by Shannonn Kelly
Writers Guild of America members voted 93 percent in favor of ending the walkout that began 14 weeks ago, Patric Verrone, president of the union’s western unit, said Tuesday night at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills, California.
Union leaders wrote an email to urge writers to return to work on Wednesday, the day before Valeintine’s Day. The WGA said 3,775 members voted yesterday in New York and Los Angeles, with only 283 against ending the strike. Members will vote to ratify the new contract by mail or at Feb. 25 meetings, the guild said.
“We expect the agreement to be ratified overwhelmingly,” Verrone said.
The contract gives writers a pay raise and compensation for the use of shows aired over the Internet and mobile devices. The proposal, similar to an agreement reached by the Directors Guild of America last month, was outlined to union members over the weekend at meetings in Los Angeles and New York.
The union reached the accord with the studios’ Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, representing CBS; Disney ; Twentieth Century Fox owner News Corp.; Viacom Inc., owner of Paramount studios; General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal; Sony Corp.; and Time Warner Inc., owner of Warner Bros.
The Writers Guild of America, West and East divisions, represents more than 12,000 movie and television writers in their contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
Among the Writers Guild’s members are television writer-producers who take home up to $5 million a year. On the other extreme are junior writers who  if they work at all  make $50,000 or less
About 48 percent of West Coast members are unemployed, according to guild statistics. (No such statistics exist for East Coast members.)
The union went on strike on Nov. 5, 2007, after three months of acrimonious negotiations. It was the first industry-wide strike since writers walked out in 1988. That strike lasted five months and cost the entertainment industry an estimated $500 million…
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