Roundup: Why Can't We Be Mutant Friends?

UH News
• Contract Update from Verrone and Winship
• UH Live for 12/5

Upcoming Events
From the WGAw
THURSDAY, 12/6

THREE GENERATIONS OF WGA MEMBERS: Sherwood Schwartz, (creator of "Gilligan's Island" and "The Brady Bunch"), his son Lloyd, (writer and producer of "The Brady Bunch" feature films and many television comedies), and Lloyd's son Andy, a story editor on "Scrubs" -- will picket together at the main gate of CBS Radford from noon until 1 p.m. Sherwood Schwartz, 91, was a founding member of the Television Writers of America, which merged with screenwriters to become the WGA.

DISABLED WRITERS & PERFORMERS UNITED: WGA & SAG joint action from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm at Sony Studios, Overland Gate.

BRING YOUR DOG DAY: It's time to hound the studios! All dogs must be well-behaved and on leashes. Please bring plastic bags and clean up after your dog. Extra water and paper bowls will be available, and Dogswell treats will be provided by The Modern Dog (1611 Abbot Kinney Blvd., ). Organizers Jhoni Marchinko (Will & Grace) and her French bulldog Amber-Louise will be at Raleigh, and Cindy Chupack (Sex and the City) and her St. Bernard rescue Tink will be at Fox. Dogs are welcome at all studios.

GAY GATE 3: 11:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Fox Main Gate.

WE CARE PACKAGES: Paramount Studio Contract Captains & teams will be collecting items to send “We care” packages to ten members of the armed forces stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. We’ve randomly chosen ten soldiers from www.AnySoldier.com. Suggested items include hard candy, jelly beans, beef jerky, sunflower seeds, pistachios, cookies, and chips, baby wipes, hand sanitizer, DVDs, new magazines, video games, Pop Tarts, Girl Scout cookies, and travel size shampoo & conditioner. Items should be single-sized, and travel well – no chocolate, or anything that could melt. We’ll also accept cash donations for postage – which is $8.00 per box. If you know a service member you’d like to add to our list, contact Nancy De Los Santos at LaNancyD @ sbcglobal.net.

PICKET-WIDE FOOD DRIVE: SOVA Food Bank desperately needs powdered milk, canned tuna and peanut butter to provide staples for their clients. Please bring these items to your picket site and drop it off in the specially marked SOVA FOOD DRIVE BOXES at each picket location. There will also be a food drive box at the Fremantle rally on Friday. Thanks for helping the WGA make a difference in our community while we strike.

FRIDAY, 12/7

IT’S ALL WRITTEN: REALITY & GAME SHOW RALLY: 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm (Rain or Shine) at FremantleMedia North America, 4000 W. Alameda Blvd (1 block E of Pass Avenue) in Burbank. Offices are located in the Citibank Building, but we'll gather on the street outside. Special musical performance by Tenacious D (Kyle Gass and Jack Black). New WGAW t-shirts will be available while supplies last. Please bring RED umbrellas if it’s raining. For more information, contact Jayson Pope at jpope @ wga.org

MUTANT ENEMY STRIKE: Fans of Joss Whedon's TV shows and films (Buffy, Angel, Firefly) will picket at the Fox Pico Gate from 10:00am until 2:00pm on Friday December 7th. Joss will be there with writers and actors from his shows. Read the press release from Fans4Writers.com. For more information, please contact Erich Hoeber at ehoeber @ yahoo.com

UNITED HOLLYWOOD LIVE: 12:00 pm -1:30 pm

MONDAY, 12/10

STAR TREK DAY: 11:00 am to 3:00 pm at Paramount Studios, Windsor Gate. The writers of all Star Trek incarnations will join us on the picket line. Whether you wrote 1 episode or 93, we want to honor you for the enormous contribution you have made to the creative community, the world and Paramount! For wasn't Star Trek once nicknamed Paramount's "Family Jewels"? Featuring performances by the Intergalactic Blues Band. Don't be shy. If you've got a costume, this is the perfect time to show it off. For more information, please contact Cynthia Greenburg at cyngreenburg @ sbcglobal.net

TUESDAY, 12/11

BRING AN ACTOR FRIEND TO THE LINE DAY: The support we've had from SAG has been inspiring. Writers are encouraged to call up at least one actor friend and get them out to the line to walk with you. This isn’t about high-profile actors, this is about ALL ACTORS supporting you, their friends and union brothers and sisters. Our fight is their fight. And hopefully, after they walk with you, a lot of them will keep coming back.

PICKET SIGNING: Showrunners and Staff Writers are invited to come by WGAW Strike Headquarters to autograph picket signs that will be given away as prizes in a contest United Hollywood is conducting for fans to produce a YouTube video in support of the writers. Video entries will be judged by noted directors. Please come by Strike HQ between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm today or tomorrow. For more information contact Susan Baronoff at or sbaronoff @ wga.org; or Jeff Berman from United Hollywood at jeffrey @ unitedhollywood.com.

WEDNESDAY, 12/12

DIVERSITY PICKETING DAY: The WGA Black Writers Committee is hosting Diversity Picketing Day on Wednesday, December 12th from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm at Paramount Studios. Everyone is welcome to join. Remember, it's our differences that make this guild strong, so come out to support. For more information, please contact Jacqueline McKinley at JacMac14 @ aol.com.

THURSDAY, 12/13

INDIE GATE: Independent Film Screenwriters and their friends & supporters will gather at Paramount at the Melrose Gate from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. Speaker: Howard Rodman, others TBA. For more information please contact Kay Schaber Wolf at kschaber @ wga.org

TUESDAY, 12/18

“SCENE OF THE CRIME” BICOASTAL PICKET: A special picket for writers of cop/crime shows and their stars from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm PST at Warner Brothers in Los Angeles & 1:00 pm – 3 pm in New York, location TBD. For more information, please contact Mark Goffman at markgoffman @ yahoo.com or Kit Boss at kitboss @ verizon.net

Actions Considered, Actions Taken
• Broadcasting and Cable reports that Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council, threatened to call for an advertiser boycott if CBS went through with the plan to put Showtime programs on the network during the strike.

• A group of Minneapolis-area fans and members plans to leaflet a movie theater this Saturday.

Videos
• "Fair Deal" by Elizabeth Page
• WGA Hawaii Pickets "Lost"

Brian Williams Has a Jones for Jon
Nightly News anchor extols value of satire, reveals mancrush.

The serious fact is that Jon Stewart and his colleagues in comedy -- along with the writers who support them -- serve an invaluable purpose by skewering the pompous and deflating the egos of the high and mighty. They function almost as a separate branch of government. We need them, and we miss them.