Hollywood's film and TV writers and its major studios have agreed to return to the bargaining table, offering the first glimmer of hope that a deal to end a costly two-week strike could be within reach.
The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said late Friday that they would resume talks Nov. 26 on a new contract for 10,500 writers to replace the one that expired Oct. 31. The two sides announced the plan in identical statements, a rare show of unity.
"It's in everybody's best interest to get this thing over," one top studio executive said Friday. "There is a significant amount of work to be done but you can't resolve anything if you're not talking."
Union officials, however, said that resuming the negotiations didn't mean writers would call off their strike, including plans for a massive march along Hollywood Boulevard on Tuesday.
To keep the pressure on studios, guild officials said they intended to keep staging pickets and rallies in L.A. and New York until an agreement was reached.
Both sides have been under pressure to return to the bargaining table after talks broke down Nov. 4 amid disputes over how much writers should be paid when their work is distributed on new media such as the Internet.
Although it was unclear which side took the initiative to revive the talks, the decision was mutual, according to people close to the matter. The breakthrough came about as a result of back-channel talks between prominent television writers and senior executives, including News Corp. President Peter Chernin, Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger, Warner Bros. Entertainment Chairman Barry Meyer and CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves.
Clearing the way for talks to restart was a decision this week by Nick Counter, the studios' chief negotiator, to drop his demand that talks not occur as long as writers were on strike.
The strike was starting to cause economic pain.
At least two dozen TV shows have come to a grinding halt. The late-night shows, including "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," and "Late Show With David Letterman," went into repeats because those shows are topical and dependent on guild writers. A wave of prime-time comedies also shut down, including CBS' "Two and a Half Men" and NBC's "The Office," as well as such popular dramas as ABC's "Desperate Housewives."
