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Not even a writer for Law & Order can get law and order when he needs it during the WGA strike. News Corp as well as striking writers have confirmed to me that an impatient Fox employee (photo left) driving a black SUV got into a physical fracas with picketing Rene Balcer, showrunner of Law & Order and co-creator of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. The altercation occured while Balcer was legally walking the line in the crosswalk of Fox Studios’ Gate 3 off Avenue Of The Stars in Century City.
The driver’s behavior had escalated all week, witnesses said. First, the Fox white collar worker spent Monday yelling at the striking writers. Then he used his car to nudge a picketer Tuesday. That’s when a strike captain wrote a “Safety Note of the Day: Watch Out For Douchebags” about “some asshole roared up to our picketers and was so angry at having to wait two seconds for them to cross the street that he tapped one of our guys with his fender (lightly; no injury). We got his license plate and took a picture of him. Fortunately, our picketers were following all the Safe Picketing Rules.”
And finally today the driver drove into Balcer, began pushing him with his fender, and then got into a shoving match with the celebrated writer. Here’s one witness account: “It’s Mr. SUV’s turn to wait for us to cross. He does not wait. He plows into us, knocking Rene Balcer back several feet. Then the guy leaps out of his car and takes a swing at Rene, and then shoves him out onto Avenue of the Stars. Thankfully, there was no traffic at that moment.”
Still another witness said on WriterAction: “After Rene is pushed back by the SUV, he shouts at the driver: ‘Hey, that’s assault!’ The driver comes out of the SUV and shouts: ‘I’ll show you assault!’ And then the driver takes his swing.”
As soon as the driver got out of his car and headed towards Balcer, WGA strike captains on the scene called to the Fox security guard to help. But striking writers claim the guard did not respond. That’s when, witnesses say, the driver “got in Balcer’s face” and things got physical. Picketers attempted to grab and restrain the driver. But he shook them off and scrambled back into his car which was waved through the gate by the Fox guard.
After the incident, Balcer called the police. A Fox supervisor came out and looked at photos of the driver and the license plate of his car. About thirty minutes after the incident, the LAPD arrived and took statements from Balcer and witnesses. It’s not certain whether the showrunner intends to press charges. (Maybe it depends on whether Sam Waterston is available to prosecute in Los Angeles County?)
But these car-meets-striker confrontations are no joke. I’m told that News Corp is ”looking into the matter internally” and intends to close that gate because it’s “unsafe” without a traffic light controlling the crosswalk. Most importantly, the Fox altercation runs contrary to instructions which News Corp No 2 Peter Chernin gave his senior staff at the outset of the WGA picketing of Fox Studios: “Be gracious. Don’t be rude. Don’t argue. These guys have every right to do what they’re doing. They believe in their cause just as we believe in ours.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Why not publish the name of the douchebag? Presumably this info is available since they/you have license and photo info. If he’s going to be running people over… let all the world know it. This belongs in the Hall of Shame.
Unbelievable.
And Balcer should soooo press charges.
I was there on Tuesday when the jackass in the SUV tapped the guy. And it’s true — they did get a photograph AND a license plate number. This guy is going down, and it’s going to be wonderful.
Wow! Glad i wasn’t there, i would’ve knocked his block off, fucking asshole.
PC
Really tough guy? What would you really do? Maybe through a cream puff at the individual? You sound like a feeble-minded lefty loser who talks big but is a little pu*sy. Are you that much of a loser that you spend time watching low life idiots in a picket line?
Let’s see, they picketers had identified this SUV days in advance, saw that he was easily angered, and saw that it was getting worse each passing day. They even issued a caution about this SUV driver to picketers.
And somehow everyone is surprised that this occurred? Does everyone believe that the picketers might in some way be responsible or irresponsible for this happening? I mean comeon it’s clear that there was a concerted effort to antagonize this guy to the point of him doing something rash.
Of course now everyone puts on this face of innocence, sorry but it’s so easy to see through this one.
I don’t think anyone said they were “surprised.”
Besides, if they were in the cross walk legally, it’s the driver’s fault, no matter what happened before.
