Writer's Strike Thread

[Sylph]

[Sylph]

Posted on Sun, Nov. 11, 2007

Striking writers seek creative options

By David Germain

One Hollywood writer throws punches at the gym to vent artistic frustration while a labor strike keeps him from working.

Another jams with his rock band and scouts the picket lines for a potential bride. A third devoted his energy to running the New York City marathon and cleaning out his garage. Others are blogging, making short strike films for the Web, dabbling in poetry or working on graphic novels to fill the void.

When your job is not just a paycheck but a compulsion, where do you direct the creative juices during what may amount to a prolonged period of mandatory writer's block?

"I'm used to writing 10 pages a day. It's hard not to write," said "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" writer Harris Goldberg. "It's like having a gorgeous girl in your house, but you can't touch her. 'Sorry honey, we really can't hold hands.'"

The Writers Guild of America went on strike over DVD payments and revenues from programming distributed on the Internet, instructing its 12,000 members to stop all writing for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

But like all artists, writers chose their line of work out of a passion to create, so sooner or later, they'll need to put that energy somewhere.

"As a writer, this is what you do. You have no other way to truly express yourself," said screenwriter John Ridley, whose credits include "Undercover Brother." "You may be able to go to cocktail parties and talk and talk and talk, but it's not the same as writing."

Ridley counts himself lucky. Before the strike, he finished the screenplay for "L.A. Riots" for Spike Lee and now has extensive research to do for a film on the Tuskegee airmen for George Lucas, plus a series of graphic novels to begin along with minor editing on a just-completed novel.

Like many writers, Ridley also is blogging online about the strike.

Writing partners Gregg Rossen and Brian Sawyer, who had been working on a sitcom pilot for Fox when the strike hit, directed a short YouTube video featuring friends and colleagues passing the strike in fictionally funny ways.

"Liar Liar" screenwriter Paul Guay is shown working in a men's store and deceptively assuring a customer how great he looks in a sport coat. "Sahara" writer Tom Donnelly mans a fast-food counter, advising a diner who orders a cheeseburger and fries that he should "go more archetype instead of stereotype." "Sweet Home Alabama" writer Doug Eboch hits on a cute woman by asking, "Hey, what's your back story?"

"I don't think anybody is happy about not being able to write," Sawyer said. "I think that's going to be an issue, especially if it's a long strike. Where does one channel creative energy? As the months unfold, there may be a lot of funny new hobbies or musical instruments being taken up."

Sawyer ran the New York marathon the day before the strike started. He and his wife, also a screenwriter, reorganized their garage, and he said that for the holidays, their home "will be more decorated than any other house in the neighborhood."

Collaborator Rossen said he and Sawyer might do more short Web films, possibly a sequel spoofing what studio executives are up to during the strike.

"Let's face it. They're not going to have anything to do. As long as we're not working, they're not working," Rossen said. "Flipping burgers may be just as much of a career option for the development people."

"Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo" writer David Garrett, who does a "Midnight Cowboy" parody pretending to be a male prostitute in Rossen and Sawyer's video, said he burns off creative frustrations at a boxing club where he spars.

"It's good to have something to punch. Something I can legally punch," said Garrett, who added that the art of striking itself needs to be writers' main creative outlet. "Every hour we have we should spend out here picketing and spreading the message, rather than working on scripts."

Guay has tried his hand at poetry in the past and said he might take up that pastime again to keep the words flowing.

"It's a wonderful occupation that doesn't bring in quite as much income as screenwriting," said Guay, who also has a business counseling novice screenwriters. "I've put together a couple of poetry collections for my satisfaction and my friends' punishment, so I may put together another."

With the walkout just days old, the strike is the main preoccupation, with guild members devoting 20 hours a week on picket lines. If it drags on for months, writers figure they'll eventually need to get back to some form of storytelling.

"At some point, everyone will start working on their novel," said David Kreizman, head writer for the soap opera "Guiding Light."

