From an LAT op/ed predicting the course of the WGA strike:
By August 2008, the schism within the guilds is complete. The rank and file have gone to the mats in what they believe is a fundamental struggle for justice, equity and their fair share of Internet revenues. The well-known and the well-heeled are back at work, making movies and television shows.
The coalition of stars and artisans — which has been both a tradition and increasingly a myth for decades — evaporates. The vast majority of writers and actors remain locked in a labor movement, while directors, stars, screenwriters and show-runners function as the freelance independent contractors they truly are. The guild system goes the way of the studio system.
Some will say it’s the invisible hand of the market at work, with organizations collapsing and then realigning in more homogeneous groupings — a "creative destruction" that has been a long time coming. Others will cry conspiracy, with the studios dividing and conquering. But after a while, as always happens, everyone will say: Wasn’t it inevitable, and isn’t it rational?
