Links: Visions of the Future, Flashbacks to High School

Around the Web Wrap Up
Please join me in welcoming SAG member Tanja Barnes to the roster of United Hollywood contributors. Check out her great blog/podcast Writers Strike Chronicles. She is scouring the Internet for our regular "Around the Web" wrap ups. You can also read her full del.icio.us feed here. -JA

NBC Offers Marketers Cash Back for Canceled Globes
From AdAge.com ABC begins reaching out to advertisers to discuss potential changes to the Oscars.

Writers Guild Hits CES; CES Hits Back (Washington Post)
A small but dedicated contingent of writers and fans is spreading the word at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The Wynn kicked them out.

What to Watch While the Writers Strike
As new episodes of favorite shows run out, NewTeeVee suggests online alternatives.

Digg, CBS Interactive team up for Political Coverage (CNET)
CBS Interactive announced Tuesday that its CBSNews.com property has teamed up with social news site Digg for online coverage of the 2008 elections.

The Quotable Ben Silverman (E! Online)
"Sadly, it feels like the nerdiest, ugliest, meanest kids in the high school are trying to cancel the prom. But NBC wants to try to keep that prom alive."

Writers' Strike an Inflection Point for Online Video? (GigaOM)
Venture capitalists like to find the "point of inflection" for a market. What will the strike mean for the online video business?

What Kids Tell Us About the Future of Media
Specifically, VC and blogger Fred Wilson's kids.

Recent United Hollywood Posts

- Speechless (And Jokes at the Expense Of!)
- Introducing Tech Jetsam: UH's Technology Column
- Dear Ben Silverman: Prom Is Not Canceled
Benjamin Silverman High School Prom: Thursday 1/17, 11am-2pm outside NBC Burbank.
- ACTIONS: WGA - Send Message to Peter Chernin & FDL - Tell Viacom/Comedy Central Execs to Make a Fair Deal
- UA Already Reaping Benefits of Side Deal
- United Hollywod's First Annual Short Film Contest
The winner will receive an authentic WGA strike poster with over 175 signatures by writers, actors, actresses and directors.
- Strike TV Workshop Reminder
Wednesday, January 9th, 1pm at the WGA Theater - 135 S. Doheny Dr., Beverly Hills.
- Voices4Action
New video campaign. First up: Tony Gilroy.
- David Milch: The Idea of the Writer - Now Available Online
- United Artists and WGA Sign Interim Agreement!
- The Strike Is a Lawyers' Game: How to Play to Win
By WGA strike captain Alfredo Barrios, a former corporate attorney turned writer. It offers insight into what the AMPTP methods and rationale for undermining the writers' resolve.

Links: Salute to Mensches Edition

WHY WE WRITE

Damon Lindelof
Steven Peterman
Marshal Gordon
Greg Berlanti
Carol Mendelsohn

AROUND THE WEB

Nikki Finke is NYO's Media Mensch of the Year
The New York Observer salutes Nikki for being an "online outlaw" and refusing to let the story of the WGA strike die.

F4W at the Rose Parade photoset
Shots of the Fans4Writers crew and the skywriting they arranged. Nice job, and thanks!

Reading for Writers - one fan's campaign
You know those fundraisers where people get pledges for every mile they run? One fan is taking pledges for every book read. Menschy.

Militant Jewish Defense League Supports Writers
You don't mess with these folks.

Germans say "Nein" to television - Yahoo! News
The Germans are spending less time watching TV. Blame the Internet. Blame the future.

Eric Bogosian: CEOs Fear Internet's "Greater Exact Accounting"
Thoughts from the noted writer/actor/mensch.

Links: Viacom On Already!

TECH NEWS

Yep, the conglomerates just don't know what the digital future will hold. Will there be more $500 million deals like this pact between Viacom and Microsoft in the future? Who knows?!

Andrew Baron, producer of the popular video blog Rocketboom, expalins Eight Reasons the TV Studios Will Die. Allow me to propose one way NOT to die: Make a fair deal with the creators of your content so you can work TOGETHER to preserve and grow your business. Seems simple enough.

Poll: More TV viewers turning to the web.

STRIKE ANALYSIS

Handel: Let's cross our fingers that the DGA has the power to get everyone back to work.

Robert Elisberg rockin' the house again on HuffPo.

"...If corporations only have to pay $250 for residuals on the Internet as opposed to $20,000 on TV -- where do you think all reruns will eventually be shown?

