The votes have been tallied, and the results are in: the Writers’ Guild strike is officially history.
Though everyone pretty much knew the two-day voting period was a formality, the numbers are still pretty impressive: a full 92.5 percent of the 3,775 ballots cast were in favor of accepting the deal offered by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers last week.
Now that the writers have gone back to work, it’s time to cue up the inevitable conciliatory post-strike statements. Let’s hear from the AMPTP first:
“This is a day of relief and optimism for everyone in the entertainment industry. The strike has been extraordinarily difficult for all of us, but the hardest hit of all have been the many thousands of businesses, workers and families that are economically dependent on our industry. We hope now to focus our collective efforts on what this industry does best — writers, directors, actors, production crews, and entertainment companies working together to deliver great content to our worldwide audiences.”
Very gracious, gentlemen. And now for WGA West president Patric Verrone:
“The strike is over. Our membership has voted, and writers can go back to work. This was not a strike we wanted, but one we had to conduct in order to win jurisdiction and establish appropriate residuals for writing in new media and on the Internet. Those advances now give us a foothold in the digital age. Rather than being shut out of the future of content creation and delivery, writers will lead the way as TV migrates to the Internet and platforms for new media are developed.”
Strikes are rarely friendly, but this one grew particularly contentious as it dragged on — something CBS president Les Moonves now attributes to “some miscommunication early on,” expressing hope that going forward, the two sides will “not talk just once every three years, but maybe every month.”
So there you have it, film fans — Hollywood is one big happy family again, and everyone is getting back to work on new episodes of Lost and The Office, not to mention whipping that pesky Justice League of America script into shape. Now there’s just that matter of the Screen Actors Guild needing to negotiate a new deal in a few months…
Source: Variety
