Parents Picketing

(The photo and following post are from WGA Member Cindy Chupack.)
Paula Schneider, mother of WGA member Lew Schneider (Everybody Loves Raymond, The New Adventures of Old Christine) joined her son on the Fox picket line for three days last week while she was visiting LA from Boston. Paula, a retired professor of social work, said, "I think there's a great social distance between writers and the viewing public. It's hard for the viewing public to be compassionate and imagine that the writers are workers for major corporations in the same way that most Americans are, and that this struggle, although it takes place in Hollywood, is the same struggle that all workers face. I'm excited by the thought that I was participating in something I deeply believe in. The rich shouldn't get richer without paying the workers their fair share."

Fox Employee Snaps, Assualts Picketer

WGA member Rene Balcer (show runner of "Law & Order" and co-creator of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent) may have a new ripped-from-the-headlines story to write after the strike is over. Today, while picketing at the executive gate at Fox (Gate 3), Balcer was pushed numerous times by a black SUV driven by a Fox employee, as he walked legally through the crosswalk . According to one of six eyewitnesses who watched the entire incident unfold on Avenue of the Stars near Galaxy Way, Balcer was picketing the gate at about 10:15am, when the SUV approached. The driver, a man in his early 30s, was reportedly involved in a similar altercation at the same gate on Tuesday.

According to another witness, as soon as the driver got out of his car, nearby Fox strike captains yelled to the Fox security guard, but the guard did not respond. Another witness confirms that as soon as the driver exited his car, Fox strike captains tried to get the Fox security guard at the gate to come out and help, but he would not. Then, the driver "got in Balcer's face," made physical contact with him, and Balcer pushed back in self defense. The driver fell back against his car, with a startled look. Said the eyewitness, "I guess he didn't expect a writer to defend himself."

The driver got back on his feet and came at Balcer once more. Balcer took three or four steps back to keep a distance between them. Other picketers attempted to grab and restrain the driver. He shook them loose, but then scrambled back into his car. "He looked a little shaken" and was waved through the gate by the guard.

After the incident, Balcer called the police. While waiting for them, a Fox supervisor came out and was shown photos of the driver that had been taken at the time of the confrontation. About thirty minutes after the incident, the LAPD Labor squad arrived and took statements from everyone and ID'd who the driver was. They went on the lot to speak to him.

Strike Dwarves

UPDATE: The First Delivery of Pencils2MediaMoguls!

The first delivery of Pencils2MediaMoguls took place on Tuesday 12/11 in Burbank. Check out our photoset on Flickr. Full report from Jeffrey Berman:

We had a good crowd. The press was there. ABC, NBC, AP and several local radio stations including KFWB covered the event.

Ron Moore read a statement to the press, then we dumped the pencils into the delivery bins, which filled up very quickly. We then rolled them over to NBC followed by procession of folks chanting as we approached the gate. Ron told the guard we were here to deliver the pencils to Jeff Zucker and the guard turned us away. I used their company phone and called Zucker's office and asked his secretary if at the very least Mr. Zucker could come down and address us. She promptly hung up on me.

We then rolled the pencils over to Disney and asked for Bob Iger. The guard told us they weren't accepting deliveries at the main gate. So Ron asks which gate they would accept them, and the guard calmly responds, "We're not accepting deliveries at any gate."

At Universal they wouldn't even let me near the front gate. A policeman told me he had already spoken to the main office and they didn't want our delivery.

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?

SEIU Rally - Strong Show of Support - Let's Keep It Up!

(The following is from WGA Member Joshua Beckett regarding the SEIU Rally that took place in downtown LA this past Thursday.)

Just wanted to brief those of you who missed the SEIU rally today. It was heartfelt...and loud!! There were many, many WGA members there -- it looked like there were almost as many WGA folks as SEIU marchers! And what a great feeling that was! Truly.

We writers have heard a lot about our unwillingness to support other unions when it counts. Here was an opportunity to prove all the nay-sayers wrong... and we did! En masse!

I think this is a great time to show other unions, that when we are asked for our support, we give it.

