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A few days ago, alert readers tipped me to this Craigslist ad that went up Monday night, “Network television situation comedy seeks non-WGA humor writers to write scripts for weekly network series during the current strike. Salary negotiable.” 
Turns out the ad was phony and placed by a reporter for the New York Press. Some 80+ responses came in within 24 hours. ”It’s a funny/sad exposé of the willingness of young, desperate comedy writers to break into the tv business, on the backs of striking union members,” the paper’s editor-in-chief David Blum emailed me. Some applicants:
Hi! What series would I be scabbing for?
Hello: I am a scab.
But I’m funny.
Please send more details about this opportunity.
Thanks.
Don’t pick on me.
I am a scab.
Hi, I’m a comedy writer interested in learning more about your needs. Can I do it anonymously so I don’t get in trouble with the WGA or anyone else for that matter?
Thanks,
We’re writers of a number of comedies, including independent films, original screenplays and sitcoms….don’t feel sorry for the WGA writers one bit….thanks.
I will be a scab.
Hi, Do you require that the person is living in NY/USA? I do not live in the USA. Currently I live in Asia. I am interested in the sitcom writers job if I can do it over the Internet. I await your reply.
i’m not associted [sic] with the WGA….
who are you? information from you gets you information from me.
Hello, Let me cut to the chase, my name is [REDACTED] and I am damn fine writer…
Hi There, My name is [REDACTED] and I am a cracker-jack comedy writer with a warm, collaborative style… Personally, I enjoy traveling, long walks on the beach, harrowing weather, Dexter, and clams on the half and peppermint chicklets.
Cheers,
Hello, My name is [REDACTED]….I am a [REDACTED]. I am also a capable writer. I watched the strike in person and those people aren’t funny. I currently make $300-$500 a day so pay would have to be in that range….My wife has her masters degree so that means I’m smart!!!
To Whom It May Concern,
I am very interested in writing for your television network. I have an imagination that stretches extremely wide, my writing has a stylish edge to it and my wit can knife right through you.
By late Monday evening at least one applicant had regained her conscience, having applied only hours earlier for the phantom job:
Hi – I’ve been haunted all day by my response to your ad – even if you would contact little ol’ me, I just can’t do it! I have to support the guild writers! Good luck with your show.
And then there was the moral high ground of this emailer:
Does the word SCAB mean anything to you? Yes, please, let me get blacklisted before I even start, that’d be awesome.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Some people scab due to lack of principle. Those people suck. But I am concerned about those people who are going to have to cross picket lines due to financial troubles. This is something the WGA leadership has not addressed – it’s great to all be unified on the issues, but there’s going to be a point where some of these members are going to be in real financial trouble.
Well, they all seem quite hilarious and I greatly fear for my job. I know someone on the scab committee and tomorrow I will tell them to place ads. Should be a good time.
This is a poorly done “experiment” (generous to call it such) that implies there’s tons of quality writers out in the world waiting for the chance to do a show – and that they will do it well. Spend six minutes on youtube, or any of the “comedy” sites online, and you’ll see how wrong that assumption is.
Just saying you’re a writer and being able to make a good (successful) show are two very different things and this is a really important and unspoken part of the fight. What writers do is hard. Those that do it are worth a lot. Those that do it well are invaluable and usually irreplaceable. Separates us from assembly workers… wonder how many months of horrible reality shows (written by Craiglist responders) it will take the AMPTP to realize this?
And the purpose of the phoney ad was what exactly. To show there are desperate wannabes out there?
Did any WGA member believe for a second it was genuine anyway?
Ah the press. Any crap for a story.
I wanted to write and say “some of them are probably young and don’t know what they are doing by writing in” but then I thought about it. Screw that. These young adults, who bitch about NOT being treated like adults, want to make a decision like this, then who am I to make excuses for their dumb-ass decisions?
There isn’t anything wrong with being a SCAB. Not everyone supports Unions. I am eligible for WGA membership but guess what? I don’t believe in Unions. I believe the networks and studios should be free to hire writers, directors, or anyone else based on talent not on union membership. The WGA needs to learn that it doesn’t have a monopoly on creative writers. There is more talent outside of the WGA than in it. Long Live the Strike and Long Live the Scabs!
I have specs on The Unit, Chuck, Two & a Half Men, and many more.
If a non-guild member is able to perform the job and willing to do so under the terms offered by the studio, then why shouldn’t he work? Isn’t that the essence of commerce?
