Archive for the 'Strike' Category

• 07.17.08 WGA Board election preview

  Because a sizable number of WGA members read the site, I want to spend a few paragraphs talking about the Board of Directors election coming this September. Since joining the guild in 1998, I’ve always read the candidate statements carefully — they come in a booklet along with the ballot — trying to balance [...]

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• 07.13.08 Writers need actors

  A few readers have asked whether I’ll weigh in on the SAG situation. I won’t, except to relate an interesting conversation I had with a TV showrunner a month or two ago. He said his casting people were having a hard time finding actors of a certain age, especially minorities, for episodic parts. [...]

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• 04.20.08 Uggh

  On Friday afternoon, WGAw President Patric Verrone and WGAE President Michael Winship sent out an email to members that embarrassed themselves and both organizations. In it, they slammed the “puny few” who bailed on the WGA to take fi-core status, thus allowing them to write for pay during the strike. They provided a link [...]

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• 02.26.08 Post-strike update

  Last night I went out for beers with my picketing team from the Van Ness gate. I hadn’t spoken with any of them since the end of the strike, so it was nice to catch up, and see them in clothes not specifically chosen for walking in the cold. Remarkably, it was the first conversation I’d [...]

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• 02.12.08 Back to work

  The vote passed, with 92.5% of members calling to end the strike. Tomorrow, it’s back to the word factory. Voting today was my last chance to see some of the WGA staffers I’ve gotten to know during the strike. Some were hired on just to manage specific areas (like picketing), and will be laid off in [...]

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• 02.11.08 The vote

  The vote to lift the restraining order, thus ending the strike, occurs tomorrow from 2-6 p.m. at the WGA Theatre in Beverly Hills, and in New York at the Crown Plaza Hotel, 4-7 p.m. Obviously, you have to be a voting WGA member in order to cast a ballot. I’m looking forward to it as a [...]

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• 02.10.08 The meeting

  Last night’s meeting at the Shrine was packed. It started late, because of parking challenges. Most of my picket line crew was out sick. And as I took a seat next to a fellow USC’er, I had a brief moment of panic: I spotted a woman with an LED pin which kept scrolling, “IT’S NOT [...]

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• 02.09.08 The deal

  Early this morning, the WGA published the terms of the tentative deal reached with the AMPTP, in anticipation of the membership meetings happening later today in New York and Los Angeles. By breakfast, there was already considerable discussion online, with writers and interested parties dissecting the merits and deficiencies in the deal and how it [...]

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• 02.08.08 Strike, days 94 and 95; Production, day 3

  Our final day of shooting consisted mostly of chasing actors with cameras, my brief homage to Point Break. We also had our first and only company move — just two blocks, to a tiny medical clinic in Eagle Rock. One by one, we wrapped our actors, until we were left with just one regular and [...]

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• 02.07.08 Condition: Marginal

  Update: My cold is getting worse, so I’m going to sit out picketing this afternoon in hopes of rallying for another WGA commitment tonight.

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• 02.07.08 Thursday picketing

  I’ll be picketing at NBC this afternoon, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. I’m fighting a cold, so if I don’t shake your hand, please take no offense.

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• 02.06.08 Strike, day 93; Production, day 2

  With all eyes on yesterday’s primaries, the announcement of the big, bi-coastal WGA membership meeting this Saturday was easy to overlook. But it’s certainly a welcome development. It’s widely expected that the WGA boards will discuss the status of the agreement with the AMPTP, and outline the steps needed to get back to work. I anticipate [...]

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• 02.04.08 Strike, day 92; Production, day 1

  Instead of picketing, I spent today in production on the short-film-slash-web-pilot, details of which I’m keeping infuriatingly mum so that there’s some tiny bit of surprise when I can start showing it to people. Today went really, really well. We’re shooting two cameras — the HVX-200’s I was all a-twitter over before they came out — [...]

