John August

I had a hunch the strike would put [Josh Friedman](http://hucksblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/ext-studio-all-day.html) 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 the rest [here](http://hucksblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/ext-studio-all-day.html).

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](http://www.flickr.com/photos/girlsgonechild/1894158039/), 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 gate:

I don’t know but I been told,
Sumner Redstone’s made of gold.
Makes his money off our sweat,
Won’t pay us for internet.

I don’t know but some folk say,
Paramount is late to pay.
Why we marching at this gate?
We got screwed in ’88.

Writers seen: [Aline Brosh McKenna](http://imdb.com/name/nm0112459/), who brought Astroburger for the crew; [John Gatins](http://imdb.com/name/nm0309691/) of The Nines, hitting two studios in a day; We Are Marshall’s [Jamie Linden](http://imdb.com/name/nm1956691/), with whom I swapped McG stories; fellow Heroes: Origin refugee [Michael Dougherty](http://imdb.com/name/nm1002424/); and a drum-toting [Angela Robinson](http://imdb.com/name/nm1286340/). There was also the writing team, the kids’ book writer who was also on Alias (“season three, the bad one”), and a half-dozen other folks I only met by first name.

Other famous faces: Mary Hart of Entertainment Tonight, Mark Steines of the same, Dr. Phil, and [Blair Underwood](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/underwood.jpg), who Aline got to pose for a picture. It was a very iPhone-heavy picket line. I taught several people the iPhone camera trick. (The camera takes the picture when you release the button, so hold it down while you’re framing, then let up to “snap.” Greatly increases the odds of actually getting what you want.)

On that topic, there are a lot of great photos from the strike up on [Flickr](http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=wga%20strike&w=all).

I’ll be back at Paramount tomorrow, if any readers care to join.

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. ((The journey from Paramount to Sunset Gower was about a 20 minute walk through parts of Hollywood I’d never seen on foot. It made me appreciate why disability-rights advocates get so frustrated with the sidewalks in Los Angeles. In many cases, they’re way too narrow, with a giant electrical pole right in the middle.))

Since most readers will probably (hopefully) never go on strike, I thought I’d share some observations.

* __You recognize a lot of people__. I walked in circles with [D.V. DeVincentis](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0222584/), [Chris Brancato](http://imdb.com/name/nm0104333/), [Tim Kring](http://imdb.com/name/nm0471352/), [Jeph Loeb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0517188/), [Jesse Alexander](http://imdb.com/name/nm0018504/), [J.J. Philbin](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0679902/), [Thomas Lennon](http://imdb.com/name/nm0502073/), [Ben Garant](http://imdb.com/name/nm0304830/), recent guest authorship-opinionator [Howard Rodman](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0734912/), [Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0284524/), along with special guest stars [Kristin Bell](http://imdb.com/name/nm0068338/) and [Dax Sheppard](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1009277/), who stopped by to chat.

* __Chanting has pros and cons, fans and haters.__ The Melrose Gate was very much into doing chants. Properly led, chants are fun and energizing. In the hands of a bad chant-leader, it’s a real drag, like forced karaoke. My afternoon shift included some chant-refugees, who fled overzealous, underinspiring chant hordes. ((A good chant is simple. Often, the witty ones don’t really work, because they lose their comedy after the third repetition, and are then merely stupid.))

* __Please honk__. Really. A honk of support is surprisingly empowering, particularly if you can get a chain of cars to do it.

* __UPS is union.__ Several UPS drivers declined to cross our picket lines. I choose to believe those UPS drivers were carrying essential packages that deeply disrupted studio operations.

* __The signs are lighter than you’d think.__ When you first pick one up, you think, “How the hell am I supposed to carry this for four hours?” But it’s surprisingly not fatiguing.

* __I can advise while walking.__ I spent half an hour on the line answering questions from a young comedy writer who was going though the development process at Warner Bros. I’m happy to do it for blog-readers, by the way, if you care to join me at Paramount. I’ll be picketing afternoons there all this week.

* __Anyone can do it.__ WGA members need to sign in when they get there, but anyone interested can pick up a picket and start marching. If you fall into the “aspiring screenwriter” demographic, it’s a good way to get to know some working writers…while they’re not working. If you’re an aspiring actor, well, there are a lot of showrunners hitting the pavement.

On top of all the strike fun, I’m dealing with a sick toddler and some site-hackery, so apologies in advance for slow updates. It sometimes feels like I’m going in circles.

Oh, that’s right. I am.