The strike is officially over. On Tuesday, members of the Writers Guild of America voted to officially end their three-month-old strike, which began on Nov. 5; 92.5 percent of all votes cast were in favor of terminating the walkout, and writers are expected to return to work on Wednesday. Members will next vote by mail and at membership meetings on Feb. 25 to ratify their tentative three-year contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
“Our membership has voted, and writers can go back to work,” WGA West president Patric Verrone announced at a Beverly Hills press conference. “This was not a strike we wanted, but one we had to conduct in order to win jurisdiction and establish appropriate residuals for writing in new media and on the Internet. Those advances now give us a foothold in the digital age. Rather than being shut out of the future of content creation and delivery, writers will lead the way as TV migrates to the Internet and platforms for new media are developed.”
A joint statement signed by the Hollywood CEOs was also released. “This is a day of relief and optimism for everyone in the entertainment industry,” it said. “We can now all get back to work, with the assurance that we have concluded two groundbreaking labor agreements — with our directors and writers — that establish a partnership through which our business can grow and prosper in the new digital age.”
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