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• 02.03.08 Seeing other people

  As I write this on Sunday afternoon, I have no confirmation whether a deal has been reached to end the strike. Rumor and reality have been scrambled and beaten throughout this ordeal, so now seems a particularly bad time to be counting unhatched chickens. (To strain an egg metaphor.) For any writer — WGA or otherwise [...]

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• 01.31.08 Strike, day 88

  We had a big turnout for the Van Ness gate this morning — all of the regulars plus a few visitors. We debated whether that was an auspice or a coincidence. Either way, there were a lot of doughnuts. The old Russian guy who stands across the street watching us for hours decided he wanted to [...]

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• 01.30.08 Thursday picketing

  I’ll be back at my usual gate and time (5:45 a.m. at Paramount’s Van Ness gate) on Thursday, but writers interested in multi-camera comedies might want to check out Warners Gate 2, for the next Teaching Thursday. From the organizers: Writers of various genres join us each Thursday, making themselves available to discuss story, structure and everything [...]

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• 01.27.08 This week’s picketing

  Circumstances have left me a single dad this week, so it’s unlikely I’ll make it out to the picket line for more than a brief visit. (Toddlers enjoy signs and lines, but not for three hours at a stretch.) This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go. Go, and report back what you see. Monday’s picketing is all centered [...]

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• 01.24.08 Strike, day 81

  Despite the cold and rain, we had a sizable turnout at the Van Ness gate this morning, with four newcomers joining the stalwart crew. The Seattle folks brought coffee (purchased locally; they didn’t bring it with them), while feature scribes Amy and Liz enthusiastically pitched the plotline of Miracle Mile, an LA disaster movie they [...]

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• 01.23.08 Strike, day 80

  Aspiring screenwriter and reader-of-the-blog Terry came out to walk the picket line this morning. A recent Notre Dame grad, he’s doing SAT1 tutoring as a day job. My friend Amy does the same thing in New York, and it strikes me as a nearly ideal way for a writer to put ramen in the cupboard. [...]

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• 01.22.08 Strike, day 79

  This morning was a day of firsts on the picket line. For starters, it was my first day of rain picketing. A clear plastic garbage bag protects the sign, so beyond needing to occasionally wipe off my glasses, it wasn’t a big difference. It was warmer than most mornings, so I’ll gladly take some rain. Today [...]

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• 01.20.08 MLK Day

  Tomorrow is a U.S. holiday (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day), so there’s no picketing. Tuesday is a big event at Paramount. Details forthcoming.

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• 01.17.08 Day 74, revised

  I had to cancel my Arizona trip, so I’ll be doing van loading tonight, from 5-8 p.m. (Note that you have to be WGA to sign up, since it’s at the headquarters.)

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• 01.16.08 Strike, days 73 and 74

  I was out sick this morning (on the mend, thank you), and will be headed to a conference in Arizona tomorrow. So I’ll have no news from the picket line for the rest of the week. I predict it will be dark and cold, with some good conversation that I’ll sadly miss. The general consensus [...]

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• 01.16.08 I’m not there

  I woke up with a cold, so I won’t be at Paramount this morning.

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• 01.15.08 Strike, day 72

  Back at my home gate at Paramount this morning, discussion ranged from the DGA deal (which is supposedly done) to Samantha Goodman’s observation that she has a lot more respect for somebody who shivs a guy, rather than using a gun. Angry Cadillac Woman looked angry, but came nowhere near my legs. Alexa brought homemade [...]

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• 01.14.08 Strike, day 71

  This is how disoriented I was this morning at 4:15 a.m.: I nearly left the house without glasses or contacts, simply assuming that my foggy vision was due to sleepiness rather than mildly astygmatic myopia. Fortunately, I remembered that I wear glasses before I got behind the wheel, and was able to enjoy the easiest [...]

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• 01.11.08 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 [...]

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• 01.09.08 Early show

  I’ll be continuing my early shift at Paramount (5:45 a.m. to 9 a.m.) today and tomorrow.

