deal for the first time.

"The feeling is relief and optimism and excitement," said Hilary Winston, a writer for the NBC sitcom "My Name Is Earl."

Still, she couldn't shake her lingering anxiety.

"I hope this deal made this three months worth it," she said.

Writer Erik Oleson, who watched a deal for a TV pilot fall apart during the strike, was reserving judgment.

"I'm not going to drink the Kool-Aid and accept a bad deal. I'd rather continue the strike," Oleson said. "We saw a press release but what matters is the fine print."

If members show strong support for the deal, the union could quickly lift its strike order, allowing dozens of TV shows to return to production and putting thousands of actors, crew members and others back to work.