Austin’s own Rick Klaw sends this bulletin-y link from the NY Times. It’s the first shard of movement/evidence to suggest there might not be a strike.
Maybe.
Producers Back Off Altering Residuals
By MICHAEL CIEPLY
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 16 — Attempting to break a three-month impasse in contract negotiations with screenwriters, Hollywood producers withdrew a controversial proposal that would have retooled the entertainment industry’s decades-old practice of paying fees known as residuals for the re-use of movies and television programs on DVDs and elsewhere.
The proposal was withdrawn during a bargaining session this morning at the Encino, Calif., headquarters of the producers’ organization, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Representatives of the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East are considering their response to the withdrawal, according to a spokesman for the producers.
In a statement, J. Nicholas Counter III, president of the producers’ alliance, said: “We now expect the W.G.A. leadership to get down to the business at hand and do what it takes to reach a new labor agreement.”
End of snippet. The rest is right here. Let us see how the “business at hand” unfolds over the next few days.
