Hollywood Directors Start Talks; Writers Watch

Hollywood directors start official contract talks with producers today, after several months of informal sessions, Variety reports. Insiders predict a speedy deal, as the Directors Guild of America doesn't usually start formal negotiations until most of the big issues are ironed out. Hopes are that a DGA agreement will provide a framework that will get striking writers back to the table and Hollywood back at work in time for the Academy Awards.

DGA President Michael Apted told members in a letter posted on Nikki Finke's strike blog, "We would not enter negotiations unless we were within shouting distance of an agreement on our two most important issues: jurisdiction for our members to work in new media and appropriate compensation for the reuse of our work on the Internet and other new media platforms." The directors' contract expires June 30. (More Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers stories.)