WGA STRIKE UPDATE: WGA Signs Interim Agreement with NAACP
39th Annual NAACP Image Awards to Be Broadcast on Fox, as Scheduled
By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/15/2008 7:24:00 PM
The Writers Guild of America and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People signed an interim agreement that will allow the 39th Annual NAACP Image Awards to be broadcast on Fox as scheduled Feb. 14.
The agreement means that WGA writers will be permitted to script the show and that there will be no picketing by striking writers. The guild also granted permission to use clips from films and television shows for the ceremony.
"The NAACP would like to thank the leadership of the WGA and its members for demonstrating their support of the NAACP and its historic mission by granting the NAACP Image Awards an interim agreement," NAACP chairman Julian Bond said in a statement. "The NAACP stands in solidarity with the Writers Guild in its fight for meaningful collective bargaining and the rights of all workers to make an honest and fair living."
The deal follows interim agreements the WGA reached with Media Rights Capital and David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants. The WGA did not reach an interim deal with Dick Clark Productions, which was scheduled to produce the Golden Globe Awards, forcing the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to announce the winners via a decidedly unglamorous press conference with almost no star power.
The WGA said the decision to grant the NAACP a waiver was due to its support of the cause: “The Guild examines each request like this individually and no decision is easy. Our ultimate goal is to resolve this strike by achieving a good contract. Because of the historic role the NAACP has played in struggles like ours, we think this decision is appropriate to jointly achieve our goals,” WGA West president Patric Verrone said in a statement.
At press time, Grammy Awards producer John Cossette Productions offered to strike the same deal so that the Feb. 10 show could go on, according to the American Federation of Musicians and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which encouraged its members to participate in the show in light of that pledge.
For full coverage of the strike, click here.