For the last couple of years, the WGA and SEIU have been sharing research information and attending public events in support of one another. The SEIU has been very vocal and visible in our fight. SEIU has sponsored billboards in support of the writers, and has sent drivers past studios with mobile billboards and megaphones. If your jaw just dropped, you're not alone -- so did mine when I saw them. That's why I and many others showed up today at their rally.

SEIU is totally committed to organizing and does a very good job of it. It's also one of the fastest growing Unions in America.

Today's rally was in support of SOULA which is an L.A. chapter of African American security officers whose potential members number 45,000. The NAACP is calling the SOULA organizing effort one of today's most important civil rights campaigns.

SEIU is organizing two more events, one on Monday in Century City at 3:45, and a huge action on 12/13 at 4pm, location TBD. I urge you go to one or both of those actions. and bring a WGA friend with you.

Go for any or all of these reasons:
Go because the SEIU has been there for us.
Go because it'll cut the monotony of picketing at the same ol' gate.
Go because it'll make you feel good.
Go because you can substitute your picket hours with these hours.
Go because it's not just a rally, it's a civil rights issue.
Go because this is an opportunity to show that we are serious about all Union issues.
Go because you'll feel part of a larger community of Union workers.
Go because you can bang on lots of drums and make lots of noise.
Go because the SEIU is great at organizing and we could all learn a few things.
Go because you'll hear a couple of cool new chants.
Go because all the people there are really nice and will thank you for showing up.

Hope to see you out there!

In solidarity,

Joshua Beckett
Strike Captain
Union Solidarity Committee

Homecoming Picket - Our Unions Through the Years - Rain or Shine

Norman Borisoff (Academy Award winner Titan: The Story of Michelangelo, writer: Ironside, Quincy, I Spy) was one of many who attended The Homecoming Picket outside of Sony yesterday.

The picket was a small way for newer members to pay tribute to the veteran writers, actors, and directors who helped form and shape the unions we are protected by today.

Other attendees included:

Christopher Knopf (president of the WGA 1965-1967, The Dick Powell Show, The Big Valley, Dr. Kildaire, and Equal Justice.

Millard Kaufman (creator of Mr. Magoo, two-time Academy Award nominee Take the High Ground and Bad Day at Black Rock)

Don Mankiewicz (Academy Award nominee I Want to Live. Television: Ironside, Marcus Welby MD – cousin of Tom)

Tom Mankiewicz (Live and Let Die, Diamonds are Forever, Superman – son of Joseph Mankiewicz)

John Mankiewicz (Hill Street Blues, Karen Sisco, House MD)

Actress Lelia Goldoni (Shadows, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore)


Member Tara Miele sent us photos taken by her DP husband, Brett Juskalian.

Click here to see more.

Thank you Tara and Brett and Chad Darnell who helped organize the event!

"You're Going to Hollywood! Hope You Don't Like Health Care!" The First Picket On American Idol

Today a group of picketers showed their support for the writers of American Idol by hoisting their picket signs and passing leaflets out to people entering and exiting the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, where the reality show was holding their narrow-down-the-ones-who-made-it-to-Hollywood auditions.

Yes, indeed, reality shows have writers. And, those writers are not granted WGA union contracts by the AMPTP. Unfortunately, this means they are not protected and, as revealed in a new study commissioned by the WGAw, "overwhelmingly work long hours without receiving overtime pay, health insurance, and other benefits..."

Not fair you say? We agree. And, so does the California Department of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), whom:

recently ruled that a reality TV story producer was improperly classified as an exempt employee and should have been paid overtime, the results of the [new] study “indicate that the total overtime liability for employers could reach almost $100 million..."

Unfortunately, corporations like Fremantle Media (the producers of American Idol), find any loophole they can to get out of fair pay and health insurance for their employees.

To write, or call Fremantle to let them know you are a viewer and would like to see them change their policies, contact them at:

FremantleMedia Ltd
1 Stephen Street
London
W1T 1AL

T +44 (0)20 7691 6000

You can also visit their website to see a list of their programs and properties.
http://www.fremantlemedia.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.

