Recapping this week
Before the new year, this site was becoming largely a daily recap of the picket line — the strike was making this blog bloggier. With that in mind, I decided this week to bundle my strike and picket news in one end-of-week super-post.
This was a mistake, for several reasons.
For starters, I underestimated the degree to which my daily recountings helped vent and refocus my frustrations with the strike. Yes, I generally talk about the good things that happen — the interesting conversations, the writers I never would have met if it weren’t for this strange situation. But these blessings are bright points of light against a backdrop of gloomy uncertainty: no one knows how much longer this strike is going to go on.
No one. Not the writers, not the studios, not any pundit. It’s like we’re all in a footrace, but no one knows if it’s a marathon, or one of those insane super-marathons. We can count the markers along the side of the road — days on the picket line, millions of dollars lost — but none of us know how close that puts us towards the finish line.
Do we reach a deal before the Oscars? Before SAG goes out? If we knew how long the race was, we could pace ourselves. But since we don’t, since we can’t, all we can do is focus on the road under our feet. And that’s what the daily recaps were for me. A chance to look at what was happening in the moment.
Another reason for the daily recaps is that screenwriters — and for a change, I’m using this term strictly for feature writers — don’t have the sense of structure and community that television writers do. TV staffs work together. They largely picket together. They can point to showrunners as opinion leaders.
Not so for feature writers. We work alone, or in pairs. The most prominent screenwriters have fraction of the clout or connections of the TV showrunners. Yet as one of the more publicly visible feature writers, I get some half-joking variation of the following every day:
Hey John, can you get this strike wrapped up?
And dude, I wish. For family reasons, I didn’t join the negotiating committee. And I’m not privy to any secret insider information about What’s Really Going On. My pledge to myself was that I would do every hour of service asked, and lead by example if not by position.
A big portion of this blog’s readership is WGA feature writers, and there’s an obvious if unstated if-I-can-do-it, you-can-do-it aspect to my daily recaps. So, back to those next week.
In the meantime, here’s briefly the week that was.
MONDAY
It rained all weekend, and was supposed to rain during the early shift, so I pulled out the rain pants and braced myself for hypothermia. Fortunately the rain tapered off. Yet the shift was still cold, dreary and endless. Barbara Turner asked the time, then glared at me with unsettling darkness when I told her it was only 7.
TUESDAY
Barbara brought doughnuts. So while it was even colder — wearing gloves in Los Angeles feels like a betrayal of geography — the extra sugar was a huge help. More of the regulars were back from Christmas vacation, along with several non-WGA blog-readers.
Also back was Angry Cadillac Woman, who has barreled through the Van Ness gate nearly every day without showing any regard for the fact that human beings are walking there. On this day, she shouted “Get out my way!” as she nearly ran me over. Angry Cadillac Woman is in her late 50’s, with dark hair and a handicapped placard on her rear-view mirror. Her license plate number was duly noted on the incident report I filed. That, combined with the Paramount video surveillance, would hopefully get her disciplined or fired if it happens again.
WEDNESDAY
I was the first person at the gate. Walking in circles alone at 5:45 in the morning is odd. You’re not self-conscious, really, because there’s no one to watch you other than the Paramount guard. But it’s always a relief when the rest of the crew shows up.
Angry Cadillac Woman didn’t come close to hitting anyone while zooming into the Van Ness gate, but it was mostly just lucky timing.
THURSDAY
Thursday was great. It was the day it finally got back to normal, with many more people at our gate. Barbara brought more doughnuts. My assistant, Matt, brought coffee and bagels. David N. Weiss, WGA VP, spoke to us at length. By the time 9 a.m. rolled around, we had multiple picketers to relieve us.
That night, we had a screenwriters house meeting to talk about the past, present and possible end-points of the strike. It was a long and refreshingly candid session. I’d strongly recommend members attend them, because it’s a chance to have a conversation with leadership, rather than a presentation by leadership. I left the meeting no more or less optimistic, but I was gratified to see one of the things we asked for come about: concentrated picketing.
Picketing on Monday will be at Warners. Not Fox, not Sony, not Paramount, not Universal, not CBS. By bringing everyone to one place, we can focus attention on a single issue — in this case, WB’s plans to axe employees rather than return to the bargaining table.
I’ll be hitting the 5-8 a.m. shift, and look forward to seeing not just my normal crew, but lots of other friends and colleagues who’ve been scattered around town. I hope it’s successful, because it’s something I’d love to see continue.
And whatever happens, I’ll give a recap.
January 11th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Having been officially (by WGA leadership and not by CBS) evicted from my normal Colfax picket location and relocated to WB (for the foreseeable future), 5am rolls around pretty damn early.
All I have to do now is figure out the parking arrangement and I’m home free.