It gets worse. The corporations don't want original Internet content covered for the WGA. Where do you think the first-run "broadcast" of a series will be? After streaming once on the Internet, a company can simply "re-air" it on network TV. It's the same screen. The only difference is that General Electric-Sony-TimeWarner-Fox won't have had to pay more than a pittance for the material.

If you don't think this would happen, you haven't been watching the AMPTP offering zero and walking away from the table...

Roger Ebert: Thumbs down on studio greed.

AMUSEMENT

WGA vs AMPTP at Home

Cantinero sings his strike ballad "No Apologies" in Times Square. Yes, the Naked Cowboy inserts himself in the shot.

Christmas Carols!

- From the AMPTP Children's Choir of Truth
- From Peter Rader

Most Recent United Hollywood Posts

• Paul Haggis: The Reality of Reality and Animation

• The First Delivery of Pencils2MediaMoguls. UPDATED with report from Jeffrey Berman.

• Laeta Kalogridis Weighs in on Reality and Animation

• David Milch: "The Idea of the Writer" Business Model Discussion

• A Reality Writer Responds to the AMPTP

• The War of Words: No Substitute for Real Negotiations

• AMPTP's Union Buster Fired

• Links: NBC Under Siege Edition! But don't worry about NBC's ailing fortunes too much. They have a plan:

Links: NBC Under Siege Edition!

NBC FIRST NETWORK TO SHOW MAJOR CRACKING
The Peacock's feathers are starting to droop. Who will be next?

NBC is quietly giving advertisers their money back. In all fairness, the CW is apparently tanking also. The real "ouch" quote is this one about NBC's new non-scripted efforts:

“We’re trying to understand NBC’s recent moves,” said Laura Caraccioli-Davis, exec vp, Starcom Entertainment. “We are concerned that it might be thinking about adopting a programming strategy like some of its sister cable networks. American Gladiator and even some of the shows they have in development, like Knight Rider, are remakes, being dusted off rather than coming up with new creations.

“NBC used to be the upscale, quality network,” she added. “We have come to expect quality, iconic programming. Maybe they are searching for the reality hit they don’t have, their own American Idol. But too much reality just doesn’t play well with advertisers.”

Like I said, ouch.

Oh, and Hulu got hacked.

But that's okay, there's always FanFare. You know, from SanDisk. Right? Guys? Um...

NBC gets picketed in Second Life. Just watch out for virtual Tommy Short showing up and heckling: "Clown car! Clown car!"

MUST READS
Because we can't recommend them enough...

Fans and writers supporting one another and joining the fight for a fair deal (Wall Street Journal)

Patrick Goldstein in the LA Times: "Why have the studios walked away from the negotiating table? Although it seemed hard to believe at first, the evidence is overwhelming that they never had any serious intention of making a fair deal, at least the kind of deal that, as Lew Wasserman might have put it, would’ve allowed both sides to come away declaring victory."

Robert J Elisberg in the Huffington Post: Why is the AMPTP allowed to gang up on each union one by one? How is that legal? (Answer: It should not be.)

Competitors are not allowed to negotiate together, to even confer together. It's called collusion. When baseball owners merely created an "information bank" for offers being made to free agent players, they were fined $280 million. Two competitors cannot talk with one another if there's just a hint of agreement. Imagine ALL competitors in an industry getting together to set ALL wages and ALL labor conditions.

It doesn't happen. Anywhere. Not "anywhere in the U.S." Anywhere in the free world.

Except Hollywood.

Between this and the FCC nonsense going on, this strike could end up spilling over into the halls of Congress. And that's the last place the conglomerates want to find themselves.

AROUND THE WEB

From Variety.com: "If the Sundance Film Festival can figure out a new formula to pay for internet downloads, why not the AMPTP?"

Local news from Minneapolis on picketers taking the writers' case to the public. Bravo to everyone who's picketing despite the chill in Minneapolis and, of course, NYC!

Petrea Burchard writes about the why SAG and the WGA are are sticking together her column in NowCasting.com's ezine, ActorsInk.

FREMANTLE RALLY

Photos submitted by Athena007 on Picasa

Jack Black rocks the crowd (Page Six)

Tenacious D performance (YouTube)

This report was sent to us by a rally goer who requested anonymity:

Fremantle Sr. VP David Johnson was seen with a picket sign and a WGA T-shirt, hanging out on the sidelines and then walking with it into his office building. A number of us noticed that and wondered "what for?" So someone asked, "You joining us with a picket sign?" He responded with a smile, "Sure, why not?"
Collecting stuff for his memorabilia collection?

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.

