LOS ANGELES — In a letter sent to its membership late Tuesday night, the Writers Guild of America said it was ready to share with its members the details of its continuing discussions with the major Hollywood studios and television networks as a possible precursor to reaching a new contract and ending its three-month-long strike.

The WGA said it will hold general membership meetings on Saturday here and in New York to have a “full discussion” about the terms of the possible agreement and to solicit member input before the WGA boards take official action and vote on a potential new contract, the letter said. That means the strike will last at least through the rest of the week, but could be called off as soon as the guild’s leadership votes to authorize a new contract. That resolution could help move the television industry back into production and preserve the annual Academy Awards telecast on Feb. 24.

While the terms of the deal haven’t been publicly disclosed, people familiar with its structure say parts of the deal closely resemble the contract hammered out last month between the Directors Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates on behalf of the studios. A key sticking point between the WGA and the studios has involved how to compensate writers for use and re-use of their work on the Internet as well as union jurisdiction for writers who work on original content for the Internet. These people say those issues have largely been resolved in a manner that builds on the DGA deal but is tailored more towards specific concerns on the part of the writers union.

A spokesman for the AMPTP didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The screenwriters walked off the job on Nov. 5, four days after contract talks broke down. Renewed talks again fell apart a month later and since then, the entertainment industry has been largely paralyzed.

source:online.wsj