Writers try end-around

Keep the medical supplies handy, it looks like we’re in this one for the long haul. The WGA announced this weekend that, due to Hollywood producers insisting several of the writers’ union demands be taken off the table as a precondition for further negotiations, the WGA will now attempt to negotiate individually with each studio.

The company behind Late Night with David Letterman is one of the few producers likely to break ranks and negotiate with the WGA individually; they have stated their openness to reaching an interim agreement based on the WGA’s current list of demands, in order to get their show back on the air.

Few other producers are expected to be quite so accommodating to the WGA.

The maneuver is expected to only deepen the divide between producers and writers, which could extend the strike, already about six weeks old, into a conflict that could soon be measured in months rather than weeks. The losers in this ongoing conflict are viewers and the thousands of employees being let go with no rehiring guarantee, due to the work stoppage.