Journalists, Pets: Future of New Media Worth Fighting For

Our message that this strike is a fight for the future has been getting ample backing from business reporters. Here's the UK's Guardian Unlimited:

The internet is set to overtake magazines to become the world's third largest advertising medium in 2010, according to a new report. Media planning and buying agency ZenithOptimedia's global advertising report estimates that in 2010 the internet ad market will be worth almost $61bn, compared with the magazine market at around $60.5bn.

And as more ad spending gravitates online, you can be sure premium video content is going to pay off quite nicely.

Meanwhile, right here in the present, there are some inspiring independent online video success stories. The poster boy for indie online success is the black clad advice guru of Ask a Ninja. (He gave us some tips, too!) This article in TV Week profiles video content creators at various levels of success and notoriety. But the Ninja demonstrates that when you have a hit, the rewards are there. One-hundred large a month buys a lot of throwing stars.

A big part of what makes online so exciting for the companies (and thus, for all of us) is the flexibility of how content is both delivered and consumed. For example, there are conventional download services like iTunes, through which Twentieth Century Fox will begin offering movies in early 2008. And there are new venues that most people over nineteen probably can't wrap their heads around. In the virtual world Gaia, characters will soon be able to sit down and watch real movies from WB and Sony.

It's especially enjoyable that whenever NBCU's Jeff Zucker tries to downplay this exploding medium, he inadvertently states our case in wonderfully pithy quotes. A friend writes:

This is hilarious -- Jeff Zucker, in discussing NBC's plans to get paid for the Internet, pretty much says *exactly* what the writers have been saying all along. His line about not wanting to replace
analog dollars with digital pennies is especially nice. We should hire
him to write our signs.

Sounds like the threat of the NEP to us! (At least the half we know about. Stay tuned!)

----

OTHER LINKS

- "Sorry, Internet" has gone viral. The video by Colbert Report writer Frank Lesser showing animals going on a sympathetic "no cute on YouTube" strike has prompted many responses. My favorite: "Kali Supports the Writers."

- As Nikki reported earlier, I Want Media announced that "Writers on Strike" received the most votes in its week-long poll to name the 2007 "Media Person of the Year." "The Hollywood screenwriters attracted a whopping 56 percent of the total vote." I think it's cool that voters thought the way we've been articulating our case deserved some recognition. But this is one award I would have been happy not to be eligible for.

- WGA supporter and regular commenter on this site VDO Vault has created the writers strike mega-mix!

Worthy of inclusion on VDO's list is "The Underdog" by Spoon. It's getting a lot of airplay lately; maybe some moguls should have a listen?

You got no time for the messenger,
got no regard for the thing that you don't understand,
you got no fear of the underdog,
that's why you will not survive.

RUMOR: Whenever Nick Counter hears those lyrics, his ears burn.
STATUS: Unconfirmed.

Links to Info on Numbers, Opinions, New Business Models and the Reality that No One Owns the Internet

- "New Economic Partnership." NEP. Hmm. Sounds so familiar. Wasn't there another famous NEP somewhere? Some other exciting NEP cooked up by a really trustworthy and benevolent organization? Oh, now I remember.

- The lie that online content delivery is a risky bet crumbles more and more each day. Nikki posted information from the Financial Times estimating that online advertising is a $120 million market for the conglomerates. And Media Life Magazine reports that viewers are 44 percent more engaged by ads that appear in television programs they watch online than those they view on traditional television. And thus more valuable. And thus more profitable. And thus the writer who creates the content to draw them in should get the equivalent of two trips to Pavilions for doing so. Hey, wait...

- And naturally, the AMPTP's distortions and dodges are catching up with them. As of Tuesday, Americans were seven times more likely to support the writers as they were the all-devouring future-stealing machine. Meanwhile, big thanks to Daily Kos for the love.

- The Criminal Minds Fanatic website has been raising funds for the support staff and crew of the show as well as holding auctions with the help of the writing staff. Lately, they've held auctions on eBay. Webmaster Jill Davidson tells us, "All the proceeds minus the eBay fees are going directly to our Appreciation Fund." Check the site for more.

- Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake.com spoke about the strike on C-Span. It's at about 3:49.

- This article by Patrick Goldstein has really made the rounds. I'm posting it now for anyone who might have missed it. Goldstein foresees the strike hastening rise of the "writer-entrepreneur" who ditches the studios for independent financing and distributes online. It's a vision that cuts the AMPTP out of the picture. This idea was raised earlier by Marc Andreessen, one of the founders of Netscape and currently of Ning, in his blog post "Rebuilding Hollywood in Silicon Valley's Image." This business model is clearly what Joss was alluding to in his post this weekend. The New York Times adds, "traditional television is being quickly superseded by the market chaos of a freewheeling and open digital network." And the longer the strike goes on, the more this idea gains steam. Even someone with no stake in the business, a Libertarian blogger named Mike Roberto, is intrigued by the idea and sent us his take.

