Those of you interested in the squabble between the Writers Guilds East and West, which I discussed here, might like to read an article by Walter Bernstein [Los Angeles Times, they make you register]. Bernstein is a fine screenwriter — he wrote The Front, chronicling a tumultuous era in his own life — and a member of the WGAe leadership.
I agree with him that the most recent WGA deal was insufficient, though I'm not sure he's realistic about what it would have taken to get a better one. The little suggestion he makes about linking arms with directors and actors in negotiation strikes me as pure, never-gonna-happen fantasy. In any case, the arbitration is going forward and Mr. Bernstein's op-ed piece reads like he does not expect the WGAe to emerge unscathed. Note his statement that "…one union is more interested in fighting and even taking over the other." I told you that's what this was all about.