Wednesday, November 07, 2007

WGA Strike - Day 3

Another day, another fun filled picket at Universal Studios. The weather continues to cooperate, even if the feet are getting sore and cranky. The sun came out sooner than the last two days, but there was a nice breeze.

Today we had semi-permanent traffic police assigned to our corner(s), all of whom who were very nice and frankly welcome. Again, the vast, vast majority of passing cars and trucks honked and waved and gave us thumbs-up signs (sorry, Mr. Ebert), there was a lot of noise and traffic at our location. Universal security came out in force (well, three guys) at one point, but I'm not sure what that was about and we just kept marching.

No real rumors tore through the line today, just more of the same. A trio of CAA agents dropped by with much appreciated water, and a couple of struggling-to-be writers came by with chow and intend to join us tomorrow in solidarity. Thanks to all of them, sincerely, every ounce of support is appreciated. By the way, ANYONE can join us if you support the writers, walk for an hour or stay through an entire shift, come on down!

There continues to be this assumption that all the writers in the Guild are super rich and spoiled and etc., but the truth is writing is a mercurial business where you can have one good year and then three bad ones. It is not a regular pay day, which is why residuals (for reruns on the air, DVD and internet) are so important. They sustain a lot of writers through the lean years.

And I'll end with my constant refrain -- I urge the WGA leadership and the AMPTP folks to get back to the table as soon as possible and start hammering out a deal that's fair to both sides.

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