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Update: WGA Meeting Set For Sunday

Update: A federal mediator in the WGA contract talks has summoned an emergency meeting set for Sunday at 10:00 am between the opposing sides. If this last-ditch effort doesn't succeed, the WGA will walk away and the strike will begin at 12:01 AM PT on Monday.  The first ones hit by the walk-out will be late night and primetime talk-shows. Late-night comedy shows such as NBC's The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Saturday Night Live as well as Comedy Central's The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report will go dark starting Monday as a result of the writers strike.

The networks and studios have been planning back-up plans if this WGA strike should happen sooner than expected. Some networks have planned to air the remainder of their scripted/filmed series in between repeats for the rest of the season. Others are expected to bring over their cable network programs to their primetime lineups such as Universal-NBC bringing over repeats of Battlestar Galactica, The 4400, Monk, etc to their NBC lineup. FX may bring over Niptuck, The Shield, Rescue Me programming to their network to air alongside 24 and Prison Break repeats.

When more information comes down the wires, I'll pass it along to you.

Yesterday's News: The negotiations have gone from bad-to-worse as the WGA's negotiating committee announced its unanimous strike recommendation before the SRO crowd at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Hours before the November 1st deadline, any hope of a settlement disintegrated when companies insisted that the WGA drop its demand to increase homevid residuals, including Internet downloads.

As numerous reports over the last two weeks have indicated, it was hoped that there would be no WGA walk-out until sometime down the road giving studios and networks a chance to flesh out the scripts for their series and recently announced movies. To get an idea on what movies and shows could be affected by any walk-out, click here. Needless to say, it will affect a great many films and shows currently in pre-production.

Here's the latest news direct from Variety:

The Writers Guild of America is going on strike as early as Monday.

In a lively meeting of 3,000 guild members Thursday night, the WGA's negotiating committee announced its unanimous strike recommendation, a pronouncement that generated an enthusiastic response from the SRO crowd at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The decision also is sure to cause ripple effects within the Directors Guild and the Screen Actors Guild as they negotiate their contracts within coming months.

A final decision on striking could come as early as today via meetings of the WGA West board and the WGA East Council. Leaders stressed throughout Thursday's meeting that they could not specify how soon a strike will start. Attendees were instructed that they should go to work today and wait for a call or email from strike captains.

But it's a foregone conclusion that the WGA panels will OK a strike and the consensus is that they'll probably select Monday as the starting day.

There's still a chance of re-launching the negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers over the weekend. But that scenario's doubtful , given the vitriolic rhetoric that's dominated in recent days.

AMPTP president Nick Counter, who has blasted the WGA as being strike-happy and unprofessional, issued a statement saying it was expecting the strike recommendation.

"By the WGA leadership's actions at the bargaining table, we are not surprised by tonight's recommendation," Counter said. "We are ready to meet and are prepared to close this contract this weekend."

WGA negotiating committee chair John Bowman told the audience that back-channel communications are taking place in hopes of salvaging the talks but did not indicate whether any more official negotiations have been scheduled.

Bowman also blasted the AMPTP for being unresponsive to the WGA's proposals, adding, "We've been negotiating with ourselves."

WGA West exec director David Young detailed the current state of bargaining, asserted that the guild has taken nearly half of its 26 original proposals off the table. He noted that the AMPTP has not yet submitted an economic proposal.

Young also went over the companies' proposal that programming delivered streaming video be considered "promotional" - under which writers would not be paid. That provoked an especially hostile reaction from the crowd.

WGA West president Patric Verrone prompted a standing ovation from the scribes when he asked all the strike captains to stand. SAG president Alan Rosenberg received a similar response when he pledged solidarity - though SAG's advised its members that they must cross picket lines if they're under contract to work.

"Stay strong," Rosenberg declared. "We're with you all the way."

SAG has been more closely aligned with the WGA during negotiations than any other union. The actors union is expected to launch contract talks next spring to replace their current deal, which expires June 30.

Hopes for a settlement cratered Wednesday night -- a few hours before the WGA contract expired -- amid bitter recriminations from both sides. The meltdown occurred when companies insisted that the WGA drop its demand to increase homevid residuals, including Internet downloads.

"Due to overriding business reasons, no further progress can be made because of the WGA's continuing efforts to substantially increase the DVD formula," Counter said Thursday in an earlier statement. "We are ready to meet at any time and remain committed to reaching a fair and reasonable deal that keeps the industry working, but the DVD issue is a roadblock to these negotiations."

The WGA accused the companies of being unresponsive toward a compromise package of proposals, including a concession on DVD. The WGA offered to keep the current DVD rate in place for discs with less than $1 million in sales, but is still asking to double residuals for any disc with over $1 million in wholesale revenues.

Scribes currently receive less than a nickel for each disc sold but studios and nets contend that DVD revenues are critical for film and TV projects to break even amid sharply rising costs.

To read further, click right here.