strikeillust7.jpgAs you know, I’ve been ill with bronchial flu and a fever but also reporting for days now that the informal talks have been productive and progressing. Now sources are telling me the WGA and moguls are at the point where they may reach a final settlement very soon after overcoming major hurdles. The New York Times is reporting this also and quotes sources saying “a tentative agreement” may come “as early as next week”. This means a settlement to end the strike and put Hollywood back to work could also come soon enough to hold a real Oscars. As the news spread, cautious optimism spread, too.

2ND UPDATE:  The Los Angeles Times reports that “Guild negotiators Young, Verrone and Bowman on Monday are expected to brief the union’s 17-member negotiating committee and board of directors on the proposed contract.”

UPDATE: United Hollywood, the unofficial website for WGA info, says: “UH has confirmed from off-the-record sources that progress is indeed being made in the informal talks, and that creative solutions to the biggest differences between the AMPTP and the WGA have gotten the tentative and cautious approval of both sides. This does not mean there is a deal in principle yet. It means we may, finally, be very close to one — as close as days away. And while we’re cautiously optimistic about what we’re hearing, it comes with a real caveat. Just as happened with the DGA deal, points that are agreed to in informal negotiation can be thought of as points on a deal memo — but it’s the drafting language that comes from hammering out those points that makes them legally binding. And our sources say that draft language doesn’t yet exist. That’s a big part of what will be happening in the next few days, as negotiations continue. Until the WGA and the companies have enshrined the deal points — whatever they are — into real draft language, those deal points can’t be thought of as final.”

Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.