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/wet/478749305.html
Dishonesty on Craigslist? I won’t believe it. I CAN’T believe it!
This is absolutely disgusting.
Wow. Funny, yet sad that these people don’t get it.
They should be grateful that today’s writers are taking a stand, because as much as it might help the current writers this movement is really for the next generation of writers.
All these people willing to write for there chance to “break in” don’t realize that even if they weren’t caught or weren’t blacklisted they would be working for the bare minimum that the studios want to pay, considering the 32 pages of rollbacks can’t be much. They would have no job security, no retirement, no money when there wasn’t work, but hey at least they could say they’re writers…
The people who wrote these are clear-cut cases of people with too much free time on their hands
I have an imagination that stretches extremely wide, my writing has a stylish edge to it and my wit can knife right through you.
If this person thinks the last two descriptors are true, then that certainly explains the first.
Nikki, are you paying residuals to the writers whose comments you’re printing in your blog? You are selling advertising on it.
You’re making money from the posters colorful comments. And not sharing the revenues.
I love the “my wife has a masters degree, so that means I’m smart.” I’ve heard of Albert Einstein, does that make me a genius?
Some clown on eBay is offering writing services for $75K a year, with the headline “staff writer for hire, not on strike.”
The ad reads: “Perfer [sic] to work from home, Option not to relocate.”
That’s what ya get from McScabster!
Ad
Isn’t Craigslist the place where gay men pretend to be straight women, so they can collect pictures of desperate, naked guys? A lot of the responses seem to be non WGA. A few of them probably are WGA. Maybe. It’s pretty much a given that Craiglist is a the destination of choice for those who want to lie about themselves – which is why the NY Press guy placed the ad there in the first place. I’m not sure I agree with the police work, Lou.
So what! A group of people want their shot. I personally don’t find anything wrong with it. If someone does scab-work and from this we find good writers, maybe that’s what frightens you people the most. Let’s face it, a grand majority of the working writers are shit anyway. If they weren’t, maybe there’d be better shows out there. And let me say it loud, if I got approached, I’d take all the work I could get. Because, my friends, that’s a whole lot better than walking a picket line so billionaire writers can make a few hundred million more. There! I said it!
To those who say, why SHOULDN’T the scabs cross the line, why SHOULDN’T they get a job and make money, it’s no one else’s business, etc.:
The studio producers are proving right now that they DON’T WANT TO PAY YOU. They don’t want to pay you NOW, they don’t want to pay you LATER. The Union exists to negotiate a minimum basic agreement on behalf of its members so that you don’t get screwed over. Sure, you can go tell the studios, “I’m not union, and I’ll write for you, but you have to pay me xx and give me benefits.” They might even say okay for now. But once the strike is over, you’ll be making less than all those Union writers and you won’t have a contract or a negotiating body to help you out.
Take your chances.
Oddly enough, even those of my friends who are anti-Union are in support of this strike: everyone can see that residuals are fair.
Perhaps David Blum should take it a step further… do something similar to the opening scene in “Sea of Love.” Invite potential “network replacement writers” to our “studio” in Hollywood for job interviews. After offering them stale donuts, we’ll give them a two-hour lecture in the history of the WGA and the sacrifices that all the writers they’ve admired have made for the benefit of future writers, future guild members… And tell them that by becoming a “scab” you forever relinquish the right to call yourself a “writer.”
Isn’t it funny that people are frothing at the mouth over this? Truly shows the elitists that are the WGA members. I think both sides need to stop lobbing literary bombs at one another and settle.
How many of you guys can’t wait for somebody to “name names” so the WGA can start a good old fashioned blacklist on these folks?
From IndieScab’s myspace:
‘I’m Rod. And guess what? I have scripts for sell!’
You have scripts for ‘sell?’ I don’t think the WGA needs to be afraid of scabs if this is the caliber of scabs out there!
What are you, eight years old, Blum? I’m a Guild member and this undignified ‘experiment’ in some juvenile entrapment embarrasses me. Many people are desperate, some are in financial distress, and some are simply NOT INFORMED! Yes, that is actually a reality. And even if they’re open to doing scab work, they might reconsider if the opportunity actually existed. David Blum or whatever jackass set this up for NY Press could possibly use their time in more valuable ways. Grow up.
Believe it or not, there are good writers out there that aren’t in the Guild (and yes, some are better than WGA members). They’re just smart enough not to reply to ads on Craigslist.
Don’t get it twisted, someone will scab at some point. Especially when big media doesn’t buckle and people are out of work for months.