On Thursday a deal was reached by Hollywood directors with the studios, a move that could urge the writers to end their strike, which entered its third month.

Gil Cates, chair of the Directors Guild of America's negotiations committee said: "Two words describe this agreement — groundbreaking and substantial. There are no rollbacks of any kind," Houston Chronicle reports.

Among the issues established in the contract deal there is the compensation for the programs transmitted over the Internet, which raised questions in the talks between the writers and the studios, when negotiations were interrupted on December 7.

The deal between directors and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers was praised by executives from major companies like CBS Corp., Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros., MGM and NBC Universal.

They’ve issued a statement in which they said that this deal could mean the end of an "extremely difficult period for our industry."

The Writers Guild of America said that it called back to the negotiating table the studios saying that they are in a mood for it and that it would go over the terms proposed by the directors in the contract.

Jonathan Handel, who is an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles and was a counsel to the writers’ guild, said: "This deal was strongly influenced by the writers strike. It shows all the earmarks of the improvements the writers were looking for — but it doesn't achieve them by any means."

Some of the issues that were reached in the contract are the deal for the programs for the Internet that will be under the direction of guild members and the payments for TV programs and movies downloaded that will depend on the gross of the distributor.

Companies will have to provide the guild "unfettered access to their deals and data," according to the directors’ guild.

Let’s hope that this is the light at the end of the tunnel.