Strike News Roundup: November 6th
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Apparently someone walking the picket lines was crossing a street yesterday and was hit by a car, one that left the scene of the accident which is felony hit-and-run. Given how many people were there, I would hope that between the group, they can remember the persons license plate and report it to the police. I haven't heard anything else about this, so I assume the guy wasn't killed or seriously maimed. Whoever did that needs to pay a heavy price - this poor guy could have been killed for crying out loud.
Is becoming a murderer really worth getting through an intersection three seconds faster?
Anyway, it seems as if a number of shows have been shutdown already due to the strike. That is great news in the sense that such pressure isn't going to be coming on the studios and networks in force for at least another month and a half, if not longer. A lot of shows have enough scripts to film another four or five episodes, yet are getting shut down already. Hopefully the execs who are extremely upset about not being able to push around people who make 1/100th their salary will stop acting like children and end this thing before people who make 1/100th their salary start losing their homes.
Nikkie Finke from Deadline Hollywood has a lot of people sending her information on how the strike is going, and is sort-of live blogging the strike, at least for the first few days. We all know even industry coverage of the strike will disappear pretty quickly since there's not much reporting to be had when all people are doing is not working.
- On The Line: Strike News As It Happens
The first day of strike coverage, with pictures of writers walking the picket line in front of Paramount. Lots of reports of SAG members from the shows being picketed bringing the writers coffee and food, and generally hanging out when they aren't required to be on set to show their support. They know if the writers grind out a "win" here, they'll reap the benefits without having to strike themselves.
Nick Counter, the AMPTP President and lead negotiator is still talking tough, and one wonders if perhaps it isn't time for him to leave. If a strike is a failure, it's a failure on the part of everyone involved. Regardless of what is said in the press, he's just as responsible for this as Young and Verrone are.
Anne Dudek and Olivia Wilde, two of the newest additions to the cast of House this season, are walking the picket line with writers in front of Fox. It gets my vote for hottest picket line ever. - On The Line, Part II: Strike News Day One
Nikki took time out of her busy day to reprint a flat out insult advert in Craigs List, as if that had any value at all. Combined with her thinking that the producers taking the residual rollbacks off the table was an actual concession, it's clear whose side she's on.
A picture of Robert Patrick on the line.
There are stories from writers and studio minions about how the strike is both holding up production, driving the execs insane, and not bothering the execs at all and not holding up production. Well, the truth here is that picketing is mostly symbolic. About the only thing it accomplishes is forcing the execs to see your face twice a day for a total of about sixty seconds - which sadly is probably more face time than you get in a whole year, even when you're working for them.
The real point of the strike is to stop production, which is exactly what will happen come January. These stories are cute and it's great to see others coming out in support, but it's really just visual rhetoric. Crunch time comes when crunch time comes.
- Rumor Patrol: Day 1
John Aboud addresses rumors that some or many showrunners are crossing the picket lines to continue other production duties on their shows during the strike. By the looks of things, the overwhelming majority of them are holding the line not just for themselves, but for their writing staff as well. - It's NOT about DVDs any more.
As you probably already know, the demand to increase DVD residuals was pulled off the table Sunday night in a last ditch attempt to get some movement on digital media, but all the producers did was walk out of the room.
The story is pretty much the same now, as it will be for the duration. Writers will show up and walk around holding signs for four hours, then go home. Repeat every weekday for the next god knows how long.
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