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• 01.08.08 Blu-ray on a cold day

  With Warners picking Blu-ray, and Paramount rumored to have an escape clause letting it follow right behind, I finally bought my first Blu-ray disc: Big Fish. And a PS3 to play it on.1 Movies I’ve written are available on both formats, so I didn’t really care who won in the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray battle. I [...]

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• 01.05.08 Back to the picket factory

  After a nice vacation, it’s back to the picket lines on Monday. I’ll be returning to my home studio, Paramount, working the 5:45 a.m. to 9 a.m. shift. That’s fifteen minutes later than it used to be, so you can’t say that the WGA isn’t mixing it up for the New Year. For reasons too [...]

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• 12.31.07 On horseshit, and the New York Times

  I’m quoted in an article in today’s New York Times about how the strike has affected relationships between writers and executives. More accurately, the blog is quoted; I didn’t speak to the writer. “In November, John August, the writer of movies like “Charlie’s Angelesâ€? [sic] and “Corpse Bride,â€? spied Peter Roth, president of Warner Brothers Television, [...]

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• 12.18.07 Strike, days 42 and 43

  Yesterday was the last official day of picketing before the new year. I was happy to see a large contingent turning out at 5:30 a.m. for my home gate at Paramount. Blog reader Andrew brought along his girlfriend Olivia. Since she’s not even a future WGA member, I felt an obligation to promise her that [...]

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• 12.16.07 LA Times Dust-Up

  The point-counterpoint debate going on over at LA Times.com makes for good reading, with Craig Mazin and Matt Edelman discussing the strike.

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• 12.14.07 Strike, day 38

  The main gate at Paramount was more packed than I’ve seen it all strike, and featured some familiar names and faces, both at the podium and in the crowd. Speakers included Howard Rodman, Robin Swicord, Bill Condon, and Harlan Ellison, who filled in for a muted Josh Olson. I wasn’t brave enough to introduce myself [...]

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• 12.14.07 At the gates of Paramount

  Yesterday, I braved Actual Sunlight to speak at the Indie Gate gathering at Paramount. It was a great turnout, with a collection of writers expressing a range of opinions, from moderate (me) to far less than moderate (Harlan Ellison). I’ll have a full recap of the day up later, but I wanted to post what I [...]

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• 12.13.07 Indie Gate

  Reminder: I’ll be at Paramount’s main gate for a gathering of indie film writers from 11-2 today.

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• 12.11.07 Strike, days 33-36

  On Friday night, I went in to WGA headquarters to help load up vans for the coming week. Part of my motivation was banking hours; loading vans is a four-hour shift, and actually counts as two normal shifts. But my larger goal was to learn more about the infrastructure behind the strike. Ever since [...]

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• 12.10.07 Tuesday picketing

  I’ll be back at Paramount’s Van Ness gate Tuesday morning, beginning at 5:30 a.m.

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• 12.09.07 Stay-at-home

  I won’t be picketing Monday. I went in Friday night to load vans instead.

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• 12.07.07 Strike, day 32

  Picketing at Paramount was unremarkable, but further reinforced my theory that any session is greatly improved by two in-depth conversations. Yesterday, that was with Aaron Peters, with whom I discussed Tom Green, Andy Dick and other MTV personalities, and Tracy, who came all the way from Houston to check out the picket line. That’s dedication, [...]

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• 12.05.07 Strike, days 30 and 31

  Tuesday at Paramount was notable primarily for the presence of Angry Guy, a picketer who is always looking for a fight. The Van Ness gate is pretty busy,1 and lacking any traffic signals. So it’s not hard to make life difficult for motorists pulling onto the lot, and Angry Guy did his best to make [...]

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• 12.05.07 Blog day on the line

  I’ll write up more after lunch, but this morning’s screenblogger thing went well. From left, that’s me, Jane Espenson, Josh Friedman and Craig Mazin.

