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, but not nearly as much as Alexa, an aspiring screenwriter (and young mom) who’s been out at Paramount at least 10 times, just because she believes in the cause.
Tonight, I’m loading vans at WGA Headquarters. I have no idea what that will really consist of, but I’m curious to see as many aspects of the process as possible.
There are some special events next week worth noting:
Monday is Star Trek Day at Paramount, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Windsor Gate.
Tuesday is student picket day, with film and screenwriting students joining the picket line at Sony’s Overland Gate from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Since film students are a significant portion of this blog’s readership, I hope to see many of you at the event.
Thursday features an Indie Gate at Paramount, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. I’ll be one of the one of the speakers, along with Howard Rodman, Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal, Robin Swicord and others. If you’re an indie writer or director, plan on coming. (And if I know you, plan on getting an email from me reminding you to come.)
I’ll confess that I was mildly skeptical about theme gates when they first started, but it’s been great to mix things up. Going into the strike, I never anticipated how many more writers I would get to know through picketing. Because feature screenwriting is a largely solitary career, there’s not the opportunity to develop colleagues the way you would in other professions — or in television writing, where you have staffs working together. I’m not so Pollyanna-ish to predict that we’ll all stay so tight and supportive once the strike is over. But for now, it’s a nice change.