The end is nigh by Zuzana Zelenakova

People working in film industry have a reason to cheer up finally. It seems the end of the Hollywood writers strike that started on November 5, 2007 is near. The Writers Guild of America have been striking against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, key issues being DVD residuals and compensation for the distribution of the films and TV shows through the Internet. So far the strike have cost the industry $1 billion in lost earnings. Only for the area of Los Angeles it is estimated $650 million in wages. On February 2, 2008 a significant progress in the talks has been reported and it is possible that by the end of the week the contract proposal may be announced. If the union leaders will approve of the contract presented to them it might be the end of three-months-old clash. "They reached agreement on the major terms, and now it is a question of reducing it to (contract) language, which we're all hoping goes well and continues in the same spirit of progress that the talks have experienced so far," said the anonymous source. These recent media reports have definitely pleased Hollywood, where thousands of people are currently unemployed because of the strike, from actors to directors, make-up artists or set designers. The evening of Oscar nominees in Beverly Hills had been marked by positive and confident statements from stars and studio executives. "it looks very good," actor George Clooney said. "There's a lot of strike fatigue out there."

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080205/en_nm/screenwriters_strike_dc;_ylt=ApW5NJ82GFoOaRUC59VF0Xus0NUE

by Zuzana Zelenakova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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