Chris Mundy, co-executive producer of the crime drama "Criminal Minds," already has started.

"It's fun to write prose again," Mundy said. "But I'd rather be back at work with a fair deal than have time to write a novel."

With thousands of wordsmiths picketing, you might expect a lot of clever slogans, signs and chants. The picket lines have been sober-minded and businesslike, though.

Sawyer heard one striker yelling out to passing cars, "Honk if you love nuanced characters," but most chants have been commonplace patter such as "On strike, shut 'em down, Hollywood's a union town" or "Hey hey, ho ho, union-busting has to go."

In a blog on the Huffington Post, Jamie Lee Curtis sided strongly with writers but playfully chided them for dull chants.

"Will writing a better slogan constitute scabbing? I hope not," Curtis wrote. "The best way to get the message across is to write a better message. Good luck, writers."

Not all writers have their complete attention on striking. Besides jamming with his band, a group called Oliver Twist in which he plays guitar, Goldberg said he's funneling some creativity into scoping out a future wife on the picket lines.

"I've eyed a few," Goldberg said. "But it's hard to throw on the charm while you're holding a picket sign."

http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/tv/v-print/story/303986.html

[Khan]

It's this part of the sentence --

on strike from DirecTV's "Passions."

which fascinates me. Although I can't fault any one who chooses to strike from that horrible show. JER had it coming, you know?

IMO, it wasn't the constant, O.J.-related pre-emptions that drove fans away, but overreaction on the part of networks and sponsors when those fans didn't return right away. If they had stayed the course, so to speak, and just continued to write and produce the kind of drama they had been before the trial, viewers would have returned eventually. It's only when the networks began stooping to the sensationalist tactics that we're still enduring today that the genre began its downward slide.

[stenbeck212]

For me there were varying degrees of that on each show at the time. Wasn't that the year DOOL did the posession story and had success to boot?

[RuAsRuAnAu]

I think DOOL's possession story began in summer 1994.

July 1994 Household Ratings Average

Y&R 8.8; AMC 6.9; DOOL 6.6 (Jul 94 Primetime Special: 8.5 million); GH 5.8; OLTL 5.3; ATWT 5.3; B&B 5.2; GL 4.9; Another World 3.6; Loving 2.6

1995 Viewer Average

Y&R- 7.155 million viewers (WJ Bell/Scott); AMC- 5.891 (McTavish/Nixon/Broderick/Behr); GH- 5.343 (C. Labine/Riche); B&B- 5.247 (B. Bell/WJ Bell); OLTL- 5.152 (Malone/Griffith/Bedsow Horgan); DOOL- 5.056 (JE Reilly/Corday/Langan); ATWT- 4.865 (JL Packer/Wolf/R. Culliton/Caso/Valente); GL- 4.198 (S. Anderson/D. Anderson/McTavish/JFP/Laibson)

What are the identities/credentials of the ABC Daytime scab writers? Will all the producers and directors be contributing to the story and scripts? What about the thespians like Grahn, Geary, Benard?

[Toups]

I have her profile in my archives.

[dawn9476]

We won't know. They will be like ghost writers. We will have no idea who they are.

[Toups]

I believe in 1993, the angel Gabe (we didn't know he was an angel until 1995) came to John and told him that he was going to be part of a huge battle - the biggest of his life. Then in 1994, after Roman left Marlena along with Stefano making her weak during the "Queen of the Night" excursions, the devil took opportunity to take over Marlena's soul thus the desecrator arc. We didn't find out that Marlena was possessed until Christmas Eve 1994 when we saw Marlena levitating. The storyline concluded in July 1995 which propelled DAYS to #2 in the ratings. Jim Reilly planned this storyline in 1993, used 1994 to set it up and then kicked it into high gear in 1995. Pure brilliance!

[ChangedBYSon]

I agree.

In many ways, I think he's a more interesting writer than Hogan, but his "slow as snail" pace

ALWAYS kills it for me.

The repetition and dragging out makes you forget how good his actual stories are.

