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Hollywood writers vote to end union strike

A devastating, 100-day walkout that brought the entertainment industry to a standstill ended when Hollywood writers voted to lift their union's strike order and return to work yesterday.

The move allows some TV series to return this spring with a handful of new episodes. It also clears the way for the Academy Awards to be staged on Feb. 24 without the threat of pickets or a boycott by actors that would have dulled the glamour of Hollywood's signature celebration.

"At the end of the day, everybody won. It was a fair deal and one that the companies can live with, and it recognizes the large contribution that writers have made to the industry," Leslie Moonves, chief executive officer of CBS Corp said on Tuesday.

Moonves was among the media executives who helped broker a deal after negotiations between the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, collapsed in acrimony in December.

Residuals for TV shows and movies distributed online was the most contentious issue in the dispute involving the 12,000-member union and the world's largest media companies and other producers.

Under a tentative contract approved on Sunday by the union's board of directors, writers would get a maximum flat fee of about US$1,200 for streamed programs in the deal's first two years and then get 2 percent of a distributor's gross in year three -- a key union demand.

Other provisions include increased residual payments for downloaded movies and television programs.

"These advances now give us a foothold in the digital age," said Patric Verrone, president of the West Coast guild. "Rather than being shut out of the future of content creation and delivery, writers will lead the way as television migrates to the Internet."

Writers who voted on Tuesday in New York and Beverly Hills, California, were overwhelmingly in favor of ending the strike: 3,492 voted yes, with only 283 voting to stay off the job.

Most writers were happy about the outcome and eager to return to work.

"It will be all hands on deck for the writing staff," said Chris Mundy, co-executive producer of CBS' drama Criminal Minds.

He hopes to get a couple of scripts in the pipeline right away, with about seven episodes airing by the end of May.

Not all shows will get back on the air. Networks might not resume production of low-rated programs that have a questionable future.

The strike took a US$3.2 billion toll in direct and indirect costs on the economy of Los Angeles County.
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