Mr. Franks, I understand your cynicism, but it’s unwarranted. I was five feet away when this happened on Tuesday, saw this guy jump out of his car (which was clearly his intention from the get-go), and like any rational human being, was startled and, subsequently, angry about it. Nobody had warned me about him, nobody in my immediate group had known he’d been yelling the day before. But even if we had, do you generally think people who yell return the next day to drive recklessly and threaten a fistfight?
I only learned about the Balcer incident when my wife read it to me on the phone this morning from this site (I was on my way to Fox). Naturally, I brought it up to the first bunch of picketers I was walking with, none of whom had heard about any of these three incidents, nor of any WGA caution about this lunatic. Our strike captains did, of course, know, and this morning, they called an impromptu meeting to warn us about him and to urge everyone to remain calm about it. (As far as I know, nothing happened today.)
Truly, the notion that the WGA is employing suicide walkers to get in the way of SUVs is just not true. We’re writers, it’s not really in our constitution to get run over.
Maybe he just got his pinkslip? Personally, it’s been very frustrating for me to drive through picketers every day knowing they are the ones who are putting me out of work. His actions are inexcusable and shouldn’t have been tolerated by security; but I share some of the same frustration — most people still working on my lot do.
Honestly, can we get back to fucking work, and stop focusing on these manufactured dramas? Picketers are behaving childishly, baiting drivers into these kinds of confrontations (when they deign to picket at all– I love that all the picket lines disappeared 12/17-1/7 so WGA could celebrate holidays while the thousands who have been put out of a job by this massive fit of pique were panicked about how to pay their mortgages…).
Who is going to report the detail of the damage Mr. Balcer inflicted on the hood of the employee’s car before the altercation escalated?
Not that one man’s act of vandalism justifies another’s act of violence, but the reporting here is so lopsided! Some schmuck is trying to keep his job, some other schmuck provokes him, and DHD jumps to the defense of the provocateur!
Syd: Of course she wanted it. Look how she’s dressed.
You’re absolutely right — all that walking in orderly circles definitely qualifies as incitement.
Those devious writers should have abandoned their signs and run up the street, squealing in fear, every time that vehicle approached!
Your logic is unsound. Since their mere presence made this guy froth at the mouth, it doesn’t automatically follow that it took overt action on their part for him to actually lose it. Maybe someone made a frownie face?
Syd,
Really? Are you serious?
That makes as much sense as the “Did you see what she was wearing, she was asking for it!” rape defense.
@ Syd Franks
Easy to seethrough? Not sure about that….
Syd,
You’re an idiot. You’ve concocted in your head this elaborate conspiracy to push this poor road-rage infected Fox freak into a rage, just so the strikers can get free publicity. The only thing that’s clear is that you are a very dumb person. Or… you work at Fox and drive a black SUV.
Mr. Franks, your cynicism is unwarranted.
I was there on Tuesday when the SUV screeched to a halt. I had heard nothing of Monday’s shouting (even if I had, how could anybody know shouting would escalate to violence?). But I was five feet away when the lunatic in the SUV nearly ran down a fellow picketer, and before I realized what had happened, the guy was undoing his seat belt and charging toward that picketer. It was obvious this was his intention all along, and he was just waiting for an excuse. Like any rational human being, I was startled, frightened, and then angry. What sort of behavior is this? He screamed that he had to get to work (at 10:16AM, incidentally), but the delay to wait for a striker is at most six or seven seconds. No, this guy was gunning for a fight. And the writer he tapped on Tuesday, to his credit, didn’t give it to him.
The article suggests there was a caution given to writers, but if there was, nobody I know heard about it. (It sounds like it was amusing, though.) Generally, do you assume psychopaths will repeatedly try to drive into human beings? Because I don’t (perhaps foolishly).
So the notion that we have suicide picketers out there trying to martyr themselves by being run over by cars is really a little absurd. I’ve never met Rene Balcer (though as a longtime “Law & Order” viewer, I’ll try to meet him next week at the picket), but are you really suggesting he put himself in the way of a speeding car on purpose?
