Strike Day 2: Both sides stand firm

Other than a few more celebrity appearances in support of the writers, there wasn't much activity today on the strike front. Nor does it seem like there will be for quite some time, especially after the Hollywood Insider spoke with reps from both the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Writers Guild of America.

Heck, they can't even agree on who halted talks on Sunday after an announcement went out saying that it was midnight and the strike was officially on. How did the negotiations end? AMPTP spokesperson Barbara Brogliatti says, "In the midst of negotiations, the WGA went on strike, calling off the negotiations." Meanwhile, assistant executive director Charles Slocum at the WGA West, recounts the situation as follows: "Suddenly they said, "We're out of here.' And we were like, 'You're what?' We fully expected to be there all night if we needed to be. Let's say we had negotiated nine more hours until picketing began, we would have kept talking and wouldn't have stormed out. To us, it was a bit of a surprise." Although there could be some back-channel talks, officially there are no scheduled negotiations on the docket. The AMPTP has been batting around the idea that this strike could go on for as long as nine or 10 months — rhetoric that could be seen as a dare (or a scare tactic) to the writers, showing them that their opponents are set to hunker down. But the WGA's Slocum says, "We remain ready to negotiate, so if we have somebody to talk to, we'll talk."