A 2.8.08 N.Y. Times article by Michael Ceiply asserts that screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island, Alexander), who is also a co-founder of the pro-WGA United Hollywood, was the “unlikely peacemaker” who provided a go-between connection between WGA negotiator David J. Young and Fox Newscorp. president Peter A. Chernin.

Laeta Kalogridis

Did Kalogridis operate as a kind of diplomatic translator, Henry Kissinger-like Paris Peace Talks facilitator, soother or parish priest…? Ceiply’s account is too spare and dry. Let’s put it this way: as a result of Kalogridis offering counsel and (I’m winging it here, but at least I’m trying harder than Ceiply) serving both men metaphorical cups of chamomile tea, they “finally shifted ground, most importantly on the issue of new-media compensation,” which “cleared the way to a deal that will be reviewed by writers in meetings here and in New York on Saturday.”
WGA member John Aboud, posting last night on United Hollywood, wrote that “while it’s flattering that the New York Times would try to bestow such importance on Ms. Kalogridis and — ahem — ‘her friends,’ Michael Cieply‘s breathless account misses something obvious. A strike does not come to a possible (repeat, ‘possible’) ending thanks to one person or even one website, no matter how awesome the website.
“The outcome of a strike is determined by the strikers. By the sacrifice of thousands who march and pour their emotion and time into the fight. When the strike ends, it will be because the union as a whole decided to end it. This struggle is about the sacrifices of many, not the phone calls of a few.” Stirringly spoken.