Irv Brecher (Meet Me In St. Louis, Bye Bye Birdie, Shadow of the Thin Man, Marx Bros’ At The Circus & Go West, creator of Life of Riley, & more!) talks about how the more things change, the more they seem to be the same old, same old…

It’s looking more and more like the writer’s of the WGA and the studio moguls of the AMPTP may have reached agreement on terms for a deal.  The WGA-East and WGA-West memberships met with WGA leadership last night to talk about the terms negotiated.  Robert Elisberg has some details and analysis of the deal terms.  And the NYTimes, LATimes and Variety have more as well.

A vote is expected by WGA membership shortly (within 48 hours) and, if the deal is accepted, writers could be back to work next week.

Nikki Finke, whose sources have been fab through the entire strike, had this to say last night from a source inside the Shrine Auditorium WGAW discussions:

WGAW President Patric Verrone announced that there would be a vote by the membership over the next 48 hours on whether or not to lift the strike. I’m told Verrone said specifically that the decision to call off the strike, regardless of the WGA Negotiating Committee’s or the WGAW Board’s or WGAE Council’s recommendation, was to be in the hands of the membership (which wasn’t originally planned). Pending that outcome, the 10-day ballotting process for members to accept the tentative deal would begin. Since the moguls insisted that vote not delay the lifting of the strike, WGA leader Dave Young Young told the auditorium that the writers, and therefore all of Hollywood, could get back to work by Wednesday….

Jesse at Group News Blog (and WGAE member) has more thoughts on the deal:

Has the strike been worth it?

Bet your ass.

The studios tried to steal the internet. Failed.

You did that.

Without massive support from everyone, from readers of blogs, to the ordinary television viewer, to the people at my breakfast diner, from actors and the writers walking around in circles, this could not and would not have happened.

We’re all in this together.

Don’t miss the very telling graph showing tanking studio profits that are likely a big factor in the mogul willingness to stop acting like greedy jackasses and talk business sense instead.  About damned time, I say, given the fact that without good writers they’d all be producing crap that netted them bupkis.