Hollywood screenwriters are to return to work this morning, after a large majority expressed their approval of a new online royalties deal and voted to end the three-month strike that has crippled the America’s film and television industry.

Patric Verrone, leader of the west coast branch of the Writers Guild of America, (WGA) said 92.5 per cent of members had been in favour of ending the strike in the balloting conducted yesterday in Los Angeles and New York.

"The strike is over. Our membership has voted and writers can go back to work,” he said. The vote had been seen as a formality after WGA members voiced widespread support for a new contract presented to them by union leaders at the weekend. A second vote to ratify the new three-year contract will be held on February 25.

It nevertheless resolves what might have been a terrifying cliff-hanger for the organisers of the Oscars, which is to take place on February 24, a ceremony that would have struggled to live up to its own hype amidst a boycott by writers and many leading actors.

Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which stages the Oscars, said: “I am ecstatic that the 80th Academy Awards presentation can now proceed full steam ahead,” without “hesitation or discomfort” for the nominees.

Elsewhere, producers were glad to get back to the business of murder, love, satire and talk show patter. “It will be all hands on deck for the writing staff,” said Chris Mundy, co-executive producer of the CBS drama ‘Criminal Minds’. Actual production will not begin until scripts have been completed, which could take days or even weeks.

Writers downed their instruments on November 5, a move that sent shockwaves through the industry, forcing the postponement or cancellation of several television shows and movies, and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

The chief issue in the dispute was that of payment for content broadcast free or bought over the Internet - a growing sector which analysts expect to overtake and replace the DVD and home video rental market. Writers were receiving no share in revenues from online sales.

A breakthrough in negotiations saw the WGA reach a tentative agreement with producers and a proffered deal received enthusiastic backing after it was proposed to writers on Saturday. The deal establishes a scale of royalty payments for writers whose work is sold over the internet or streamed for free.

Mr Verrone from the WGA said: “This was not a strike we wanted, but one we had to conduct in order to win jurisdiction and establish appropriate residuals for writing in new media and on the Internet,” Mr Verrone said. “Rather than being shut out of the future of content creation and delivery, writers will lead the way as TV migrates to the Internet and platforms for new media are developed. Those advances now give us a foothold in the digital age.”

A joint statement from the chiefs of eight major studios, including NBC Universal, CBS, Warner Bros, and Disney, welcomed the end of the strike. “This is a day of relief and optimism for everyone in the entertainment industry,” the statement said.

So ends one of the longest and most damaging disputes in the industry’s history, with losses estimated at two billion dollars, according to the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC).

As well as costs of $733 million in lost film and television production spending, the LAEDC estimates that $1.3 billion was lost by companies such as caterers, hoteliers and limousine rental firms that rely heavily on the entertainment industry for business.

“There have been very significant losses for companies that rely on seasonal work. They have lost 14 weeks worth of business,” said Jason Squire, a lecturer at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts and editor of ‘The Movie Business.’ “That is a dreadful and damaging impact for smaller companies.”

Meanwhile another possible dispute looms: the contract between the Screen Actors Guild is set to expire in June, said Jonathan Handel, an entertainment attorney with the Los Angeles firm of TroyGould and a former associate counsel for the writers guild.

“The signs are mixed whether this is going to be another difficult negotiation,” Mr Handel said. “The actors face all of the new-media issues that the writers and directors faced.”

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