Daytime drama producers panicked. They were not allowed to write scripts. Many did. They did use a clause in the WGA contract that allowed them to hire writers who were willing to work. Many used aliases. They did not. It didn't matter; everyone knew who everyone was. For years, there was acrimony between the writers that went on strike and those who continued working. Some suggest that many head writers of today have their jobs because they worked during the strike. That might explain the awful head writers that confined to work until a few years back. Things are a bit easier today. Most shows tape four to five weeks in advance. If there is a strike, the shows should be able to work around it with out producing new scripts.

The last WGA strike was a messy affair. Gavin Polone, a top-rating Hollywood movie producer, was very anti union strike at the time. He recently told Hollywood Reporter, "I was wrong about that strike, and I was wrong to be so unsupportive of the Writers Guild. The main reason the writers went on strike was to get a share of new-media reuse revenue, which they did receive in the end. It is possible for one to argue that the estimated $342 million in lost WGA and IATSE wages, the $2 billion in lost economic activity, the 70 overall writers' deals that were ended by studios and the large numbers of writing positions lost because reality television filled in the time slots vacated by the shows that were shut down because of lack of scripts might not have been worth the big win of sharing in the revenue from digital downloads of TV shows over the Internet (those residuals totaled only $11.26 million in 2012, per the WGA). But numbers and statistics are the refuge of cowards, right? The WGA showed that it could take a huge financial hit — and feel no pity for thousands of other people in entertainment-related jobs who were not a party to the dispute and would receive no benefit.

Here is what is will be on the table when talks begin on Monday:

The guild said opening proposals from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers contained $60 million in "rollbacks for writers," including cuts in the union's health and pension plans, as well as reductions in pay rates for screenplays and TV residuals.

To find out more about Lynda Hirsch and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Web page at www.creators.com.