Tomorrow's "Gay Gate"

Tomorrow at Raleigh Studios, home of ABC's "Ugly Betty," C. Jay Cox, Chad Darnell and Michael Medico are inviting WGA, SAG and all friends of the L.G.B.T. community to join them at the 10am-2pm picket. Silvio Horta, creator of "Ugly Betty," will be in attendance as well as cast members from the show. Raleigh is across the street from Paramount at 5300 Melrose Ave, and for more information you can click through to C. Jay's blog post.

COLD CASE Cast on the Picket Line

(Left to Right: Thom Barry, Tracie Thoms, John Finn, Jeremy Ratchford, Danny Pino)

Friday Fox Rally Recap

For those of you who missed the Friday rally at Fox, I can tell you it was a very powerful and invigorating morning. Also: churros.

We'd all been isolated at our respective studio pickets for four days, and the rally was a chance to come together and see the scope of our numbers. WGA officials say the rally was the largest event in Guild history. The estimates of attendance are north of 4,000 people, and I'm told the LAPD estimate was 5,000. The energy was positive, the speeches stirring, the picket signs creative, the mini-set acoustic.

A brief timeline based on my notes:
10:12 AM -- I spot Simpsons writer George Meyer surveying the massive crowd and sighing with what looks like pure delight. Or maybe he is thinking about fried dough coated in cinnamon and sugar.
10:27 AM -- Tom Morello takes the stage. Mini-set commences.
10:32 AM -- Zack de la Rocha, Tom's bandmate from Rage Against the Machine makes a surprise appearance. He alters the words to a few union/protest songs to reflect the writers' situation. Favorite quote: "I like the reality shows and all that shit, but what we need is reality wages." Amen.
10:37 AM -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson brings his fiery enthusiasm to the podium. A man next to me says, "I never thought I'd find myself in a situation where Jesse Jackson was rallying me. But here we are." And that is an interesting point I've heard other captains mention: This is the first time many WGA members have had to confront being "labor." Keep in mind, two thirds of the current membership wasn't around for 1988. This is the first time many writers have understood how interconnected our fates are with SAG, the Teamsters, IATSE and the other unions that make Hollywood's immense profits possible. "But here we are," and now we're standing together.
BIG THANKS to all the DGA, SAG, AFTRA, IATSE and Teamsters who showed up!
10:47 AM -- John Bowman makes a very funny speech telling Nick Counter, "It's all my fault." It's a shame the WGA underestimated the crowd size and didn't have a sound system powerful enough to cover the whole crowd. People in the back have a particularly hard time hearing Bowman, who can't quite raise his voice enough. "Come on, guys," he responds when the crowd yells for him to speak up. "I'm a writer."
10:52 AM -- David Young: "We are winning this strike!" Crowd: Whew!
10:57 AM -- Alan Rosenberg, president of SAG, takes the stage, and he tears that shit up. This guy's a dynamo. I'd follow him into hell. Or into the theaters in the Beverly Center, which are actually worse.
11:02 AM -- Seth MacFarlane of "Family Guy" explains his own awakening to the importance of the WGA and emphasizes the stakes of the strike. He's hilarious, easily the highlight of the program for me. Video of his speech will be posted here ASAP. Once it's up, the "Family Guy" fans are going to go nuts. And the "American Dad" fan will too. (Sorry! Bad blogger, bad!) In the voice of Stewie, Seth concludes, "Victory will be ours!" Crowd goes wild.
11:12 AM -- TV legend Norman Lear closes us out. Best line: "I was there when we struck the Pharaoh."

I just realized I didn't write down any of our prexy Patric Verrone's many jokes. If MacFarlane doesn't punch me, Verrone will. Great.

After the rally, the crowd moved down Avenue of the Stars and picketed on Pico to the Motor Street gate. It felt a lot like a street party, except for whole "life turned upside down" part. There were probably about a dozen Fox employees by the fountains waving and calling out to their writer friends. My writing partner and I have people we like on the other side of that fountain, and we'd much rather be working with them right now. "But here we are." Let's hope that this rally got us a little bit closer to a contract.

