小编导读：在这个万圣节前，美剧的编剧协会来了一次"trick or treat"，只是他们的对象是制作人协会，他们想要的也不是糖果，而是利润，结果谈判破裂，编剧协会开始酝酿罢工。小编我不太了解美剧的赢利模式，所以不能妄加评断编剧们是否应该得到这部分利益，不过这场罢工如果真的发生，对双方都没什么好处。从制作人方来说，尽管他们已经在囤积剧本，但是如果罢工旷日持久，剧本总有用完的一天，不可能只依靠重播和真人秀来过日子。尤其一些热门美剧如果停播这个损失是挺惨重的。对编剧来说，罢工一方面自己没有工钱赚，另一方面还有彻底丢失工作的危险——你不写剧本总会有人写的。美国也并不是所有的编剧都加入了编剧协会的，如果有非会员的编剧新秀冒头可能编剧协会还会搞得灰头土脸的。罢工实在是个两败俱伤的办法，如果这部分利润真的是编剧应得的，那么制作人协会也不必那么小气，早晚都要分一杯羹给人家；如果真的是编剧们的非分之想，编剧们也不必这么斤斤计较，毕竟和气生财啊~~

It hasn't been a very good year so far in the TV season - viewership is down, the freshman shows are mostly unappealing, and even some returning favorites seem to lack spark. But the Writers Guild of America contract runs out at midnight tonight - trick or treat? - and a strike would make everything exponentially worse.

The end of the contract doesn't necessarily mean there will be a strike. If TV and movie writers, who provide material for networks, cable channels and film studios, believe good-faith bargaining is under way, they could agree to work without a contract as talks continue.

Then again, they could walk.

There's little doubt that such a strike, if prolonged, would be bad news for TV lovers and to a lesser extent film fans. The continuous nature of TV production means the television industry would feel the impact first. So what would happen in television if there's a strike?

Reality shows and reruns, probably. Game shows. News magazines. imports. By all accounts, the networks and cable channels have a game plan, even though nobody has been talking about it. That's because everybody still has hope, despite contentious bargaining stances struck by both the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers.

The core issue is compensation, but after that it gets infinitely more complicated. In short, the WGA is looking for its writers to get a share of whatever work is sold online - downloads, streaming video, etc. This new-media battle is particularly important to the WGA, whose a membership largely believes past contracts involving DVD sales have been ruinous to writers. They don't want to get left out of profit sharing that technology often brings (and they also want to rework part of the DVD profit sharing).