(BY ALI NADERZAD) Thanksgiving–it has been about twenty-one days since the Writers Guild of America took to the streets in protest of the so-called fattening up of the American studio: increased profits from ancillaries and not enough go in the writers’ pockets, according to the Guild. What is the prognosis? Good, according to SCREENCOMMENT.COM. A new negotiations meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 26th and everyone–studios and scribes–is feeling the discomfort of a protracted action. Since November 5th, picket lines have been set up near the entrance of the CBS, Fox, Sony, Universal and Warner studio lots. On November 20th, 4,000 people demonstrated, some wearing red T-shirts, for an hour-and-a-half to the sound of drums and honking–the march began at the corner of Hollywood and Vine and ended at Grauman’s Chinese. Sympathies among related professions (actors, producers, etc.) run deep. Actor Sandra Oh was spotted leading the march and singer Alicia Keys declared, “I am a writer, without words, there are no songs, no stories. I am here for your cause.” Demonstrations are not an everyday occurrence in glossed-over Hollywood–if you look to the other side of the pond, it’s more of a French thing, the remnant of May 1968 socialistic pride. Striking is a decidedly un-American thing, and statistics on the subject speak to the corrosive–and unproductive–nature of such actions. The strike’s impact on the industry as a whole is measured in terms of days. So far, a couple of productions have been postponed–one by Ron Howard, starring Tom Hanks, and Oliver Stone’s Pinkville. Should the strike last through November, however, production of all television series (there are approximately forty) and sitcoms (twenty) would have to cease, causing a profit loss of about $20M per day for the area, according to FilmLaInc., the L.A. office which promotes film. Both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Antonio Villaraigosa, L.A’s mayor, have asked for a fast resolution of the conflict (photo courtesy of REUTERS/MARIO ANZUONI).