Strike

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 some uncomfortable questions and awkward moments. That’s almost a given at a meeting with 1,000+ people and open microphones. But I can plead for a little decorum. Specifically:

* __Dissent does not equal treason.__ You can disagree with anyone in the room or on the stage, but that doesn’t mean they’re a villain or a sell-out.
* __If someone else asks your question, or makes your point, sit down.__ Yes, you waited in line 20 minutes to get to the mic. But let someone else say something new.
* __The future takes precedence over the past.__ There are a lot of histories to be written about the strike, including alternate scenarios. These make interesting message-board discussions, but don’t play well as one-sided polemics.

In Los Angeles, the meeting is at the Shrine Auditorium — often home to awards shows, but also the stage where I got my USC diploma. I’m planning on working the phone banks at the WGA mothership on Friday, so if you’re a member, there’s a chance I may be calling you to encourage you to come to the pow-wow.

Much of yesterday’s shooting on the web pilot was constrained to a narrow kitchen, which reminded me again why traditional TV comedies have unrealistically-sized rooms. Another challenge: this show has a lot more characters in a scene than The Nines did, which inevitably slows down the work as you connect eye-lines and coverage. But it went smoothly, and we got our last shots just as the sun went down.

Today, we have a late call — 11:30 a.m. — and wrap production after dark.

Instead of picketing, I spent today in production on the [short-film-slash-web-pilot](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2008/seeing-other-people), 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 — with six actors in challenging sets. It’s a very different kind of shooting than The Nines, looser and less planned, with many departments and amenities absent but (largely) unmissed.

I’m tired, but happy tired, which is a huge difference.

Tomorrow, call time is 7 a.m. We’re wrapping early to allow cast and crew to vote in the California primary elections.

Added: I got the same email all WGA members got this evening, with word of important progress but significant points still to be resolved. So don’t pop corks just yet. But that’s not to say you couldn’t stockpile a few bottles. And get email addresses for those folks you met on the picket line.

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 — tomorrow would seem an especially important day to be on the picket lines. If the strike is ending, it’s your last chance to be part of the picket line. If it’s not ending, then a big showing on Monday will be important for the media who show up to cover the presumed resolution.

My heart will be with my usual crew at Paramount. My body and brain cells will be in Eagle Rock, where I’ll be shooting a short-film-slash-web-pilot that’s been in the works for weeks. ((Thus explaining my “I’ll be loading more vans” comments a while back.))

The decision to do the project — I’ll tell you more when it’s done — really crystallized after [Indie Day](http://johnaugust.com/archives/2007/at-the-gates-of-paramount) at Paramount. It was there I felt a change of memes. The message from writers to the studios had been, “Come back, baby. We can work this out.” But after the second time negotiations fell apart, the message became, “Maybe we should see other people.”

I decided to start seeing other people.

The project is financed outside the studio system, with some of that much-fabled internet money. It has actors you recognize, and it probably could be a TV show — but it won’t. There’s near-consensus that in the next year or two, one of the web shows will really take off and change the game. I can almost guarantee you it won’t be ours. We may never see the light of day. But it’s the right time to be experimenting: with tone, with format, with economic model. ((To answer the obvious question: Yes, it’s okay to be shooting during the strike. The WGA has been actively encouraging members to shoot work for the web as an alternative to the AMPTP-controlled networks.))

I hope to be changing lighting setups when the call comes in that the strike is over. The cast and crew will cheer. The irony that we’re filming something for the internet — the primary focus of these negotiations — will be noted. Then we’ll keep shooting, because in production, you’re always just about to lose light.

If the news comes back negative, that the negotiations have proved fruitless, and there’s no end in sight, at least we’ll be working. That’s been the interesting thing about putting together this project during the strike. Yes, people are nervous about money and mortgages, but mostly they’re just restless to work. To create. To perform. We had 2,000 submissions for three roles. We have talented tradespeople working for the joy of working.

I don’t know if the strike is over. I don’t know if this pilot will amount to anything. But after 92 days, it feels good to stop hoping and start doing. Call time is 7 a.m.