More WGA congratulations. Michael Winship and Patric Verrone on Fox Business.

Winship on the 17-day window agreement stated in the contract:

We would have liked to have closed that window completely. That is one of the things we did not achieve in this contract and something we will be working on going forward. The important thing is that we got jurisdiction in new media, we got jurisdiction in the Internet and we got a percentage of the distributors’ gross. These were our major goals and we achieved those.

Jay Leno’s late night triumph seems to hinge on his misunderstanding of the Guild rules, wilful or not. NBC says he got permission from Patric Verrone, which is backed up in the NY Times by that scourge of journalists–the unidentified source:

One of Mr. Leno’s writers who attended the meeting with Mr. Verrone supported Mr. Leno’s version that he had been given some assurance that he could write his monologue.

“Jay said, “Let me get this clear: I’m allowed to write my monologue,” said the writer, who asked not to be identified because he was a strike supporter and did not want publicly to challenge the guild’s version of events. “Verrone said, ‘Well, since you are taking one for the team, we won’t hassle you about that.’”

The writer added, “There was no way Jay could have misinterpreted what was being said.”

So, who do we believe? Some unknown guy, Patric Verrone or the millions who tuned in, hoping Jay would say something funny? Nikki Finke quotes the same un-named source, and her readers have their own views.

The pitch is : “It’s Rashomon meets The Player at the intersection of Scarface and Glitter.”

Writing Their Way Out Of This Mess? In a lovely F.U. to the studios dozens of striking writers are considering setting up companies that bypass studios and reach consumers directly with original Web video. This would be kind of a step back for some writers, as writing for the Web isn’t exactly a writers’ dream – but Joseph Menn likens this approach to the early days of United Artists, so who knows? Bonne chance!

Harsh Reality: Columnist Scott Collins takes WGA president Patric Verrone to task for apparently softening his stance toward getting union representation for reality TV writers.

Wait…There Is Something To Watch After All: It’s on VH1, of all places. Seven Ages of Rock is, apparently, fun for the whole family. And just when your TiVo was running dry.

Friday lunch at Orso was surprisingly fruitful, big name-wise, with Mel Brooks holding court at a table full of cronies, Larry David in a black velor tracksuit, and tall, blond and Brit Bill Nighy looking dreamy. Perfect for FBLA’s new weekly feature, Lunch with Media Moguls and Mavericks.

Ross Johnson surprised a number of people when he joined PR powerhouse Sitrick and Co., after a long career in journalism. He’s enjoying himself greatly, he says. He raves about how honcho Mike Sitrick built his firm from the ground up, and claims Sitrick works a room like no one else on this coast or the other one.

Other insights:

In 1983, William Goldman said about show business–”nobody knows anything”. Today, thanks to Nikki Finke, everybody knows something.

Patric Verrone has become the Abraham Lincoln of the WGA. But remember, Lincoln got shot.

The big thing about the WGA strike is like Woodward and Bernstein. Just like they made journalists look cool–now TV writers look cool.

Get Back in That Room lists those who’ve lost their jobs due to the strike.

Slate’s Jack Shafer thinks the press is all soft on the writers. And there’s too many stories, too, which must mean that the LA Times is finally doing some local coverage.

Strike Swag. Can’t be a real writer without a collection of swag.

Robbie Baitz is right, but does he have to sound so sappy? He’s sickened, he’s soulful, he’s scripted.

Masterpiece Theatre returns on PBS with The Complete Jane Austen, none written by American writers.

Fox’s Bill McCuddy thinks he’s so cute. Scab once, scab forever.

Neal Pollack is certainly using the strike to his advantage, if not his child’s.

IATSE honcho Tom Short pens a sternly-worded letter to Patric Verrone.

Adam Pava, co-creator of
Out of Jimmy’s Head on Cartoon Network, writes to remind us that his show is staffed by WGA members and:

My staff and I have been out on the picket lines every day, and our showrunner, Eric Kaplan, is listed with all the others on the Pencils Down Variety ad.

Another Cartoon Network show, the Andre Benjamin-starring Class of 3000, has none other than WGA PRESIDENT Patric Verrone as its head writer! Of course that is a Guild show as well.

It’s true that many other Cartoon Network and Adult Swim shows aren’t under WGA jurisdiction, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t written by WGA members — they’re just ALSO Animation Guild members.

FBLA is pleased to be corrected, but we still think the Adult Swim promo is odd.