Tentative deal agreed on by WGA, producers

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Striking Writers Guild of America members meet Saturday to discuss the ratification of a tentative deal with Hollywood producers.

The Hollywood Reporter said hours before the WGA meeting was scheduled to take place, WGA West president Patric Verrone and WGA East president Michael Winship informed all of the union's members of the tentative pact.

They assured members in a memo that the new agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers "protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery," the newspaper said.

The Los Angeles Times said if the agreement is ratified by guild members, the four-month-long writers' strike could officially end as early as Monday.

WGA members are meeting at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium and New York's Crowne Plaza Hotel to discuss the proposal.