Rereading my answer to Martha Thomases (below) I see that in my haste to get back to work, I skipped over part of her question. Here's something else I should have said…
During a strike, it has sometimes been a WGA tactic to offer what are called interim agreements. We negotiate with this multi-employer bargaining unit called the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) which represents six big companies. Once we make a contract with them, all the other employers sign what are sometimes called "Me Too" agreements, meaning that they agree to abide by the same terms. So the AMPTP, in effect, negotiates on behalf of all the producers in town.
An interim agreement is when we're on strike and an independent producer says, in effect, "If you'll take me off the Strike List and let my writers return to work, I'll agree to your terms." There are variations on how these pacts are structured but in most cases, the Indie has a Favored Nations option. That is, he signs a new contract that the WGA draws up and then when we make our deal with the AMPTP — a deal which presumably will have more favorable terms for a Producer — the Indie can elect to switch to that. In any case, the principle is that they agree to sign with us, we go back to work at that studio and then, whenever the new contract is finalized, it displaces the interim agreement.
As a strike tactic, there are pros and cons of whether interim agreements help or hurt us in forcing a settlement with the AMPTP. Some also worry — and I think this is unwarranted but it is a concern — that it will wound Guild Solidarity if some members go back to work while others march the picket lines. In the past, we have sometimes (not always) offered interim agreements after a strike was on for a period of time…but the results have not been impressive. The AMPTP studios have put pressure on the independent producers not to sign them and it usually works. As Larry Gelbart once noted, an independent producer is a producer who's dependent on everyone else
Martha asked if Harvey Weinstein, for example, could go in and sign a WGA interim agreement. Well, if and when we offer them, he could. At the moment, the WGA is not offering interim agreements. As I understand it, the thinking is that we don't want to let a few, unimportant companies go back, at least not yet. If NBC wanted to sign, we'd probably make an exception because that would put pressure on the other majors. In fact, it would rupture the AMPTP and its precious collaboration…but signing a few companies won't put any heat on the Big Guys right now.
However, Harvey Weinstein probably wouldn't sign an interim agreement if they were available. Why? Because the members of the AMPTP — Sony, Universal, Time Warner, etc. — would have told him not to, and Harvey has to do business with those people. So it may not even matter if we offer them or not.