writers strike: walking the line

yesterday i took the day off from my non-union vfx post-production job and spent it walking picket lines with the writers and actors of the wga and sag. i started in the morning at the raleigh studios in manhattan beach, where my writer/director friend michael was assigned to picket. manhattan raleigh is the home of david e. kelley productions, medium and csi: miami, among others.

i took a cooler of vitamin waters and dropped it off at the sign-in desk, picked up a sign and met up with michael on the picket line. the mood was upbeat. about forty picketers were walking up and down the sidewalks outside the studio. we got plenty of honks and admiration for michael's french pug, luca who stole the day with his own red wga shirt.

a surprise highlight was matt, an employee of meryl-lynch who after spotting the picket line from his office across the street bought about 12 pizzas for everyone with some co-workers. apparently he'd been a writer himself for years before moving into finance and was sympathetic.after leaving raleigh around 1p, i made my way over to paramount with the hopes of meeting up with john august, who had encouraged readers of his blog to come down and chat with him while showing support. you just can't pass up an opportunity to hang out with an a-list screenwriter. unfortunately i never found him. he was re-assigned to the hollywood raleigh studios gate right across from paramount. if i'd only known. however i did have a great time walking in circles in front of the main gate at paramount meeting writers and actors. jason alexander showed up and hung out for an hour.

the lowlights of the afternoon were the four different times some expensive car with tinted windows passed through the gate and the occupant gave us the finger. what a class act. way to play right into the stereotype of a fat-cat prick in a suit. because you know, these regular working-class folks peaceably assembled in front of paramount are the real enemy. absolutely amazing.

you hear a lot mingling with folks on the picket line. some tidbits:

• the strike might have been simply the result of a mis-cue. the wga east sent out an email telling it's people to be on the picket lines in the morning, while talks were still on-going. this may have contributed to the sunday night collapse of the talks. [a more accurate telling of this may be here]
• many voted against striking and were hoping that backdoor talks were happening. someone said a large percentage of the wga members didn't vote at all. [more than half didn't, of those that did 90% voted in favor]
• some have already taken on non-writing gigs. a writer with a development deal with disney who was in the process of rewrites with her partner when the strike started, has taken a part-time job with barnes and noble.
• game shows have writers. when i asked one, "so what do you write?" she answered, "the questions. and the answers. and for some we write jokes." never thought about that.
• monica may, a sag actress who played the yellow power ranger in 'power rangers s.p.d,' was out showing her support. she was supposed to be hispanic, but despite neither being hispanic or able to do any martial arts, she was the only united states actor picked from a casting call that spanned new zealand, australia, london and miami.

photo courtesy of http://www.rangercentral.com/

i've never been part of a union and never walked a picket line. to be honest, the corruption and belligerence of unions has been as much a turn-off for me as corporate greed and malfeasance. but im always up for new experiences and i don't have any friends who are studio executives, so i figured it'd be as good as any way to be a part of the whole experience.

i highly recommend participating to everyone. you may not agree with the writers or the studios, but you'll get an excellent view-on-the-ground of the real people who make up the majority of the guild. they're just like you or me, except they've managed to get paid to write. they're not brilliant or amazing or aloof. just basically nice smart people who are happy to talk to you as they walk around in circles or up and down a block.

for the latest in strike updates and news from both sides be sure to check out the united hollywood blog and the amptp site.

update: john august has posted the best explanation for why writers receive residuals that i've read so far. the main idea: writers get residuals in exchange for transferring copyright ownership to the company that purchases their screenplay. i never knew that - but it makes a lot of sense.


finally, because i always need reminding: writing is hard. it's work. even for the greats, as evidenced by this statement from joss whedon on his blog post about the strike:

"When Buffy was flowing at its flowingest, David Greenwalt used to turn to me at some point during every torturous story-breaking session and say “Why is it still hard? When do we just get to be good at it?” I’ll only bore you with one theory: because every good story needs to be completely personal (so there are no guidelines) and completely universal (so it’s all been done). It’s just never simple."