- Jo of JOpinionated, writes: "I have interviewed Kevin Collins, a TV writer who is currently undergoing radiation treatment for a rare form of thyroid cancer and honoring 'Pencils Down' at the same time. He is very sweet guy and his story is quite compelling. He was nice enough to grant me an interview during his recovery."

- A VERY detailed account of the strike so far from ComicBookResources. Thanks to Emmett Furey for the analysis and for sending it our way.

- Just For Pickets and Giggles

Don't you just love that MTV reality show, "The Hills"? Judd Apatow and friends don't either.

A Flickr pool of picketers' feet titled "They Walked the Line"

Former "Raymond" and "Lucky Louie" scribe Mike Royce wrote a piece lampooning Variety's coverage of the strike by showing how they might have covered the Jets' victory over the Colts in Super Bowl III.

Aspiring screenwriter Brian Carroll sends us his comic strip "Genrezvous Point." Genres living together on a mountaintop. Complications ensue...

Your Late Night Links

- "Speechless" is drawing a lot of praise. Congrats to George, Alan and company on all the hard work. Here is a flattering piece in Time and one from the Associated Press (via CNN). The AP story also gives some journalistic love to Kristen and Peter, our fellow online activists at Hollywood Interrupted. Between their MySpace and Facebook squads, the Virtual Picket Line is approximately 6500 strong.

- Mark Lisanti at Defamer beat me to this (like Nikki, that guy blogs as if it's his job or something), but I still want to quote this line from Ben Stein's New York Times column:

To the bosses, I say, “We are not afraid.”

I like to imagine Ben Stein intoning, "Counter... Counter..." But then, it's getting kind of late.

- Catherine Butterfield, a picketer at Sony, sent in this quote from New Yorker television critic Nancy Franklin:

"'Gossip Girl' has indeed become a hit, though not a megahit. It's now possible -- and necessary -- for Nielsen to count viewings of shows that people have recorded on their DVRs and watched within seven days, and 'Gossip Girl's ratings jump from not so hot to respectable when those figures are taken into account. It's also the top TV show on iTunes at the moment. It was on the basis of these two elements of our brave new multiplatform world that the CW decided recently to order a full season of 'Gossip Girl.' Advertisers being drawn to a show that sells well on iTunes wasn't even a concept until a couple of years ago. All the new ways of delivering shows to viewers are starting to pan out for the studios and the networks that own them. That they continue to balk at sharing a larger fraction of their stupendous wealth with writers -- the people who make that wealth possible -- is as mystifying as it is sensationally wrong."

Not just wrong, "sensationally wrong." Wow. Variety subscription: Cancel. New Yorker subscription: Renew.

- I'm guessing that in the time it took Nancy Franklin to type, "All the new ways of delivering shows," three new ways launched. The latest I've read about is SyncTV. Big thanks to Disney picketer David Simkins for sending me the announcement from MacWorld.com.

- More New Yorker content! Writer Dana Goodyear maintains a blog about Los Angeles. This week, she visited with Jerry Maren, "who, at eighty-seven, is the only remaining representative of the Lollipop Guild." And Jerry, a proud Republican, is no fan of big media.

[H]e was still bitter about his treatment at the hands of M-G-M, sixty-eight years ago: “They paid us fifty dollars a week. No residuals, no nothing. Midgets don’t grown on trees, you know.” Then he pointed out that “the dog” -- I guess he meant Toto -- had been making a hundred and twenty-five a week.

- WGA member Alan Shapiro has posted a round-up of strike coverage, and it's easy on the eyes.

- Yahoo!'s slideshow feature continues to add strike photos. And Eric Appel is the latest member to send us a Flickr pool.

- I found this parody protest song by Jill Sobule buried in the comments of a previous post. But she's right about what will happen without another season of "Mad Men." That's no joke. Back in September, Jill wrote an interesting essay about how digital delivery has changed the music business.

- I would go to sleep now if I weren't certain I'd have nightmares about Nick Counter's horrible robot minion.

Pre-Thanksgiving News and Notes

As UnitedHollywood settles into the slower, holiday news cycle, we'll still be updating the site. Just ...you know, not as much. The big news over the next few days will be the speechless campaign. So look for that. And we'll be back with full coverage of the resumed negotiations on the 26th.