I liked him because he always kept the ratings up. He understood how to unfold

a big event and that's part of being a good writer as well.

Whether the soap "purists" like it or not, Toups, we're in the age where soaps

have no choice NOW but to occasionally pull stunts and big ratings events. It's

that or go off the air, and Reilly was a master at getting really good results,

because he was willing to take chances. I loved that about him---even if I did

hate most of the "cartoon" stunts.

Shame he didn't write John's death, because they would have gotten much

bigger than a 2.2.

Reilly would have taken that arc to town---Marlena would still be on the screen!

The numbers would be steadily rising.

This is where I have a problem with Sheffer (no follow through, no sense of big drama).

I prefer Sheffer's "dialogue/daily eppys" far more than Reilly's, however. Sheffer doesn't

insult your intelligence like Reilly would.

[GoldenDogs]

Hey Ryan...

I've posted a few comments. My feelings on it are best summed up in some comments I posted over at Snark's blog some days ago... I had said that the strike put me in an odd position of supporting those I have spent the better part of the past year trashing. My comment was:

"Go, go, go... we support you all in this most difficult time. But you are complete failures as writers and your poisoned pens are killing serialized drama as we know it. But we hope you prevail and get your jobs back so that you may return to the destruction of the genre. Cheers!"

I know it sounds harsh and was offered there as a bit of entertainment... but it does reflect my true feelings. I haven't seriously watched an episode of a current soap in a very long time, but know what's happening on the shows. I catch bits and pieces here and there and find it all so completely awful. I feel as a longtime fan that I am being pushed further away from the genre... Am I no longer in the "coveted demo"? Ahhh, screw the demos. It has always been and will always be about solid story... and lack thereof is the death of the genre. But it has been a slow, steady decline for a good while. OJ didn't cause any damage that good writing couldn't have fixed. Lack of individual identity, obsession with demographics/appealing to teens, and terrible writing with a lack of originality is slowly choking the life out of soaps. The writer's strike won't make a bit of difference... it will just help drive the ratings down if the scabs are worse hacks than the regular hacks. Could they be worse? Probably not... but likely not much better. The decline will continue. The genre is still dying. I say some soaps won't be renewed come renewal time.

The only show saved by the writer's strike and the current state of soaps... probably GL.

Brian

[RuAsRuAnAu]

You think GL will be renewed in July 2008? What about ATWT? AMC is in dangerous territory. What do you think will happedn to AMC: 30 minutes or cancellation? What about OLTL? The Olympics air in summer 2008, will DOOL last until 2009?

[SoapQueen89]

Soap writers cross the picket line

'Restless' scribes opt for 'financial core' method

By JOSEF ADALIAN, JOSEF ADALIAN, DAVE MCNARY

Several WGA scribes on sudsers have decided to cross the picket line to keep their jobs.

According to several people with knowledge of the situation, a high-ranking writer-producer on CBS's "The Young and the Restless" has informed the WGA that he plans to go "financial core" -- that is, give up full membership in the guild and withhold the dues spent on political activities in order to continue writing during the strike.

Another source with knowledge of the situation added that two other scribes on "Y&R" have also opted for financial core status, and one other is considering it. A writer on NBC's "Days of Our Lives" may also be considering crossing the picket line.

The WGA -- which recently formed a special committee to handle info about strikebreaking -- refused to comment Monday on whether any members have gone fi-core. "This is an internal matter that we choose not to discuss," guild spokesman Gregg Mitchell said.

Defections are still very much the exception to a strike that has, at least so far, generated widespread public displays of solidarity among scribes of all levels. There have been no reports of writers on primetime or latenight skeins picking up their pens, and a slew of top showrunners have continued to withhold producing services despite studio threats to hold them in breach of contract (Daily Variety, Nov. 7).

Daytime, however, is a very different beast.

Ratings for the daypart have been in decline for years, with several sudsers barely hanging on. NBC, for example, has made it clear that "Days of Our Lives" may not be renewed when its license agreement expires. There's been talk for years about CBS cutting one of its soaps, too.

