John Wells likes it

This morning I pored through articles in the Los Angeles Times, Hollywood Reporter and Variety, researching a comprehensive review of the details of the Directors Guild's deal with the AMPTP ...

... only to find this afternoon that John Wells had beaten me to the punch.

Depending on what circles you hang in, John Wells may be best known to you as the producer/head writer/"showrunner" of such TV series as ER, Third Watch, The West Wing, China Beach, and The Evidence. Or he may be better known as a past president emeritus of the Writers Guild of America west. In either capacity he is respected and listened to by a lot of important people on both sides of the labor-management wall.

John Wells has read the DGA agreement. And he likes it:

I think the DGA deal is good. Very good. For writers, for directors, for the future ...

While the DGA richly deserves our thanks and appreciation for negotiating a terrific deal that will serve as a template for all three creative Guilds, none of this would have been possible without the blood, sweat and sacrifice of WGA members during this very effective strike. The Companies made a deal they didn’t want to make because of our resolve. They clearly understood how important these issues were for our members and stepped up to resolve them.

Our Negotiating Committee has numerous issues that are specific to writers that must still be resolved with the AMPTP: the term of our next contract, pension and health issues, separated rights on new media, and jurisdiction for material written for derivatives that will not be filmed (show blogs, web-only stories, etc). But this is a historic deal. We’ve won. The strike was necessary to win it and I can only assume our Negotiating Committee will be sitting down with the AMPTP by early next week to resolve these last, final issues.

It’s a very good day for all of us.

Craig Mazin has promised his own analysis of the DGA deal by the end of today. If you haven't already done so, bookmark the Artful Writer and check out what he has to say when he puts it up.