Striking Hollywood writers have a tentative deal with the studios after a three-month walkout, according to their union.
"While this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success," the Writers Guild of America said in a memo emailed to members.
The deal is reportedly similar to one reached last month by the Directors Guild of America. Writers would be paid a maximum US$1,200 rate for streamed programs in the first two years of the deal. But unlike directors, writers would then get a percentage of the gross that the distributor makes in year three.
If guild members like the proposed deal, the guild's board could vote Sunday to lift the strike order and work could begin on new shows as soon as Monday. Other shows could take about three weeks to air and it will be about six weeks before viewers will see new dramas, Hollywood Today publisher Jeffrey Jolson-Colburn told Â鶹´«Ã½net.
"You'll see the late night talkers first. They would bring the writers in Monday morning ... and you would see results that evening," said Jolson-Colburn.
Meetings were held in New York and Los Angeles Saturday to discuss the deal's terms, the ratification process and halting the strike, the union said.
"The feeling is relief and optimism and excitement," said Hilary Winston, a writer for the NBC sitcom "My Name Is Earl."
However, she added: "I hope this deal made this three months worth it."
"It's impossible the writers will turn it down," Michael Eisner, former CECO of Walt Disney Co., told CNBC.
The strike by the Writers Guild of America began on Nov. 5 and has cost the Los Angeles-area economy an estimated $1 billion. Some estimates put the cost figure even higher. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers represented the studios.
The two sides had been at loggerheads over the issue of Internet revenue sharing.
Within the next five years, most American televisions will be connected to the Internet. The shows and movies you watch on your TV will be downloaded or streamed," the union said in its strike fact sheet.
With files from The Associated Press
