Negotiators for the major Hollywood studios and the Writers Guild reached a tentative agreement last week. Behind the scenes maneuvering and pressure from a number of sources resulted in moderate gains for the writers. Some of the issues pushed by the union's militant leadership were abandoned as the studios used the faltering economy to their advantage.
See "Behind-the-Scenes Events Dictated Guild Settlement", James Bates, Claudia Eller, Los Angeles Times, May 6, 2001