• StrikeSwag.com has shirts and a brand new supply of red writer's bracelets in stock.
  
  
  
  Proceeds support the Union Solidarity Fund, so click over and pick up some swag!
  

• Campanile Restaurant on LaBrea just emailed us with details of their Writers Soup Kitchen. Starting tonight, you can order off a special menu that includes a choice of soup, entree, and dessert for $18/person. What makes this especially great is that you only need to show one WGA card per table. So, in the spirit of solidarity, head over there with your favorite member of SAG, the Teamsters, SEIU, DGA or any of the other many unions who marched with us yesterday. Click over to their Web site for info and reservations.
  

• Speaking of yesterday's march, no doubt many of you noticed the plane flying overhead with the "we're all on the same page" slogan trailing behind it. That plane was booked by WGA member Todd Robinson and sponsored by Elizabeth Robinson's company, Principal Entertainment. Big shout out to the Todd and Elizabeth for their generosity.
  

• Slate.com is hosting an interesting poll for Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau about viewers' reactions to the WGA strike. It's completely unscientific, but still worth a click.
  

Monday Morning Links

- Garth Brooks Rocks
The best-selling solo music artist in US history refused to cross picket lines and appear on "The View" or "Ellen" last week to promote his album. Reports cited this quote from Brooks' publicist: "Garth is proud of the position he has taken since he hopes to be a writer in the not too distant future."
Garth, I'll bet you now have several thousand writers who will happily look at drafts for you. Thanks for your support.

Many outlets carried this story, but when one is called CountryStandardTime.com, well, that's the one getting the link.

- The LA Times' strike coverage has been ramping up, and it now regularly includes angles of the story unreported elsewhere. Two examples: a Christian group's prayer for a fair resolution and the announcement of a worldwide day of protest on November 28 to support the strike.

Today, the paper runs two pieces of note. The first provides some good context on the battles over fair compensation that got us here. And it provides this great quote:

"Profitability is next to nothing," said one studio executive who asked not to be named. "The notion of taking out more money from a business that's nascent just seems crazy to us. The problem is, we said the same thing about DVD and it became a $10-billion business."

Yes, nameless executive, that is the problem. I suppose there was a time when it cost a king's ransom to manufacture the housing of a single VHS cassette. "We're getting reamed on the plastic costs! Throw us a bone here!" As if to reinforce nameless executive's confession, the headline of the second LAT article states, Digital Media Won't Be a Sideshow in the Future.

- Michael Fox writes in The Smirking Chimp, a political blog:

The visibility is tremendous, and the zeitgeist in L.A. seem unanimous: This is not the fault of the writers – the studios have reverted to the state they were in 1948 (and then some), they are greedy beyond any sense of reason, and we are all damn mad – and supportive of the strike; the writers must get their fair share of the income their work generates.

- Ruth, aka "Anonymous English Major," e-mailed UH asking how to help, and she joined the picketing for a day! She's posted her picket story on her LiveJournal page, complete with pictures.

- I'm told the most recent Prairie Home Companion included a "sympathetic, funny bit" about the strike near the beginning of the show.

- John Vorhaus hit Vegas after a week of picketing, and he found metaphors at the poker table. WARNING: Highbrow literary theory content. But there's also this:

I asked what people thought about the strike, and this one old guy (by old, of course, I mean about my age) said, deadpan, "'Fair is fair,' says Billie Jean." This, if you don't recognize it, is the signature line from the movie The Legend of Billie Jean, written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal, released in 1985, and starring the delicious Helen Slater.

- I'm not sure if I'm supposed to reveal the identity of Charlie, the writer behind My Second Strike, but here's a hint: This is not his first strike.

- "The most prominent TV critic in Canada" supports the WGA.

Here's the idea: Let's just boycott American network TV until the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers settles with the Writers Guild of America and the writers can get back to doing what they want to do -- entertain us.

*****
Don't forget to visit Strike Points for all the news from our friends in the Guild East. I also recommend Late Show Writers on Strike. We have relaunched pages on Facebook and MySpace, plus a growing Flickr account. Send your strike-related pictures to unitedhollywood [at] gmail [dot] com!

Your Late Night Links

Picketing with the Stars: More Great Photos
Photography by Hamilton is one of the best online photo galleries I've seen, and it's a great source for pictures of strike events.

Flickr continues to feature lots of strike scenes as well. Kudos to Flickr user ground_glass for her arty black and white shots. Nice!

