B4U India: Hollywood writers, studios resume contract talks Hollywood writers, studios resume contract talks ================================================================================ reuters india on 27 November, 2007 10:58:00 By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Striking screenwriters resumed contract talks with the major studios on Monday for the first time since trading pens for picket signs three weeks ago in the worst Hollywood labor dispute in two decades. Imposing a media blackout on negotiations for the first time since talks began in July, the parties returned to the bargaining table at about 10 a.m. at an undisclosed, neutral location in Los Angeles, a studio spokesman confirmed. Members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) also renewed picketing outside about nine studios around town after a five-day break in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. The renewed talks offered the biggest glimmer of hope yet for resolving the dispute, which has centered on the question of how much money film and TV writers should earn when their work is distributed via the Internet. The last major Hollywood strike, a 1988 walkout by the WGA, dragged on for 22 weeks and cost the entertainment industry at least $500 million. Economists have said that figure could double if today's strike lasts as long. "Both sides realized that unless they sit down and start talking to each other, this situation is going to get a lot worse," said longtime media lawyer Howard Fabrick, a veteran of numerous Hollywood labor talks. The parties reported making progress during their last 12-hour session three weeks ago and could probably clinch a deal with another week of serious bargaining, Fabrick said. But he cautioned that negotiators would need some time to regain that momentum. "When you have that cooling-off period, both sides rethink things that they've said and positions they've taken," he said. "It's not starting over again from scratch, but it's not starting off from where you left off, either." PREVIOUS PACT EXPIRED The writers' previous three-year contract with the major film and TV studios expired Nov. 1, and the WGA launched its strike four days later even as the two sides were still negotiating. When studio executives asked the writers to put their walkout on hold while negotiations continued, and union leaders refused, the producers left the bargaining table. The strike immediately threw the TV industry into disarray, as several late-night talk shows, including those hosted by Jay Leno and David Letterman, were forced into reruns. Work has since halted on dozens of prime-time comedies and dramas, idling hundreds of non-writing staffers. One industry expert estimated last week that 10,000 people directly employed on TV series could be jobless by month's end as projected losses in production spending on those shows reached $21 million a day. The movie industry also is feeling the squeeze, with studios postponing production on at least four feature films because striking writers were not available to finish work on their scripts in time. The WGA and the industry's bargaining arm, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, agreed to renew talks after coming under mounting pressure to seek a settlement, including back-channel discussions with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and some of the town's leading talent agents. A new survey of nearly 1,000 Daily Variety subscribers found public opinion heavily favoring the writers, with more than two-thirds of those polled saying the WGA presented its views more forcefully and clearly than the studios. But 44 percent of the survey respondents believed the strike ultimately would be settled "in favor of the companies," while just 20 percent felt the writers would come out on top. Thirty-seven percent thought it would be settled in a way that is "mostly fair" to both sides.