State of the Unions

(Newser) - 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. More »

(Newser) - The Weinstein Company, a prominent Hollywood independent film company, has reached an interim agreement with the striking writer’s guild, the New York Times reports. The deal is supposedly similar to that reached by United Artists last week, and its particular terms are designed to be superseded by any deal eventually reached between the Writers Guild and movie and TV producers. More »

(Newser) - The writers' strike-canceled Golden Globes will hit designers and the fashion industry hard, reports the Wall Street Journal, citing design houses that rely on red carpet-strutters for priceless exposure that can reverberate for months and years. If a big star wears your dress, that's big money. "It's a crapshoot," says a consultant, "but the exposure can be worth millions of dollars." More »

(Newser) - After the threat of picketing writers shut down the Golden Globes, organizers of the Academy Awards know they're on thin ice, the Hollywood Reporte r writes. "Our hope is we can work something out or that the strike is resolved in time," Academy executive director Bruce Davis said of the planned Feb. 24 event, already behind schedule. More »

(Newser) - NBC and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association scuttled the Golden Globes today for a decidedly drab press conference, the Hollywood Reporter says. HFPA pressed NBC to let the gala run untelevised, to dissuade picketers and welcome stars, but NBC refused. "We are all very disappointed," the HFPA president said; the association will lose its $5 million licensing fee. More »

(Newser) - Striking scribes cut a deal with Tom Cruise's United Artists today, their first with a major studio since walking out in November, Variety reports. Terms were kept secret, but analysts say they likely match a deal struck with David Letterman's WorldWide Pants last week, including new media residuals. “United Artists has lived up to its name," WGA West president Patric Verrrone said. More »

(Newser) - The $150 million or so the Writers Guild's demands would cost over the next 3 years is chump change by studio standards, but the long-term stakes in the deadlocked 2-month-old strike are high, reports the Washington Post. It's now or never for the writers to seal their piece of the nascent digital programming pie. More »