See you there–I’ll be the one with my eyes closed.
January 11th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Having been officially (by WGA leadership and not by CBS, despite one mad driver’s attempt to run me over) evicted from my normal Colfax picket location and relocated to WB (for the foreseeable future), all I have to do now is figure out the parking arrangement and I’m home free.
5 am rolls around early. See you there–I’ll be the one with my eyes closed.
January 11th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
So glad to hear you’re going back to more regular updates. The the one that talks about how the writers won can’t come soon enough though.
January 11th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
You probably get this a lot, but I wanted you to know, there are fans who really appreciate the writers and respect what all of you — the writers, and the other guilds — are going through for future generations. We love you, we love your work, and we’re waiting with you, doing whatever we can.
Norma Rae like a motherfu—-,
Laota French
January 12th, 2008 at 12:42 am
Rockin. Welcome back Obi-wan.
January 12th, 2008 at 1:59 am
I’m glad you’ll be back to daily blogs.
I can’t believe the strike is in its third month now, still with no end in sight. It’s a real damn shame. The gall of the AMPTP is staggering. It just boggles the mind.
January 12th, 2008 at 6:05 am
Glad to have you back. I was getting a bit discouraged coming back to the same blog entry day after day.
But every cloud has a silver lining (your can shoot me later for that cliche). I found a neat site called PlotBot. A place to stretch the imagination - like scrabble for scriptwriters.
Delete me if I’m out of line, but I’d love any 10 second skit contributions to my entry “A Penny Drops”.
http://www.plotbot.com/screenplays/apennydrops/
The quick pitch is:
Mike stands on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. It is late afternoon and the sun is just setting. He has a penny clenched between thumb and forefinger. He draws back his arm in ultra slow motion… then snaps elbow, then wrist forward sending the coin out beyond the walls.
In the 10 seconds that it takes to tumble to earth a million separate stories play out in the big apple - tell me yours.
(No really, tell your late afternoon New York story in a 10 second scene.)
Again, great to have you back John.
January 12th, 2008 at 9:10 am
“Angry Cadillac Woman” is a great title for a movie.
January 12th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I can’t wait until you can stop the strike recaps because the strike is over, but until then, you’ve done a great job of representing the strikers who can sometimes seem … less great … over at other sites. You’ve helped explain the issues and the day to day life of the strike clearly without the over-the-top rhetoric that’s out there, and I’m glad to hear it also give you an outlet that helps you deal with the turmoil at least a little.
January 12th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
I wish I was in the US at the moment to come and support you all guys (I m french). I ve been reading this blog for a couple months now and still cant believe the suits prefer to please their shareholders than giving benefit where it s due. All they deserve is you all to create a new United Artists studio and they use their MBA skills to write the next blockbusters themselves.. Kudos to actors for the Globes. Isnt it good to feel supported by your pairs? reading you every day in support, keep up the fight!
January 12th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
May I ask politely why strikers are standing in front of the gates? I thought you weren’t blockading traffic.
Maybe ACW is upset that she’s getting laid off any day now due to her show being put on indefinite hiatus.
January 13th, 2008 at 12:57 am
Keep up the fight guys.
John, I’m just wondering what you think the state of post-strike Hollywood will be in terms of emotion. This strike seems to have pretty bitterly divided people and I’m wondering what the impact will be of the WGA leadership and whether this would make it harder for new people to break in (considering that I am moving out there between May and September).
January 13th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
@ Monika (#11):
Picketing means walking. By law, you can’t just stand there. So you cross in front of the gate, turn around, then walk back. At Van Ness, we’re extremely accomodating to cars coming through.
@ Josef (#12):
There will be some bad feelings for a while, but nothing special directed at newcomers. It will, however, be extra challenging for new writers for those first few months after the strike, as the development machinery slowly gets reassembled.
January 13th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
There are a lot of writers, who don’t live in California, that would love to walk the picket line with you.
Keep up your spirits, even on ugly days, because you’re doing what is right.
January 14th, 2008 at 9:58 am
I want to chime in with Diane. I first started reading your blog just for fun, and loved all the Africa stuff and the birth of the Nines. Now it is Can’t Miss for me. Your viewpoint on this depressing situation is always human and principled and you should really be more widely read than you are.
As my Mom always used to say : “Courage Camille!”
January 16th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
I have this overwhelming urge to sell everything I own and fly over to strike, just to experience something that sounds worthwhile (I’m a Canadian living in Australia). As an outsider to most things, a lot of strikes sound like they’re absolutely useless. A couple guys with poorly written signs standing outside of Wal-Mart telling people not to bow to commercialism isn’t really what I consider a force of nature. But this… this is a revolution in comparison. Something to be a part of!
Good luck, and I’d love to be there!