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• 12.04.07 Tomorrow at WB

  Reminder: I’ll be at Warner Bros. tomorrow (gates 2/3) from 8-11 a.m.

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• 12.03.07 Screenbloggers, live

  I’ve enjoyed meeting and picketing with my readership, but it got me wondering: What would happen if a major portion of the screenblogosphere all got together in one place? Let’s find out. This Wednesday, Craig Mazin, Jane Espenson, Josh Friedman and I will all be picketing the 8-11 a.m. shift at Warner Bros., gate [...]

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• 12.03.07 Strike, day 29

  As I’ve noted earlier, picket signs are surprisingly light. However, the large surface area makes them an attractive target to even the slightest breeze, which was the main problem this morning on the picket line. It wasn’t windy enough to rip them out of your hands, but I found myself constantly fighting the air, [...]

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• 12.02.07 Back at Paramount

  I’ll be back at Paramount’s Van Ness gate Monday at 5:30 a.m. I suspect I’ll be moving to other studios on other days.

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• 11.29.07 Strike, day 25

  I nearly went over to Burbank to join colleagues at the Gay Gate (NBC), but decided to stay local at Paramount. Irene, a fixture on the 5:30 a.m. shift, pointed out that the key to passing three hours is to have at least two in-depth conversations. As a group, we never reached consensus on [...]

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• 11.28.07 Strike, days 23 and 24

  The days were largely interchangeable, beginning in darkness at 5:30 a.m. at Paramount’s Van Ness gate. Many drivers — both Teamsters and regular motorists — stopped to ask how negotiations were going. Since there’s a press blackout, we have no official information. But two days of talking in rooms beats two days of not talking, [...]

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• 11.26.07 Strike, day twenty-two

  Early morning at Paramount was chilly but unremarkable, with a mix of familiar faces and new folks. The negotiations (which just re-opened today) were of course a major topic of conversation, but I also learned a lot about the inner workings of Ugly Betty and the wild-west state of videogame writing. The New York Times pulled [...]

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• 11.25.07 Back on the line

  If any readers care to visit, I’ll be starting a three-hour shift on the picket line at Paramount tomorrow morning at 5:30 am.

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• 11.20.07 Douglas McGrath on the strike

  Douglas McGrath has a great piece in Newsweek about the strike. Yes, I know that linking it here is preaching to the choir, but it makes a handy forward to anyone who still needs an explanation about How We Got Here and What’s at Stake.

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• 11.20.07 Hollywood rally

  Just a reminder: I won’t be at the event on Hollywood Blvd. today. I’m looking forward to readers’ comments and links.

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• 11.17.07 Strike, day thirteen

  I spent four hours at WGA headquarters this afternoon, working with a crew of about 20 on new picket signs for the rally on Tuesday. (1 p.m. at the intersection Hollywood and Ivar. A perfect outing with visiting family members. More info here.) I was on duct tape duty, wrapping sticks before the signs get stapled.1 [...]

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• 11.16.07 Strike, day twelve

  Last night, a bunch striking feature writers gathered for drinks and conversation at EAT on Sunset, just feet from where I picketed way back on day one. Although I didn’t realize it, I was apparently a host for the event. So I’m glad I didn’t listen to my exhaustion and bail on it. It was [...]

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• 11.15.07 Strike, days ten and eleven

  I missed my daily report due to pure physical exhaustion. I was in bed by 8:15 last night. And the report really begins with Day Nine-point-five, in which I eat dinner. We have a weekly babysitter on Tuesday nights, which allows my much-better-half and me to eat dinner without constant requests from a polite but [...]

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• 11.15.07 Not The Daily Show

  But really, quite a bit like it.

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• 11.13.07 Strike, day nine

  [Note: I was originally calling this "day seven," but it's really the ninth day of the strike. It's the seventh day of picketing.] A better day than six. Warmer, for one, and with more of Paramount’s picketers assigned to the Van Ness gate, the mood was improved. I don’t know what the ideal picketer-per-linear-foot ratio [...]

