I think sports unions have a more uphill climb than writers do in convincing Joanna Q. Public that they are being treated unfairly.

But it's interesting/telling that we haven't (so far) had that issue this go 'round. I think that's largely because, as Daniel suggests, the average person recognizes that the WGA's issues -- the downward pressure on pay, the encroachment of A.I., the corpratization of America in general -- are actually THEIR issues as well.

Even more to Daniel's point, the public is very much aware that we're being squeezed creatively as well as financially and folks are (thankfully) sympathetic to that. 

(I wrote about this very issue on Substack last week in a piece called "What We're Striking For Isn't Why We're Striking":  https://marcguggenheim.substack.com/p/what-were-striking-for -isnt-why-were.)

If the Screen Actors Guild also goes out on strike, I think that will help the cause further. Nobody likes it when the pretty people are mad, too.

The DGA is very likely to make a deal, for a variety of reasons.

Either way, things get very interesting -- one way or another -- on July 1, when DGA and SAG's respective contracts with the studios expire.

But also, there's the public debacle of the new leadership after the merger of Discovery/Warner/HBO Max/Max/CNN/Whatever - removing cult shows from their streaming catalog for no other reason than to keep from having to pay royalites on shows are not considered to be profitable enough, the move this week to replace writer credits on the new "Max" rebrand with "Creators", the CNN management's decision to go ahead with the Trump Town Hall the day after he was found liable for Sexual Assault, WB's CEO being very publicly booed during his tonedeaf Boston University commencement speech, etc.