Writers Could Resume Talks Next Week!

According to a report on YAHOO the writers are heading back to the negotiating table with the studios.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080119/ap_en_tv/hollywood_labor_talks

Striking Hollywood writers could begin informal talks with studio chiefs as early as next week in an effort to end a two-month walkout that has hobbled the entertainment industry, according to a person familiar with the bargaining strategy of the writers union. Word of the possible break in the stalemate came Friday, a day after the Directors Guild of America announced a tentative contract deal, and studio heads urged the Writers Guild of America to join in talks that could lead to the resumption of formal negotiations that broke off Dec. 7.

In its tentative deal with producers, the Directors Guild resolved new-media compensation issues that are also central to the Writers Guild dispute, including compensation for movie and TV projects delivered over the Internet. In a joint statement Thursday, top executives from eight major companies, including Fox, Paramount Pictures, The Walt Disney Co., CBS Corp., Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros., MGM and NBC Universal called on the Writers Guild to join in the kind of informal talks that preceded the directors' negotiations.