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• 11.12.07 Strike, day eight

  [Note: I was originally calling this "day six," but it's really the eighth day of the strike. It's the sixth day of picketing.] I’ve had early call times for production, so showing up at Paramount at 6 a.m. was no particular hardship. It was dark and cold, but with two layers of fleece and my non-Thermos-brand [...]

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• 11.11.07 Why writers get residuals

  My Pencils Down article got a lot of links, which led many first-time readers to the site. Most had little experience with screenwriting or the entertainment industry, so it’s no surprise that the concept of residuals was, frankly, odd. My friend Jeff often jokes (half-jokes, I think) that he wishes he got residuals on spreadsheets he [...]

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• 11.11.07 Worm-catching time

  I’m on the early shift this week, with strike duty from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Paramount. (The Van Ness gate, most likely.)

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• 11.10.07 Strike, day five

  Yesterday was the big rally at Fox Plaza, drawing 4,000 protesters to Century City for speeches in front of the Die Hard building. Zack de la Rocha and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine kicked it off with a set, followed by remarks from… Jesse Jackson WGA president Patric Verrone WGA negotiating committee chairman RobJohn Bowman WGA executive [...]

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• 11.09.07 Strike, day four

  In the shower yesterday, I was scrubbing my arm and silently wondering, “How did I get so dirty?” Then it hit me — that wasn’t dirt. I was getting tan. I’ve been on the afternoon shift all week. While the mornings in Los Angeles have been cool and overcast, the afternoons have been sunny. Very sunny. [...]

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• 11.08.07 Strike, day three

  Three blog readers took me up on my offer and joined the picket line at Paramount. In chatting with them about their hopes, fears and immediate plans, I formulated some on-the-fly advice about what I’d do if I were a recent college graduate hoping for a career in Hollywood. It’s not a great time to move [...]

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• 11.08.07 Not a word

  Last week, I wrote how much I admired the Pencils Down ad, in which TV’s top showrunners said they would be doing no writing on their shows during a strike. I said that I’d be delighted to sign a similar ad for feature screenwriters. I’m happy to say the WGA took me up on the [...]

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• 11.07.07 In transit

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

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• 11.07.07 The Office is closed
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• 11.07.07 The Monkey is alive

  I had a hunch the strike would put Josh Friedman back at the keyboard. AMPTP: Wow, Ms. Prostitute. That was some great sex we just had. PROSTITUTE: Thanks, AMPTP John. That’ll be three hundred dollars. AMPTP: You’re kidding. I’m not paying you. PROSTITUTE: What? AMPTP: I paid you three hundred dollars for sex last week. I consider this promotional. Read [...]

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• 11.06.07 Strike, Day Two

  Better than the first. Easier, certainly, since there wasn’t the panic of the unknown. I stayed at Paramount, half the time at the main gate, half the time at the smaller Gower gate. It was a very chanty day, but I was in the mood. One of the more popular ones from Gower [...]

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• 11.06.07 On the line

  Yesterday, I took my first tour of duty as a picketeer, joining a crew of fellow writers (and allied SAG members) at the front gates of Paramount. Later in the afternoon, I was redeployed at Sunset Gower Studios, where they shoot Heroes. 1 Since most readers will probably (hopefully) never go on strike, I thought I’d [...]

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• 11.04.07 Where I’m picketing

  I’ve been assigned Paramount Studios for picketing, so look for me there Monday afternoon.

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• 11.02.07 Pencils down

  A few minutes ago, the WGA announced plans for the strike. Barring dramatic progress in negotiations over this weekend, it’s happening. I’ve largely avoided talking about contract negotiations and the strike,1 because I have no particular insight. I’m not on the WGA Board, nor the negotiating committee. But because I’m one of the higher-profile screenwriters, people [...]

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