That's one reason why networks have been scrambling to make sure their soaps stay in production. A long stretch of pre-emptions or repeats -- like the one that occurred during the O.J. Simpson trial -- could prove fatal.

Sudser producers have been saying for weeks that a strike wouldn't shut them down, but they've carefully avoided explaining just how they'd continue to operate sans scribes.

"ABC's daytime dramas are written well into the new year, and we will continue to produce original programming with no repeats and without interruption," the Alphabet said in a statement released last week.

During the 1988 walkout, network and studio execs -- along with non-WGA scribes -- were enlisted to keep the sudsers lathered up. There were also widespread reports of WGA scribes writing scripts at home and finding a way to get those scripts into producers' hands without physically crossing a picket line.

"You'd hear stories about scripts being dropped off behind a trash can or in an alley," one soap veteran said.

It's believed some scribes may once again risk the wrath of their union by working behind the scenes. One daytime insider said she's heard reports of scribes on Procter & Gamble and ABC-Disney-produced sudsers "working in the shadows."

What's surprising about the "Y&R" and "Days" scribes' moves is that the writers appear to be owning up to their decision to keep writing for the soaps rather than trying to hide their actions.

That said, the vast majority of soap scribes appear to be keeping their computers turned off.

In the case of "Y&R," production entities Sony Pictures Television and Bell Dramatic Serial Co. appear to have settled in for the long haul.

During a meeting last week, staffers on "Y&R" were all but told that the show would go on without exec producer-head writer Lynn Marie Latham. Latham ("Homefront") is known to be a strong WGA supporter, and producers have prepared for her absence by laying off her assistant, cleaning out her desk and assigning a Sony exec to work from her office, according to a person familiar with the situation.

As a hyphenate, Latham could still render showrunning services, but has opted not to do any work on "Y&R" during the strike.

"Bold and the Beautiful" showrunner Bradley Bell -- whose family owns the skein -- has also demonstrated allegiance to the WGA and the strike. He walked the picket line in front of CBS Television City on the first day of the stoppage.

Strike-breaking is a serious issue for the WGA, and its strike rules require members to report any activity in that realm. Discipline for violations can include expulsion, suspension, fines and censure; nonmembers who perform banned work during a strike will be barred from joining the WGA.

When the strike rules were issued a month ago, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers responded with information on its Web site showing how to go fi-core and pointing out that WGA members who take that step can't be disciplined for working during a strike.

But, given the high stakes of the conflict, it's probable the WGA would move to publicly embarass members who take such a step. WGA West members received an email over the weekend from Dan Wilcox, chair of the newly formed WGA West Strike Rules Compliance Committee and a member of the WGA West's Board.

"The mission of the SRCC is to ensure that the Strike Rules are strictly enforced. The SRCC will primarily concentrate its efforts on unearthing and discouraging scab writing. There is no more fundamental working rule than the prohibition against a WGA member performing struck work."

Wilcox noted that the strike rule states: "You must inform the Guild of the name of any writer you have reason to believe is engaged in strike-breaking activity or other scab writing."

"If you have suspicions about a particular writer or project, the best way to report them will be to call our hotline," he added. "We'll handle your call discreetly. Our purpose is not to punish people; it is to head off scab work before it can undermine the strike."

Wilcox also said that leaders of WGA are eager to keep the strike short.

"Unfettered scab writing will only lengthen it," he added. "The simplest and most effective thing you can do to speed things up is to share information with the SRCC."

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111797585...yid=14&cs=1

[Ryan]

^^^^The best possible thing to come from this strike....

[stenbeck212]

And how quickly did her naysayers pop open champagne bottles when this news broke?

[winterguy125]

So LML's desk has been cleaned out That is priceless. Me wonders if it will stay that way.

And let me guess JP has found a way to keep herself writing ATWT, I still say anyone could write better than her.

Had a feeling about the ABC writers, seeing as there jobs were all but threatened.