Well, negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and the AMPTP have collapsed, which does not come as a shock to anyone with a lick o' sense and a sense o' history. This always promised to get ugly and it will surely get even uglier, even before the dreaded Writers Strike of '01 could possibly commence.
I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that my brethren and I will soon be carrying picket signs…but I can tell you a few things that will happen. We'll see in the trade papers, beginning in the coming week, pieces that quote high-profile writers as saying that strike at this time would be suicidal; that it will rip the Guild asunder; that it cannot possibly be cost-effective. There will be articles wherein studio and network heads claim that they not only can endure a prolonged strike but might even welcome it as a chance to purge their inventories of leftover material, and to cancel contracts that they wish to get out of. Support for the WGA from other unions will be mixed. And at some point, the two sides will reconvene at the bargaining table and try again to make things work. Stay tuned.