Hollywood Writers To Return To Negotiation Table November 26

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (November 17, 2007) — Hollywood film and TV writers who’ve been on a nearly two-week strike against studios will return to contract negotiations on Nov. 26, their union and producers said Friday.

In a joint statement, the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers said both sides had agreed to return to formal negotiations.

The statement said no other details would be released.

“That’s fabulous, that’s great,” said Sean Jablonski, a writer for the FX drama “Nip/Tuck.” “You can’t get a deal until two sides sit down and talk about it,” Jablonski said.

“It’s a good message to hear around the holidays,” he said.

John Aboud, a TV writer and a strike captain, said he hoped a return to talks would quickly lead to a contract.

“I’m delighted to see they’re starting to move forward and I hope we can wrap this thing up soon,” Aboud said.

It’s unclear what pushed both sides back to the table. The strike has been bruising and very public, with writers being joined by actors on picket lines and producers taking out full-page newspaper ads to tell their side of the story.

Since the strike began Nov. 5, late night talk shows and several sitcoms have gone to reruns. Other shows are counting down the number of episodes they have left before running out of scripts.

Industry analysts had thought there would be enough scripts to produce shows well into January. But many shows have gone off the air at a faster pace than expected, as cast members and show runners have refused to cross picket lines.

Compensation for shows offered on the Internet is at the heart of the dispute.

The producers have said it’s offering writers a share of licensing fees paid by Web sites to stream shows. The union has rejected the offer, saying the payments wouldn’t begin until six weeks after a show goes online and viewer interest is nearly exhausted.

Writers also want a cut of revenue from non-skippable ads contained in many shows streamed free online. The alliance slammed the door on that demand.

The last writers walkout in 1988 lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry $500 million. The entertainment industry contributes an estimated $30 billion a year to the Los Angeles economy, or about $80 million a day.

Meanwhile, the writers, who went on strike Nov. 5, would continue on the picket line, said Gregg Mitchell, a spokesman for the guild.

Some writers applauded the return to talks.

Pakistan rejects calls to end emergency

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan on Sunday rejected a blunt call from Washington’s No. 2 diplomat for President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to lift emergency rule and free political opponents ahead of elections.

“This is nothing new,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq told The Associated Press. “The U.S. has been saying this for many days. He has said that same thing. He has reiterated it.”

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte delivered the message that Musharraf must end emergency rule as soon as possible during a two-hour meeting Saturday with Musharraf and Pakistan’s deputy army commander, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani. The envoy’s visit was seen as a last best chance to ease the latest political turmoil in Pakistan.

Sadiq said the government was taking steps to hold free and fair elections, and any decision on lifting the emergency would “be taken according to the ground situation.”

Speaking during a news conference at the U.S. embassy earlier Sunday, Negroponte said he “urged the government to stop such actions, lift the state of emergency and release all political detainees” and that “Emergency rule is not compatible with free, fair and credible elections.”

It’s a view shared by opposition leaders, who insist that any vote held while thousands of opponents are in jail cannot be considered credible. They say most of those targeted in the emergency are pro-Western moderates, not the Islamic extremists Musharraf said he needed to combat.

The state of emergency came into effect Nov. 3, and since then, thousands of opponents have been jailed, Supreme Court judges purged and independent TV stations muffled.

Just ahead of Negroponte’s visit, Musharraf made some concessions — freeing opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and a leading human rights activist, and loosening his restrictions on several independent television news outlets.

Though measured in his comments, Negroponte expressed some impatience with Musharraf, saying he hoped to see more steps toward democracy soon. “There remain some other issues that are yet to be considered, or yet to be undertaken,” he said, without going into detail.

But despite Musharraf’s apparent intransigence, Negroponte would not characterize his trip as a failure. “In diplomacy, as you know, we don’t get instant replies when we have these kinds of dialogue,” he said. “I’m sure the president is seriously considering the exchange we had.”

Negroponte also praised Musharraf’s efforts in the war on terror, and said he was heartened by the announcement that elections would be held by Jan. 9.

“President Musharraf has been and continues to be a strong voice against extremism,” he said. “We value our partnership with the government of Pakistan under the leadership of President Musharraf.”

Going into Saturday’s meeting, senior Bush administration officials were clear on what they wanted: an end to the emergency, a date set for legislative elections in January, the release of opposition leaders and that Musharraf step down as army chief.

Kayani is widely expected to take over the powerful role of military chief when Musharraf sheds his uniform and starts his second term as president in the coming weeks.

Shortly after arriving in Pakistan, Negroponte phoned Bhutto, the highest-level U.S. contact with the Pakistani opposition leader since the emergency rule began.

In their discussion, Negroponte underscored Washington’s opposition to the emergency and its desire to see her and other opposition figures free to peacefully take part in Pakistani politics, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. The conversation came just hours after Bhutto was released from house arrest.

Bhutto and Musharraf had been negotiating a power-sharing arrangement, but talks apparently collapsed as the general moved against the opposition following his decision to suspend the constitution.

On Sunday, Negroponte urged the two to restart talks and ease “the atmosphere of brinkmanship and political confrontation.”

“If steps were taken by both sides to move back toward the kind of reconciliation discussions they were having recently, we think that would be very positive and could help improve the political environment,” he said.

Bhutto has in recent days made increasingly strident demands for Musharraf to resign, and has proposed the opposition form a unity front to serve as a transition government ahead of elections.

Musharraf has steadfastly refused. Instead, he’s expressed exasperation with the mounting Western pressure and has pressed ahead with plans for elections, swearing in an interim government Friday charged with preparing for the vote.

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