Writers Resume Negotiations with Studios

LOS ANGELES, November 19:
Although writers remain on strike, The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the
Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) will resume talks
on November 26.

No other details regarding
the return to the bargaining table were provided by either side, but, according
to The Hollywood Reporter,
dialogue between the two unions has been pushed along by Creative Artists
Agency partner Bryan Lourd, who held a meeting at his home on Friday with WGA
officials and studio executives.

WGA picketing continues
today and there is a large writers’ march scheduled for tomorrow on Hollywood
Boulevard. Picketing will also take place on November 26, the day the talks
will resume, and this represents a concession on behalf of the AMPTP, whose
president Nick Nick Counter had originally said the studios would not negotiate
if writers were picketing.

So far the strike has
caused several TV shows to halt production, including NBC’s The Office and ABC’s Desperate Housewives. Late-night talk shows have been forced to resort
to reruns and The Ellen DeGeneres
Show has had to cancel plans to
shoot shows in New York.

—By Anna Carugati