Photography by Hamilton has posted an enormous photoset of the event on SmugMug. On Flickr, take a look at photos from slackmistress and k4kafka. Variety's Michael Jones posted a gallery of kids and dogs and one of creative picket signs.

Heard on the Picket Line

Let's lead with this lovely report from Peter Leftcourt:
"This morning, I picketed with an 86 year writer, who wrote for 'Mr. Ed.' He said, 'It pisses me off that that fucking horse wound up speaking Italian, Polish and Rumanian, and I never made more than a nickel.'"
-Peter Leftcourt

PARAMOUNT 1: SAG Solidarity Leads to "Lost" Joke
"William Mapother, aka "Ethan Rom" from "Lost," walked the picket line Wednesday... BUT HE WASN'T ON THE MANIFEST!!!"

PARAMOUNT 2: This Guy Gets It, Why Can't the AMPTP?

On Wednesday this man was holding his own, rather loud, protest. Then, he stopped shouting and asked what we picketers were protesting about. After hearing about the strike, he started a new chant: "Moses was a writer! Moses was a writer!"
-both of the above from Mike Colton

CHELSEA PIERS, NYC: All Jacked Up
"One guy from our group got hassled by some stockbroker-looking dude who was screaming 'Get back to work! I don't want 24 to be cancelled!' He was serious."
-Dyna Moe

DISNEY: Of Mice and Morale Boosts
A woman exiting the lot "revealed she had just punched out and quit her job in support of us. Tim told me today that striking is fun. And a security guard told a group of us to keep strong, we're fighting for a lot of people.
We are."
-Rodney Vance

UNIVERSAL: Well, in a Nutshell...
"Every day after picketing, I come home and work on my long, elegant essay articulating why we're on strike. It's meant for the general public and attempts to summarize the issues. But today, I overheard something that took care of my essay in one fell swoop.

Guy (into cell phone): The writers are on strike out here.

[PAUSE]

Guy (into cell phone): Because the corporations are dicks.

I don't need to finish my essay. Instead, I can rest up for picketing tomorrow.
-Irving Belateche

Housewives and Heroes Walking the Line

SCRUBS Cast and Writers Picket Together

(From Left to Right) Ken Jenkins ("Dr. Kelso"), Zach Braff ("J.D." and WGA
member), Bill Lawrence (creator, executive producer) and Sarah Chalke
("Elliot") of SCRUBS.

Day 4: The Madison Gate at Sony

We continued to build our "community" of support.

Sibyl from Yahoo-creative stopped by with two boxes of pastries, orange juice, and a bottle of vitamin C.

Three Sony employees gave up their lunch breaks to walk the picket line. People driving by honk their horns and yell support.

Even the animals are on our side. It's all good.

Jesse Jackson on the Picket Line

from left to right: darren stein (wga), micah schraft (wga), michele multoney (wga), rev. jesse jackson,
joel michaely (sag), abdi nazemian (wga), colette burson (wga)

Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Wanda Sykes Walk The Picket Line

From the Signs of Babes

Sent by a friend who picketed Universal yesterday. I like this kid's style. Maybe he should be made available to explain our case to Variety.

Ode to The Teamsters:

WGA members passed out leaflets this morning at all the studios. The Teamsters were especially vocal in their support. They’re just as fed up as we are with The Producers (AMPTP) coming after every penny. One Teamster pitched a poster concept: a skeleton with the message, “Hey Producers, what more do you want!”

It certainly feels like the Producers would take everything from us if they could -- evident in their proposals to rollback the agreements we’ve won in the past, and now coming after our health and pension.

Thank You Teamsters for feeling our pain, and for showing us what a unified, powerful union can do!

The Producers would like nothing more than to see this be a non-union town. They work to keep various forms of writers out of our union, such as Reality writers, in an attempt to weaken our numbers. And they’re trying to negotiate a New Media agreement that would circumvent the union – trying to make it so agents negotiate deals – instead of understanding that we must have an MBA (Minimum Basic Agreement) for the work we do that goes out over the internet.

Teamsters -- thanks for showing us how to stand strong. We appreciate every encouraging word and honk of the horn!

Union Solidarity! United Hollywood!