Term without Mercy: vultures start circling

vultures start circling--when a stagehand or musician is on the cusp of being fired, people will start coming by, looking to take their jobs. "The vultures started circling when the word was on the street that the concertmaster at 'Lion King' was going to be fired." "The weak show wasn't even out of previews when the producers of a show looking for a theater started asking about the theater. The vultures  had started circling while the show was still alive."