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In transit

I’m headed from Paramount over to Prospect Studios to help out there. (That’s where Grey’s Anatomy shoots.)

10 Responses to “In transit”

1. christopher
   November 7th, 2007 at 5:21 pm

   thanks for keeping us posted (literally) on your whereabouts. im planning on taking tomorrow off from my vfx post job to walk the line at raleigh studios in redondo beach tomorrow where my friend has been assigned for the morning. i’d love to get a chance to march in circles with you in the afternoon if you’ll be picketing, so please continue to let us know where you’ll be.

2. Christian M. Howell
   November 7th, 2007 at 5:47 pm

   Stand strong. I’ll be outside Time Warner tomorrow in NYC. Screw spec sales. For now.

3. Sarah
   November 7th, 2007 at 10:56 pm

   Good luck!

4. Doug
   November 8th, 2007 at 12:36 am

   John, I’ve been following the strike obsessively since it started and can tell you, despite what seem to be dwindling comments here, the unitedhollywood site is making a tremendous impact in getting the public behind the WGA efforts.

   I can’t tell you how much it means to me as a SAG member to see my WGA brothers taking this on. You guys make me proud, and to be honest, it’s gotten me a bit choked up more than once. I never realized it would such an affect on me. I just wish I could afford to fly up and march with you.

   Much love, my friend, and never give up. The right conclusion is more important than a timely conclusion, and I don’t care if I have to take a job in a coffee shop if it means the right agreement is signed in the end. Take as long as it takes. A lot of people are behind you.

5. Dave Tanner
   November 8th, 2007 at 1:14 am

   Hey, look what Gary Bourgeault wrote http://www.bizofshowbiz.com/2007/11/whatthewritersstrikeis_rea.html

   —- quote begins —-

   What the Writers’ Strike is Really About – by Gary Bourgeault

   Some people are saying the strike will determine the future of the union, but, as I mentioned here, this isn’t really about survival, as far as the working writers go, they already have extraordinary pay and benefits.

   Other than the external issue of the Internet, the real issue is if this union is really needed at all. My thought is that is isn’t.

   The good, high quality writers will always get their due, and good upcoming writers need the freedom to be able to break into the industry without having the union albatross hung around their knecks.

   Whether there’s a writers union or not will have no impact on the industry or writers; that’s what they need to learn. Writers are needed, that’s known. What also needs to be known is the industry overall would benefit, as well as the writers, from an open, and free market where everybody can compete. That will only strengthen the product they offer.

   If this was really about the Internet, waiting another three years to strike would have made much more sense, as it would give a better picture and numbers so there could be real data to work from. That doesn’t exist at this time.

   So while everyone is going to say this is a battle for Internet revenue, it’s really a battle over the growing irrelevancy of unions, and a move to try to make it look strong.

   With active writers making about $200,000 a year and getting great benefits, this is far from a money issue or getting a bigger piece of the pie.

   So with these writers already getting for more money, benefits and revenue, they should quietly disband this union and recognize the new world we’ve been living in for the last 20 years.

   Don’t be fooled, none of this is about money, the writers are already in high income brackets, it’s about the attempt to make a weak union strong.

   —- quote ends —-

   I tell you, that guy is just all class.

6. jess
   November 8th, 2007 at 2:02 am

   Dear John,

   In totally unrelated news…

   I’m new to your site and read through a whole bunch of your archives tonight. I served coffee to you a few weeks ago at a meeting on the WB lot. I almost spilled said coffee on you upon serving it. I sort of wish I had, and that you had yelled or gotten mad or something, for the sole reason that it is hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that you seem to be such an impeccable human being.

   Thank you for that…it’s an important thing to see for a young writer slightly scared of the industry :)

   Be well and strike on…

7. Niall
   November 8th, 2007 at 6:04 am

   While I understand that the major studios have backlog of films and it would take some time for the strike to impact them, will the strike have an effect on the promotion of these films? Do writers work on trailers, viral marketing, for example?

8. John August
   November 8th, 2007 at 9:01 am

   Jess (#6):

   Thank you for my half-caf with a little milk. Continue to take down the studio from the inside.

   Niall (#7):

   In features, screenwriters don’t tend to get particularly involved in the marketing. Depending on the show, they can be much more involved in television. This “promotional” writing is a big source of contention in the current negotiation.

9. Michael J. Welch
   November 8th, 2007 at 9:45 am

   Thought you guys might be curious what Joss Whedon has said about this.

   http://whedonesque.com/comments/14650

   A couple of excerpts:

   “We’re talking about story-telling, the most basic human need. Food? That’s an animal need. Shelter? That’s a luxury item that leads to social grouping, which leads directly to fancy scarves. But human awareness is all about story-telling. The selective narrative of your memory. The story of why the Sky Bully throws lightning at you. From the first, stories, even unspoken, separated us from the other, cooler beasts. And now we’re talking about the stories that define our nation’s popular culture – a huge part of its identity. These are the people that think those up. Working writers…

   “Because this IS a union issue, one that will affect not just artists but every member of a community that could find itself at the mercy of a machine that absolutely and unhesitatingly would dismantle every union, remove every benefit, turn every worker into a cowed wage-slave in the singular pursuit of profit.”

   (The fancy scarves thing is explained in the link.)

10. jess
    November 8th, 2007 at 11:57 am

    Yeah, speaking of taking down the studio from the inside…where do you think unpaid interns stand in all of this? I don’t do any real literary services (certainly no writing), but do a lot of nuts-and-bolts stuff that I’m sure is helpful to the studio. I’ve been on the picket lines, but after reading Shawn Ryan’s circulating letter about an absolute-no-work policy, I’m starting to wonder if I should quit my internship. Would that be totally in vain? What do you think?

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