Show Contract outlined in writers' writers strick Richard Verrier Vernier Los Angeles T Times mes Striking writers and major studios have reached the broad outlines es of a new employment contract resolving key sticking b points over how much writers should be paid for work distributed over the Internet people familiar with the negotiations said Saturday A final contract could be presented to the Writers Guild of Americas America's board as early as Friday according to three people close to the talks who asked the not to be identified because negotiations are confidential The old month strike is expected to come to an end once the board approves the contract The tentative deal came talks about after two weeks of that culminated in a marathon bargaining session Friday that was attended by News Corp President Chief Peter Chernin Chemin Walt Disney Bob Iger and Writers Guild of America negotiators David Young Patric Patrie M. M Verrone and John Bowman Progress had been made in previous meetings on payment for work sold online but Fridays Friday's session saw a breakthrough in the most contentious issue compensation n for the free streaming of films and TV programs over over the Internet Representatives of the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers which represents the studios declined to comment citing a amedia amedia amedia media blackout Attorneys from the studios and the guild were meeting over the weekend to discuss contract language for the proposed agreement which would need to tobe tobe tobe be ratified by the unions union's members Some issues have yet to be resolved including defining what qualifies as promotion on the i Internet The debate hinges on onI I l whether the networks should be able to use unlimited video clips of I TV programs on the Web without compensating the writers The writers and the studios faced rising pressures to find away a away away way to end Hollywoods Hollywood's costliest strike in two decades Concluding the strike would allow thousands of workers who lost their jobs when television production shutdown shutdown shut shutdown down to return to work It also would allow broadcast networks to salvage the upcoming television season Production of pilots f for forthe forthe r the fall TV season is scheduled to begin this month An end to the strike al also o would assure that Hollywoods Hollywood's most glamorous party the Feb 24 Academy Awards would air on ABC as scheduled Last months month's Golden Globes were scaled back after writers and many actors refused to cross the picket line The Oscars would have faced similar protests Writers' Writers Strike Continued on AS k i TM U vi r rt op t 1 i t a Nr tr f or e Washington ton Post photo by Richard A. A Lips Lips' and Mark l at Malibu l State Creek Park near Malibu left lei MASH l fans Brian Rooney one that sat at the cen center 0 of f r the Mobile Army A S Surgical 1 modeled modeled od ta on on Calif carry a sign signpost post television series senes for 11 n seasons Hospital compound on the 1 1 oJ Writers' Writers Strike ending Continued from A 1 The writers who began begar their strike Nov 5 fear being shortchanged as the studios rush rust to distribute their TV shows and anc and movies on the Web cell phones video and other devices The payments they receive when their material is reused known as residuals help writers weather the business' business feast and cycles Studios confronted with witt rising marketing and production costs and flattening DVD DVE revenue have been reluctant t to commit to the guilds guild's new medic pay demands when the economic economics of the Internet and other digital technologies are uncertain The latest round o of negotiations began two week ago after fter directors negotiate negotiated their own accord with studios In Hollywood the first unior to reach a contract often se set I X I l 1 I the template for the other talent unions in a process known as pattern bargaining The tentative writers' writers agreement is loosely modeled on the directors' directors pact which doubles residual payments for films and TV shows sold online secures the unions union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Internet above certain budgets and establishes payments for shows that are streamed on advertising- advertising supported Web sites A number of top screenwriters and TV writer-producers writer known as in recent weeks had lobbied to use the DG deal as template for their own owr agreement eager to put the town back to work The deal however stirred a debate among guile guild members Many complained that tha the directors' directors contract offered offeree tha that residuals on shows l meager were streamed on advertising advertising- I supported Web sites Another criticism was that the dea deal t limited the unions union's jurisdiction over shows created for the Web at ata ata ata a time when online entertainment is burgeoning That complaint was echoed this past week by the Screen Actors Guild whose leaders publicly disparaged the contract On Friday however studios offered some key concessions Those included more favorable pay terms for streaming than those offered the directors Studios also offered separated rights provisions for shows created for the Web ensuring for example that writers would receive extra compensation and credit for online shows that spawn TV pilots two people close to the talks said Writers also made some important concessions earlier when they dropped demands to unionize work on animated movies and reality TV shows both of which had been viewed as starters non-starters by the studios I C J J r s j |