There had been various degrees of optimism from time to time, but it looks like it will be a long cold winter. Variety reports that strike talks have been called off, with no indication of when they will resume.
The AMPTP accused the WGA of a strategy of stalling negotiations rather than trying to reach a deal. “Their Quixotic pursuit of radical demands led them to begin this strike, and now has caused this breakdown in negotiations,” the AMPTP asserted. “We hope that the WGA will come back to this table with a rational plan that can lead us to a fair and equitable resolution to a strike that is causing so much distress for so many people in our industry and community.”
The WGA doesn’t believe they are being offered a fair share of the new media pie. “The AMPTP insists we let them do to the Internet what they did to home video,” said John Bowman, WGA negotiating chairman. “We received a similar ultimatum through back channels prior to the discussions of November 4th. At that time, we were assured that if we took DVDs off the table, we would get a fair offer on new media issues. That offer never materialized.”