WGA Strikers Blog

If you’re interested at all in the writer’s strike, check out United Hollywood, an unofficial blog started by some of the strike captains. There’s information about the strike, photos of famous people and comments from strikers on how things are going. Our current favorite:

CHELSEA PIERS, NYC: All Jacked Up
“One guy from our group got hassled by some stockbroker-looking dude who was screaming ‘Get back to work! I don’t want 24 to be cancelled!’ He was serious.”

We’re adding United Hollywood to our roll (on the right column) in case you forget about it later.

Writer’s Strike: Lawyers are Busy, Writers are Solid and Michael Eisner Cares?

Here’s some randoms on the Writer’s Guild of America Strike, Day 3:

Entertainment Lawyers can’t get off the phone, according to the ABA.

Apparently no one remembers the last writer’s strike, so none of the writers know what they can and can’t do. The WGA told writer-directors (aka show runners) that they couldn’t do any “writing services”, and so far they’ve just gone along with it. But now that the WGA is ordering scripts turned in (so no one does any under-the-table creativity shilling) the questions are pouring into attorney’s offices. Plus, the shows have to be replaced, and somebody’s gotta negotiate and write up the contracts.

“Hollywood is not Flint, Mich. It’s not Allentown, Pa.“

The biggest issue facing the picketing writers wasn’t the studios so much as the other two unions, the Director’s Guild and Screen Actor’s Guild, so says Tim Goodman at the SF Chronicle:

The cynical in Hollywood – and that’s a town built wholly on the failed dreams of the jaded and the bitter – suggested that the agendas of the members of the three unions were, roughly in this order: “looking out for myself,” “getting what’s rightfully mine” and “bleep the other guys.”

But then, as we previously mentioned, the show runners (directors and writers) joined the strike. And the stars showed up. And the “no-strike clauses” in those union contracts started to look a little thin. According to the piece, there’s been an email from producer Shawn Ryan (the Shield, the Unit) “floating around” that kind of summed it up:

I obviously will not write on my shows. But I also will not edit, I will not cast, I will not look at location photos, I will not get on the phone with the network and studio, I will not prep directors, I will not review mixes. I can’t in good conscience fight these bastards with one hand, while operating an Avid with the other. I am on strike and I am not working for them. PERIOD.

If you’re a network exec, and you expected all these people to be working on scripts and now the people haven’t shown up and the scripts are confiscated, you may be a little more willing to negotiate? Hmm? Maybe LA’s more like Flint than they’ll admit.

“The only real winner here is Steve Jobs. They should be striking up at Cupertino or wherever he is.”

The WGA strike does have it’s detracters, though. If this is going to sell, we’ll need a good villain. Someone get on the phone and see if Michael Eisner‘s available. He is? Of course he is.

Eisner, the former Disney CEO, was speaking before some “we’re all rich enough to think about money” club and said the following:

For a writer to give up today’s money for a nonexistent piece of the future — they should do it in three years, shouldn’t be doing it now — they are misguided they should not have gone on the strike. I’ve seen stupid strikes, I’ve seen less stupid strikes, and this strike is just a stupid strike.

Hmm. “Stupid” and “Less Stupid”. That joke kind of sells itself. Eisner went on to say the writer’s didn’t put blame on the right people, faulting the networks instead of Steve Jobs and Apple. Word to the wise: Don’t take your financial advice from the guy who recommended Ovitz to the Board at Disney.

The Writer’s Strike Not Entertaining, Apparently Serious

We’re going to assume that the basics of the Writer’s Guild strike, now in its 3rd day, are apparent to everyone reading, mostly since it’s getting more press than the entire UAW 3-way negotiations and strikes combined.

If you don’t know what’s going on, here’s a good synopsis from Reuters.

Upon hearing of the strike, our initial thought was how great the chants were going to be. This was clearly misguided. From the LA Times:

In Los Angeles, striking screenwriters chanted, “Network bosses, rich and rude, we don’t like your attitude!”

[sigh] Really? We hoped for so much more. Forgive us for expecting brilliance, but isn’t the team from “the Office” out there?

As per usual, the MSM gets stuck on a tangent. Most of the news reports are focusing on the lack of new programming and the big names supporting the strikers (Jay Leno had Kispy Kremes, Eva Longoria had – herself) and walking the picket line like Paul Haggis and Robert Towne. But don’t think for a minute that this isn’t a real strike, with consequences that go far beyond our ability to enjoy non-reality television.

The LA Times article points out (albeit at the very end) that this strike effects a lot more regular, workhorse, paycheck-to-paycheck writers than it does Oscar winners and millionaires.

Although top screenwriters like Haggis can make as much as $250,000 a week, many WGA members collect middle-class wages and can go months between jobs; the threat of an extended work stoppage could have grave consequences for the industry’s lesser lights.

And, unlike most strikers, many writers have other responsibilities on set, like executive producer status (called “show runners”) or pod deals where the studio gives them development money that pays administrative salaries. The networks are starting to pull those funds now, which means non-union employees could be laid off as soon as this weekend.

According to Business Week, everyone involved is projecting a pretty drawn-out process here, with no negotiations officially scheduled anytime soon. Teamsters in LA refused to cross the picket line, as did Steve Carell, apparently against Screen Actor’s Guild rules (we’re putting our celebrity stuff at the end, see?). Amy Pohler joined the SNL writers on the line in NY.

If you are in southern California, and are interested, here is a list of the strike locations.