Not perfect, but one with important ramifications not only for the writers of television and motion pictures in the United States, but the creative community - and organized labor - all over the country. Professionally, as president of the Writers Guild of America, East, I believe we've made a very good deal. The evening became an impromptu, liquid-enhanced release of pent-up emotion similar, I suspect, to the night Prohibition ended. News of the strike's imminent end was coincidental and serendipitous. That night, as previously scheduled, we held a mini-version of our usual annual awards for excellence in the writing of radio, TV and movies. Saturday afternoon we met with our members and got their feedback, with a number of concerns expressed and disquietude over some things not achieved, but overall a positive sense of support and approval. Public and political support was enormous and the visibility and power of our action was an invigorating shot in the arm to organized labor. Over the course of our 14-week strike, we held together, surprising many - especially the studios and networks - with our solidarity and the strength of our belief that what we were striking for was just and fair. Add to that the potential iconic loss of the Oscars on February 24th and it seemed clear to all that the time had come to deal. We had reached a moment of highest leverage, with the rest of this year's TV season in jeopardy and the fall season in peril, too - soon there'd be no time for the scripting and production of pilots for potential new dramas and sitcoms. Leslie Moonves of CBS was a frequent participant, too. This, after a series of small, informal meetings between three of our negotiators and two of the studio heads, Fox's Peter Chernin and Bob Iger of Disney. I got home to New York Saturday morning around 1 a.m., after several days in Los Angeles where final contract language arduously was hammered out with the representatives of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). We ended it Tuesday night when our members voted by 92.5% to lift the restraining order that first put us out on the streets with our picket signs on November 5.
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