http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7236845.stm
Writers' leaders hail strike deal
Leaders of striking US film and TV writers have told their members they have reached a "tentative deal" which could end their three-month strike.
Writers Guild of America members are due to meet in New York and Los Angeles later to discuss the settlement.
"While this agreement is neither perfect or all that we deserve, our strike has been a success," guild members were told in an e-mail.
The strike centres on payment for work distributed on the internet.
The row over "residuals" has crippled film and TV production, left other industry workers out of jobs and led to the cancellation of last month's Golden Globe awards.
If members back the deal, the contract could be approved by guild leaders on Sunday and writers could be back at work on Monday.
A deal would also guarantee the Academy Awards ceremony will take place as planned on 24 February.
'We get paid'
Writers Guild of America West president Patric Verrone and his East Coast counterpart Michael Winship told their members it was "an agreement that protects a future in which the internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery".
"It creates formulas for revenue-based residuals in new media, provides access to deals and financial data to help us evaluate and enforce those formulas, and establishes the principle that, 'When they get paid, we get paid'."
The two men said the time had come to end the strike, citing the "enormous personal toll on our members and countless others".
The full agreement has been published on trade journal Variety's website.
Informal talks
Some 10,500 writers stopped work on 5 November, a few days after their old contract with studios ended. The deal comes a week after a breakthrough in informal talks between the guild and studio bosses.
The strike has said to have cost Los Angeles' film and TV industry at least $650m (£330m) in lost wages, with the wider economy losing over $1bn (£508m). If agreement is reached, studio executives said it would take about two months for new TV programmes to emerge.
Studios will have to decide which of the 65 affected series will come back, with hits House, CSI, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives likely to get priority.
Movies have been less severely affected because they have longer production times.
Two high profile productions, the Da Vinci Code prequel Angels and Demons and Johnny Depp's Shantaram, could be up and running quickly.
Writers' leaders hail strike deal
Leaders of striking US film and TV writers have told their members they have reached a "tentative deal" which could end their three-month strike.
Writers Guild of America members are due to meet in New York and Los Angeles later to discuss the settlement.
"While this agreement is neither perfect or all that we deserve, our strike has been a success," guild members were told in an e-mail.
The strike centres on payment for work distributed on the internet.
The row over "residuals" has crippled film and TV production, left other industry workers out of jobs and led to the cancellation of last month's Golden Globe awards.
If members back the deal, the contract could be approved by guild leaders on Sunday and writers could be back at work on Monday.
A deal would also guarantee the Academy Awards ceremony will take place as planned on 24 February.
'We get paid'
Writers Guild of America West president Patric Verrone and his East Coast counterpart Michael Winship told their members it was "an agreement that protects a future in which the internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery".
"It creates formulas for revenue-based residuals in new media, provides access to deals and financial data to help us evaluate and enforce those formulas, and establishes the principle that, 'When they get paid, we get paid'."
The two men said the time had come to end the strike, citing the "enormous personal toll on our members and countless others".
The full agreement has been published on trade journal Variety's website.
Informal talks
Some 10,500 writers stopped work on 5 November, a few days after their old contract with studios ended. The deal comes a week after a breakthrough in informal talks between the guild and studio bosses.
The strike has said to have cost Los Angeles' film and TV industry at least $650m (£330m) in lost wages, with the wider economy losing over $1bn (£508m). If agreement is reached, studio executives said it would take about two months for new TV programmes to emerge.
Studios will have to decide which of the 65 affected series will come back, with hits House, CSI, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives likely to get priority.
Movies have been less severely affected because they have longer production times.
Two high profile productions, the Da Vinci Code prequel Angels and Demons and Johnny Depp's Shantaram, could be up and running quickly.