Directors Reach Accord With Hollywood Studios
After months of informal talks, Hollywood?s movie and television directors agreed Thursday afternoon to a new contract with production companies. The accord would appear to send a none-too-subtle message to striking screenwriters: This is not the time to get hung up on new media. The deal could also lead to a resolution of the labor dispute that has crippled the entertainment business for almost 11 weeks ? but only if writers, who walked out on Nov. 5, are willing to lower their own more aggressive demands, especially in the area of digital media. Robert A. Iger, the chief executive of the Walt Disney Company, and Peter Chernin, the president of the News Corporation, have offered to meet informally with leaders of the Writers Guild of America to discuss ways of using the this agreement to jump-start those dormant talks.
See "Directors Reach Accord With Hollywood Studios", Michael Cieply and Brooks Barnes, The New York Times, January 17, 2008