Here's coverage of the event from USA Today and from Plaintive Wail, the blog of Stephen Falk.

If you have any strike-related pictures to upload but neither the time nor geek inclinations to use a service like Flickr, email them to us, and we'll post them. You can find our small, but hopefully growing, page here. Email your pics to unitedhollywood [at] gmail [dot] com

Oh, and we do video too. But you knew that.

News from the East
Team United Hollywood had a great strategy call Wednesday with Team Strike Notes. You're going to see some close coordination between this site and our sister blog to the east. Right now, we have a box in the upper right of every page featuring Strike Notes' most recent headlines. Click here for a recap of the Disney Store picket on Fifth Avenue. And visit the WGAE Flickr page. Good luck WGAE with the big Viacom picket today!

Words of Support
The editorials, opinion pieces and blog posts supporting our fight for a fair contract keep pouring in!
- "When Will We Feel TV's Hand in Our Pockets," by Peter Ames Carlin of The Oregonian connects the conglomerates' poor treatment of creative professionals with the poor treatment of local cable customers.

[T]his is not a sustainable kind of industry. Strip-mining never is. And as the FCC's newfound interest in the cable providers' unsettling rate hikes and market domination -- the regulators may actually allow for competition in the cable business -- makes clear, the end can come suddenly.
Networks, producers, take heed. When the factory noise overwhelms the dreams you're producing, the next sound you hear will be your customers leaving.

-Jonathan Tasini of Working Life has launched a "call the CEOs" campaign. And he's posted some background information on CEO compensation and company revenues to prepare you for when Zucker or Moonves is on the line.
- Blogger LillyKat of Pass the Remote understands exactly what's at stake and provides some historical context. (And uses our own Kate Purdy to illustrate her point!)
- Ms. Sue Doe-Nim has posted a picture from 1974 of a vintage WGA strike sign. And then an embedded Hulu.com clip under the line "This is why the writers are striking."

- Of course, being writers, we're not too shabby at telling our story for ourselves. Here are two smart and funny pieces worth reading: Douglas McGrath in Newsweek and Michael Colton in the Boston Globe. Read and pass along!

New Contender for Anthem of the Strike
Have you joined the virtual picket line at Hollywood Interrupted? Go now to hear a song by Cantinero entitled "No Apologies."

"No more / poor apologies. / No more / getting screwed by new technologies."

United Hollywood will send a special gift to the first person to send video evidence of this song being played way too loudly in a cubicle inside one of the big six companies.

No One Disputes the Net is the Future Except CEOs
Agents sure don't. The LA Weekly has a long feature article on the move of entertainment to the Web.

“There is going to be a major hit off the Internet someday,” Nadler says, looking out the window onto the rushing cars below, shortly after the Handsome Donkey boys leave. “It’s going to be The Simpsons, who are a global phenomenon that started as silly little cartoons that ran in between segments of The Tracy Ullman Show. It’s going to be huge and everybody will know about it.”

Why We Fight and Why We Have to Win
I want to end with this moving post from a blog called Adventures in Autism. The blogger is Ginger Taylor, a family therapist and mother in Maine. Her son Chandler was diagnosed with autism at age two. In 1998, Ginger's husband wrote a WGA-covered special for Discovery Kids. Four years later, he discovered that the special had run hundreds of times, but his residuals had never been paid. Then comes the heartbreaking part:

"When it was all said and done, the WGA had to go after the production company, and of the $40,000 that was owed to my dear husband, he received $2,000. Just this spring.
I try not to think about all the good we could have done for Chandler with that $38,000. It hurts. We had to discontinue most of Chandler's biomed for much of 2006 because we just didn't have the resources."

I wrote to Ginger to thank her for sharing this with us. It's stories like hers that put a face on our issues. There's just too much at stake to settle for an unfair contract. Fight on.

Links!

Lots of good stuff to share.

- Patrick Goldstein of the LA Times is a sharp and skeptical columnist. He took a few shots at writers before the strike began. But in his most recent column, he argues that the companies are dead wrong to use fear of a digital future as an excuse not to cut in content creators.

"If the studios really believe they can't share a sliver of profits with the people who create what they sell, they'll be the losers. If you don't believe in the future, you shouldn't be in show business."

As Patrick writes, entertainment is a business built on optimism. Writers believe in the future. CEOs only seem to when investors are listening. Which is it going to be, guys?

- A great Op-Ed by Harold Meyerson in the Washington Post.

