Lionsgate and Marvel reach interim deals with WGA
Signaling the near-end to the 11 week writer’s strike plaguing Hollywood, news from film and television studio Lionsgate rang out today that it had reached an interim agreement enabling striking Hollywood writers to work on its projects. The company said in a statement:
“Lionsgate signed an interim agreement with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) today… The writers’ issue seems on its way to being solved and Lionsgate felt it was an important time, particularly in view of our TV series, to have our writer partners get back to work…. We look forward to a broad industry agreement soon.”
In addition, comic-book-hero movie company Marvel Studios, a unit of Marvel Entertainment Inc., and the Writer’s guild also said they had reached an agreement.
Today, the writers and producers resumed talks this week after a dead-lock and then a DGA agreement. The new talks are aimed at ending a nearly three-month strike that has stopped most prime-time television production, and some hope smaller deals put pressure on the big studios. The WGA has up until now reached interim deals with studios including United Artists, the film production house backed by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner, and The Weinstein Co., run by media-mogul brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein as well as interim deals with Spyglass Entertainment, MRC, Jackson Bites, Mandate Films, and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment
Reps for the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) went back to the table for informal talks this week for the first time since their contract talks collapsed on December 7
Upcoming Lionsgate films include “Rambo,” “The Eye” and “Saw 5,” while its television series include “Weeds,” “Mad Men” and a new show, “Fear Itself It is anticipated that the AMPTP’s recent labor pact with the DGA is expected to be a centerpiece of the informal talks with the WGA. The directors’ deal contains several key provisions to pay union members more for work distributed over the Internet, the biggest open issue remaining with the writers.
The WGA’s 10,500 writers went on strike against major film and TV studios on November 5, throwing the television industry into disarray, disrupting various film projects and casting a shadow over Hollywood’s awards season.
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