In my previous entry on the winding-down of the WGA strike, I said that the members would be expressing their opinions about the tentative contract agreement at meetings on Saturday evening. Those meetings were very upbeat, with the one in Los Angeles featuring standing ovations for WGA leaders. It was clear that most of the membership was in favor of accepting the contract and ending the strike.

This morning the WGA West and WGA East boards met and unanimously voted in favor of a three-year tentative deal with the film industry. The strike will end soon. WGA members have Monday and Tuesday to vote to lift the strike, and on Wednesday they’ll almost certainly be starting back to work. Monday “showrunners” for TV series will be in their offices, preparing for production to resume. (“Showrunners” are pretty much what the term sounds like—the people who run the production of series.) The studios wouldn’t be cranking up the making of TV episodes if they weren’t sure that it’s going to happen.

For a pretty upbeat detailed summary, see this Variety story. (For another that takes a different viewpoint and suggests what both sides lost in the deal, see this one.)

We shouldn’t forget that the Screen Actors Guild contract expires June 30. But the recent, successful Directors Guild of America contract helped provide a model that the WGA used in breaking the deadlock in their strike. Perhaps the SAG can use both these other guilds’ contracts to avoid a strike altogether.

In the meantime, if the deal to sign Guillermo Del Toro as the director for the two Hobbit films was all but certain, as has been reported, we should hear something soon from New Line and MGM about finalizing it.