Striking writers in US Hollywood reached a deal with Tom Cruise's United Artists (UA) Films yesterday which will allow them to return to work on the production company's movie projects, officials said.
"United Artists (UA) has lived up to its name," said Patric Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), West, which launched the two-month long industry-wide strike.
UA is the independent production unit of MGM Studios which is controlled by Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner.
"This agreement is important, unique and makes good business sense for United Artists," Wagner said.
"In keeping with the philosophy of its original founders, artists who sought to create a studio in which artists and their creative visions could flourish, we are pleased to have reached an agreement with the WGA," she said.
UA was formed in 1919 by several leading filmmakers in early Hollywood, notably Charlie Chaplin, as an independent company with the idea to better control their filmmaking work and fight against major studios' dominance.
The agreement had been struck without the blessing of MGM, which had discouraged UA from negotiating independently with the union preferring talks led by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents major studios and TV networks.
MGM officials said in the statement that the studio understands UA's desire to resume its business activities, but respectfully disagrees with its decision to sign an interim agreement with the WGA.
"MGM remains committed to working with AMPTP member companies to reach a fair and reasonable agreement with the WGA that positions everyone in our industry for success in a rapidly changing marketplace," said the statement.
Details of the UA agreement were not released although WGA officials said the pact "addresses the issues important to writers, including new media."
The writers' strike began on Nov. 5, 2007, over a dispute focusing on residual payments to writers for work distributed via the internet, iPods, cellphones and other new media.