Directors Hope to Call 'Cut!' on Strike

Hollywood directors will likely begin contract negotiations with studios in early January, a move that will put added pressure on writers to resolve their strike, the AP reports. The directors' guild had held off for two months in deference to the writers, but the latest collapse of talks has changed things. "We can no longer abdicate our responsibility to our own members," said the directors' guild chief.

 Hollywood continues to hemorrhage jobs and money five weeks after the strike began, the AP notes. "Now the situation is dire," said Michael Apsted. The impasse "has cost the jobs of tens of thousands of entertainment industry workers," he said, and no end is in sight. (More Hollywood writers' strike stories.)