WGA Grants Waiver to Independent Film Awards

LOS ANGELES, December 21: Just a few days since announcing
its refusal to grant a waiver to the Golden Globe Awards, the Writers Guild of
America has said that it will allow its members to work for the Independent
Spirit Awards.

Set to air February 23 on IFC in the U.S., the awards
celebrate the year’s best independent films. Nominees for Best Feature this
year include Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Jason Reitnam’s Juno and Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park.

“Film Independent [the award’s organizers] came to us before
the strike, and the WGAW Board decided to grant an interim agreement allowing
for writing services for the Spirit Awards. The best way to get the awards
season back on track is for the AMPTP to return to the bargaining table to
negotiate a fair deal with the Writers Guild to get this town back to work.”

—By Mansha Daswani