Directors set contract talks

They plan to begin bargaining with the media companies after the first of the year. That will certainly change the complexion of the writers impasse, most likely providing additional leverage to the networks and studios. If the directors manage to cut a quick deal, the Writers Guild will be under even more pressure to resume contract talks. Michael Apted, president of the directors’ guild, said the DGA would wait until January in order to give the writers and companies "one last chance to get back to the table." Here's more from the NYT:

The directors are being assisted by Kenneth Ziffren, an industry lawyer who is credited with having brokered an end to the five-month writers’ strike in 1988. And they come armed with independent research that could offer a fresh approach to compensation for the distribution of movies and shows over the Internet. The directors’ arrival on the scene is sure to send both the producers and the writers scrambling for advantage from the changed situation. Screenwriters may find support for their demands that companies raise their offers for new media compensation. Employers, meanwhile, may hope to strike a deal that will attract some in the writers’ guilds to advocate a settlement on similar terms.