Getty Images; AMPAS

The WGA continues to play awards-show hardball, being coy today over whether it will grant a waiver for next month's Oscar ceremony. The guild announced yesterday that it will not demonstrate at the February 10 Grammys, raising hopes for a picketless Academy Awards but also fears that Fergie could be encouraged to continue recording albums if she wins the prize for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

In promising news, the Writers Guild reentered informal negotiations with the AMPTP yesterday, meaning that, if a miracle should happen, this whole strike could be resolved by February 24 anyway. As a show of good faith, the WGA has withdrawn its demand for jurisdiction over animation and reality TV, presumably to avoid being held responsible for the upcoming World's Strongest Celebrity and NBC's Baby Borrowers. No word yet on how those talks are going; both sides have agreed to a total media blackout, which means someone should be leaking the complete transcripts to Nikki Finke any minute now.

WGA move lifts hope for Oscarcast [Variety]
WGA drops reality demands [HR]