"The picketers at Paramount and Disney may look to be a chorus line of wise-asses, but their struggle is a deadly serious test of whether any American workers retain the clout to strike a deal with the unchecked greed that is the modern American corporation."

- More discounts available to WGA members as listed on Variety's Scribe Vibe blog. Business owners: Don't forget our fellow workers in the other unions! We're all going to need a little help getting through this thing. If you'd like to offer discounts or assistance to a union member, please email kmyers [at] wga [dot] org. And THANK YOU.

- "Undercover Black Man" was watching the Game Show Network when he saw a series of promos riffing on the idea that watching GSN is better than watching scripted TV, which the strike has shut down.

"Oh, hells no... Are they mocking Hollywood’s on-strike writers? Is GSN saying: 'Who needs scriptwriters to tell you a story when you can sit back and enjoy some fuggin’ eight-year-old game-show repeats?' Not only is that a ridiculous insult, but I got news for you: The Writers Guild of America includes game-show writers."

- Some inspiring words from writer and picketer John Vorhaus on this blog:

"With the writers' strike entering its second week, I have become even more convinced that the writers are in it to win it, and that nothing, not even the fear of catastrophic financial meltdown, can shake our resolve."

- Kate emailed this account of Monday night's LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards.

Neil Patrick Harris hosted the evening. He came out onstage, started reading from some 3x5 index cards and halfway through the sentence, "Last night I was just thinking..." he stopped and looked really confused. He turned the card over. Checked his pockets. And then shouted into the wings his card was blank and he didn't know what to say next. Out walked a red shirted writer carrying a WGA strike sign and the whole place errupted into applause. Neil Patrick tried to carry on, calling on some dancers to vamp as he tried to come up with some material. I wish I had my camera at the ready. It was priceless. Keep your eyes peeled! Hopefully something will show up on YouTube or Flickr!
Fight on!
Kate

- Howard Rodman and Wagner James Au mix it up in The Well.

FAN ACTIVISM: Fans want their favorite shows back. And they want the companies to know it.
- Bring TV Back!
- "Criminal Minds" fans go on the warpath.

And now, to lighten the mood:
- David Letterman's writers are posting hilarious but heartfelt accounts from the picket lines.
- Neal Pollack's five-year-old son Elijah explains the strike on Offsprung.com.

Links

- Family Day! As reported by the AP. They also posted an extensive slideshow.
One correction to the article, and one that's relevant. My daughter's never seen "Snow White." She can name the Seven Dwarfs who hold up the roof of the Team Disney building thanks to a clip on YouTube. The future is here.

- Residuals explained by three powerhouses: Craig, John, and Joss. I love Craig's metaphor of the magic cake. Someone on the Disney line this morning used a similar one that's not as catchy: "Content is like a really good sandwich that the companies can sell over and over." I'm sticking with "magic cake."

- Do you keep up with all of our nation's editorial cartoons? Me neither. But I'm glad someone sent us this one.

- Critic Barbara Barnett is going on a download fast until we have a fair contract. Canadian writer Jim Henshaw is too, but he's also taking sterner actions. United Hollywood doesn't endorse these actions, not yet anyway. We're talking about them and working out our opinions. What do you think? Comment button is right there.

Evening Roundup

As Veterans Day draws to a close, we've got a group of links with some of the latest news and analysis:

• We quoted from Damon Lindelof's contribution to the NY Times Op-Ed earlier today. The full text can be found here.
  

• Here's another excellent and concise YouTube explanation for what the writers are asking for. It's called Fade to Black.

• TV writer Ken Levine wrote a Simpson's parody on his blog.

• Commentary from reviewer Barbara Barnett, who had been linking to Amazon Unbox episodes of "House" as part of her reviews.
  

• An excellent post about the lack of mainstream media coverage of the writers' strike.

• A really, really great article profiling a striking writer who's feeling the cash crunch after having adopted a new baby.

• An excellent visual breakdown of what media is owned by the 10 major conglomerates.

• And finally, an interesting item about Jason Bateman, who's made a decision to support the WGA without violating the "no strike" provision of the SAG contract.

Remember, tomorrow's pickets begin at 6am!

Strike in the Media

- Angelenos Support the Writers! So says a poll by SurveyUSA sponsored by KABC-TV. Of Los Angeles area adults familiar with the strike, 69% say they take the side of the WGA. Eight percent take the studios' side, while 22% say they don't take either side. "Support for the WGA members is strong across all demographic groups."

- In today's New York Times, Lost's Damon Lindelof has an op-ed.

