WGA STRIKE UPDATE: WGA Signs Side Deal with United Artists

Writers Can Work for Studio

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/7/2008 11:16:00 PM

The Writers Guild of America said it signed a side deal with United Artists that allows writers to work for the studio.

The deal does not include Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which owns a part interest in UA.

Details of the deal were not disclosed, but it includes issues about compensation for new-media play -- an issue central to the guild's decision to strike against the producers over the inability of the two sides to come to terms, particularly on compensation for shows with second and third lives online or over mobile media.

The WGA signed another side deal with David Letterman's Worldwide Pants production company that got writers back to work on CBS' late-night TV shows.

UA is a film studio partly owned by Tom Cruise, so the impact is mostly symbolic. UA was cofounded by a group of four Hollywood artists, including Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, who united out of concern overt the major studios'control over compensation and creative direction.

UA has a TV history, however. Its TV division produced shows back in the 1960s, including Gilligan's Island and The Patty Duke Show.

For full coverage of the strike, click here.