It’s official – members of the Writers’ Guild of American are going back to work on Monday. The WGA heads on both coasts approved a new labor deal and, on Tuesday, the final agreement will go to a guild-wide vote. Given that the WGA bigwigs have accepted the current deal with the AMPTP, the vote is expected to be a slam dunk. Ten to twelve days after the vote goes down, it will all be official. Starting on Monday show runners will be allowed to head back to work and prep production for their series. It looks like the writers’ strike is officially over, folks.
“This is the best deal this guild has bargained for in 30 years,” said WGA member Patric Verrone. Although details of the writers’ three year deal is still unknown, it’s thought to be similar to the deal that the Directors’ Guild struck last month, but with improvements. What those improvements are is unclear, but the writers all seem very pleased with what they’ve accomplished. With the vote coming on Tuesday, it’s possible that writers will be allowed to return to writing as early was Wednesday. It appears that most of the writers who lost their jobs as a result of the strike will get hired back on to their respective shows, but it’s not a given.
This strike has probably gone on longer than it should have, but the casualty list is fairly low. There won’t be too many series that get in a full season at this point, but the word is that most established shows will find the time to produce anywhere from 5 to 10 more episodes. Shows that debuted last Fall are almost all going to wait until next Fall to go back into production, so fans of Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money will have to sit tight. One exception is Gossip Girl, which is expected to produce upwards of nine more episodes for the Spring.
-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: TV Guide, Hollywood Reporter
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