Still, after this happened three times, we were all properly warned today, and told to be extra cautious. Which we were. As far as I know, the SUV guy didn’t show up today. If he did, he was a model citizen. Good.
I mean comeon it’s clear that there was a concerted effort to antagonize this guy to the point of him doing something rash.
Balcer was totally asking for it, wasn’t he? Walking through a crosswalk without checking the license plate of every vehicle that tries to turn against a list of angry studio weenies…why, that’s like wrapping yourself in bacon and walking through the SF Zoo tiger enclosement!
Syd Franks, are you serious? You are blaming the picketer for being rammed with this guy’s SUV — because the picketer “provoked” the driver by legally picketing? You must be one of those people who blames rape victims for “provoking” a rapist because “she obviously could see that short skirts were turning him on.” Give me a break. The only thing that’s easy to “see through” here is that you are a studio troll trying to drum up some really lame support from a public that almost unanimously supports the writers and actors.
There are two sides to every story, and as always this site always seems to focus on only one.
I highly doubt that the incident happened as described above, because this is the same guy who had harassed several execs in my division (including my boss) that day. He deliberately stepped in front of their cars (not “legally walking”) after they had already turned into the lot, putting himself in harm’s way.
As an aspiring screenwriter I am rooting for the Guild to get a good deal, but I have many qualms with such behavior. Why can’t these picketers realize that not every car entering that gate is driven by a studio mogul? Why don’t they realize that such actions are turning people against their cause?
In another somewhat-related incident, a co-worker of mine was driving to the main gate, when the driver next to him motioned for him to roll down his window. Said co-worker did so, only to be verbally assaulted by this driver, who said, “Fuck You. You are crossing a picket line. You are taking food off my table.” Did I mention that my co-worker drives a 15 year old Isuzu whilst the angry writer was driving a brand new Civic hybrid?
Hey Syd,
It’s never okay or justified to nudge a human being with a giant SUV. Got it? Why do I have to explain this to you? Why are you implying the writers antagonized this guy to the point where he deemed it necessary to HIT SOMEONE WITH AN SUV???
Jeez.
Syd Franks,
It doesn’t matter if this guy was easily angered and it was getting worse each possible day. The strikers were doing exactly what they were there to do, and doing it legally and safely.
It was this guy’s responsibility to behave himself, and now he’s probably going to be looking at a felony assault charge for his impatience.
KW
It doesn’t excuse the driver’s behavior, but neither side sounds like an innocent victim in this story. Sorry.
Syd Franks: no one has the right to use an SUV as a weapon against a pedestrian unless the pedestrian is putting the driver in jeopardy of his life. The schmuck should have circled the block, or parked elsewhere and used a pedestrian gate.
Syd Franks? I dunno if I agree with your police work, Lou.
No matter how antagonized he felt – and picketers are operating within the law – he ATTACKED A DEFENSELESS PERSON WITH HIS CAR.
The fault lies with him. No one else.
Is Syd Franks out of his mind?? I’m a strike captain at FOX, and I can promise you that nobody is antagonizing drivers or trying to get run over. Our picket line is so cordial and driver-friendly it’s almost embarrassing. This SUV guy was just a douchebag, plain and simple, and shame on you for defending him for trying to run somebody over. That’s just nuts.
Wow Franks. I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone whose got their head so far up their ass. I’d love to see that argument tried in court.
SYD FRANKS WROTE: “And somehow everyone is surprised that this occurred? Does everyone believe that the picketers might in some way be responsible or irresponsible for this happening? ”
Uh…Syd, pedestrians have the right of way. The crosswalk said walk. The point of protesting is, in part, to antagonize. The reason the Nazis chose Skokie to march in was to antagonize and that was their right – which our courts protected.
Yes, perhaps writers should not be SURPRISED…but are they responsible? Not in the slightest. No more than a woman who goes home with an obvious-to-all asshole is responsible for getting raped. No more than a man out walking in a bad neighborhood is responsible for getting mugged. She is 100% innocent. He is 100% innocent.
And writers who get hit by cars while walking in crosswalks when the light says “walk” are 100% innocent.