"I am angry because I am accused of being greedy by studios that are being greedy. I am angry because my greed is fair and reasonable: if money is made off of my product through the Internet, then I am entitled to a small piece. The studios’ greed, on the other hand, is hidden behind cynical, disingenuous claims that they make nothing on the Web — that the streaming and downloading of our shows is purely 'promotional.' Seriously?"

There's also a pro-writer column by Maureen Dowd.

“Some of these writers are living check to check,” said James Brooks, the writer, director and producer — and a creative force behind “The Simpsons” — who is on the picket line in Los Angeles. “And I fear union busting. It’s happening all over the place, and we’re not immune.”

There are also some great quotes from SNL's Seth Meyers.

- In the LA Times: "Writers Have Marginalized Themselves" by Sean Mitchell. It's a bit of a downer, but then, the history of screenwriters is not a very cheery tale. Mistakes were made! What is encouraging and even inspiring is that this strike is about the future. Damon's op-ed pretty much nails it.

One Must-Read Link, Two Mood Lifters, and the Greatest Photo Ever Taken

- Entertainment Weekly has a piece by Mark Harris entitled "Why the Striking Writers Are Right." The sub-head: "Producers are full of reasons for not giving scribes the revenue share they deserve -- and all of those excuses are ludicrous." Oh, Mark Harris went there! You should go read this immediately and send it to everyone with whom you're on speaking terms. And your spouse.

- The WGA has secured the support of "Ask a Ninja." But the Ninja has some constructive criticism. He suggests that negotiating with something called the "Writers Guild of America" is not sufficiently terrifying, and a more fear-inspiring name would make the AMPTP fold. ""If the Dragon Claw Fire Horde comes and asks me for four more cents, I think I'm going to give it to them."

- Slate.com runs a picket line account from screenwriter, author, and one of the few men who genuinely deserves to be called "raconteur," Mr. Neal Pollack.

- We have received hundreds of emails of support from you, kind readers. There's no way this strike could last long enough for me to read them all (bites knuckle). But of all the thousands and thousands of supporters out there, only one of you can do this:

Links

This is only a small sampling of what you've been emailing to us. Keep it coming. We'll figure out a way to read it all.

- Prexy Pat on KTLA

- Greg Daniels, showrunner of "The Office," makes our case on E! Online.

- Big thanks to John August for posting a copy of "Not a Word," an ad in which screenwriters pledge to support the strike.

- An op-ed by The Daily Show's Steve Bodow in the NY Daily News.

- GREAT coverage of the action up at the Disney picket by Stephen Falk on his blog, Plaintive Wail.

- Headline of the Day: "Four days in, strike tilts to the writers." Subhead of the Day: "The months of stockpiled shows look to be weeks."

- MySpace.com/support_the_writers

- Fans4Writers.com

- Someone's covering the strike via Twitter. Perfect for all you nerds, hipsters and hideous nerd-hipster hybrids.

Day Four: Morning Roundup

As Day Four of the strike begins, a lot of the talk on the lines and on the Net has been about the lack of negotiations. Variety is reporting that the TV showrunners are trying to use their clout to get the companies back to the bargaining table. Politico.com is saying that Schwarzenegger is finally getting involved. Nikki Finke reports some insider ideas for getting the two sides to meet. Day Three was all about the united writers and actors showing the companies that our unions are serious about negotiating. Hopefully the message found its audience.

As we all get ready for tomorrow's big picket at the Fox lot (10am!), be sure to check out our Video Blog on YouTube. We've got an assortment of strike updates and footage of various writers and actors on the picket lines. And there's more to come.

Links: Because There Are Websites Besides This One

• The Huffington Post's collection of strike articles continues to grow at a staggering rate. They have many reports from the lines and some great analysis of why we're right and Nick Counter is a horrifying chupacabra (I'm paraphrasing).

• While Variety may be "the producer's daily newsletter" according to Ms. Finke, their Scribe Vibe blog has so far been both balanced and funny. You know, if the word "blog" didn't exist, Variety would have invented it.

• Few people understand the implications of the digital content revolution better than the Wall Street Journal's Kara Swisher. And I'm not just saying that because she quotes me.

• Here is some video of WGA members speaking at LA's City Council meeting yesterday. They were there to support Councilmember Eric Garcetti's resolution encouraging the continuation of negotiations for a contract. Use the "Jump To" feature on the left side (under City Council Meeting - Wednesday) and go to Item No. (34)-07-3568. Come for the strike stuff, stay for the conditional property use appeals!

• A faux PSA about what TV will be like without writers, courtesy of the team at the Best Week Ever blog.