But is it the calm before the storm or the calm before more calm?

Writers who had three months to work unfettered, the thinking went, would have spent part of that time polishing their old ideas and starting new ones -- pure spec scripts were allowed under WGA rules -- and agents would in turn be looking to capitalize on studios' hunger for post-strike projects.

But a significant number of writers, it turns out, were not working on specs during the strike. And agents and studio execs who were expecting a feverish return to work have found that, while meetings are back in gear, deals and scripts have been thin on the ground.

Pronouncements of quiet have a way of yielding to a flurry, however, and there were reports late Thursday that at least one high-profile writer, William Monahan, would be turning in a spec shortly. The scribe behind "The Departed" and "Kingdom of Heaven" has a number of projects in development or production, including the Ridley Scott-helmed terrorism thriller "Body of Lies."

It's also possible that in a number of cases writers did pen scripts but that agents are holding them back -- either because they don't want to create the perception that their clients worked during the strike, or they want to assess the financial health of the post-strike market for scripts without turning their clients into guinea pigs. "No one wants to be the first," said one agent. "It may all start to happen after the Oscars, when we've celebrated writers, to get this going again."

More from Steven Zeitchik and Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter