'Where The Wild Things Are' Runs $32.4M 
Oscar Can't Always Get What He Wants 
NBC Bright Spot Of Lousy GE 3Q Earnings; 4Q … 
Oops! Vivendi May Delay 20% NBCU Sale? 
65 Nations Vie For Foreign Language Oscar 
Elle's Women In Hollywood Power List 
HOW BIG IS BIG? AEG Predicts Michael Jackson … 
Sane Debt-Reduction Move By Redstone; But … 
EXCLUSIVE: Comcast Wants NBCU Deal Done … 
The Writers Guild Of America today issued a statement that pickets shut down Avenue of the Stars during a rally in front of the business offices of Fox Corp and then the demonstrators massed along Pico Blvd at the main gate to 20th Century Fox studios. The labor action on Day 5 of the WGA strike was the largest mobilization in the 74-year history of the Guild. Speakers included WGA West President Patric M. Verrone, Chief Negotiator David Young, and Negotiating Committee Chair John Bowman. Also pledging their support were SAG President Alan Rosenberg, Norman Lear, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who walked picket lines with writers earlier in the week.
“Two years ago, we started this campaign by looking for leadership from our members. What we found was a membership of leaders,” Verrone told the cheering crowd. Bowman thanked the striking writers for the sacrifice they are making for their future wellbeing. “Every gain this Guild has ever made – pension and health, residuals, jurisdiction – has been the result of people like you sacrificing their immediate interest for the greater good of the community. And we are a community. We help each other, and support each other, and that’s what we’re doing here today,” he said.
Singer Zach de la Rocha and guitarist Tom Morello of the rock group Rage Against the Machine opened the rally with several pro-union songs calling for a “fair share of the wealth.” A sea of red and black “Writers Guild of America On Strike” 
picket signs shook in approval. Seth MacFarlane, writer-producer of Fox’s animated Family Guy series, said most writers struggle to make ends meet. “They’re middle class. They live in homes that look to me like the home I grew up in, and my parents were teachers.” Striker Josefina Lopez, whose credits include Real Women Have Curves, said writers just want a fair contract. “I think everyone wants that,” Lopez said, “No matter what kind of job you do, you should be treated fairly.” OK, that's enough from the WGA's PR machine...
I'll start putting up all the info and photos from today's rally and other writer's strike news. Stay tuned all weekend as I clean out my emails and phone messages and post all the wonderful info you have given me.
Loading ...
Yes, 4,000+ marching in Century city, yet I just watched the local news and NBC had absolutely no mention of the rally at all. CBS made brief mention but in no way indicated how many people were there and didn’t bother to include and aerial shot of the mass gathering, rather just a shot that looked like a paltry gathering of 20 or so. (Hello, we all saw the helicoptors… who was in in them, Nick Counter screaming, “oh, fuck me!”?
No, it’s pathetic how the local news has responded to this historical moment in Hollywood Union history. Even the CBS Evening News made absolutely no mention of the event. But at least we got to see that O.J. is in court again.
I’m proud of the stand my fellow writers have made and today’s showing made me realize more than ever that we will not fold until we get a fair deal! Rally on, WGA!
- A working TV Writer
This morning’s rally was pretty empowering I have to admit, especially because I didn’t feel at all alone. My husband (school teacher) and I rely on both our incomes, and we’re just trying to decide when I take out a loan from the WGA, and for how much. I know I am just one of many who find themselves in a financial crunch, but this is really depressing. I worked as a barista during the mornings/days at coffee bean for 8 years after college and finally got my break as a staff writer. My wonderful husband and beautiful four year old daughter and I (we don’t have much of an extended family) were going to celebrate the holidays by taking our first vacation since our honeymoon, and now I find myself striking for 4 hours every day chanting out of anger and frustration, then going home crying to my husband. Our governor is on the phone with the opposing sides, the guild leaders are meeting with agents, the federal mediator is doing God knows what, and the moguls could care less about any of this. I watched the entire 6:00 NBC news, and not one second was given to our protest today. Thank you Nikki for this blog, as I think it’ll be the only place that people will hear about the strike from now on. If anyone is actually doing anything to end this strike, I feel it’s you.
On the otherside, I watched local ABC news and they showed both ground and aerial shots of the strikers today. I think they even mentioned the correct number of how many were out there protesting. They also ran the results of a viewer poll that had 69% supporting Writers 8% the Studio and 22% neither.
There was also some coverage on MSNBC this afternoon though they placed the number of participants at around 1000.
Access Hollywood had an on the ground correspondent showing the crowds in the streets, the honking in support and interviews with a few stars.
- A supportive viewer, but very sad about no ‘24′ We were so close to the Premiere….. :0(
So hoping beyond hope that talks will start up again and season 7 can be saved and everyone can get back to work and we can all have happy holidays.
Funny. Since I joined WGA years back, I always felt inspired by, but a little disconnected to, the fabled history (William Faulkner, Dorothy Parker, Dalton Trumbo et all). And SO GRATEFUL that I enjoy the fruits of what they fought for.
And finally this week, especially today, I feel like part of the story. The guild’s a giant family and no family is perfect. But I am damn proud to be part of it.
And deeply appreciative to the actors who support, as well as crew folk, assistants, teamsters, UPS drivers, fans – the harder we fight, the sooner it ends and everyone gets back to work! WE ARE IN IT TOGETHER
And I sure as heck ain’t rich.
Maybe local news doesn’t cover it because they haven’t had a WGA contract for almost 3 years, and we’ve never supported them.
They haven’t had a raise in 3 1/2 years.
It’s on our website.
Well, of course the local networks don’t cover it. Their parent companies are breathing down their backs in this town.
However, today KCRW’s “Left, Right & Center” closed with a very big kudos to all the writers standing up for what they deserve, and this show goes nationwide.
Just curious Nikki – You seem to to side with the writers. I get it but yet I don’t. A TV writer can not work without a studio. A TV studio can not work without a writer. Why takes sides? Aside from that, these writers you stick up for probably make 18 times as much as you do for sitting around a table each week writing bad sitcoms and eating cheese puffs. Far as I can tell in the week I have spent reading your site – you write better than they do!! Please try to be a tad more impartial.
I watched the strike in front of Fox plaza then walked back to my office and went up to the roof to watch as the protest moved to the main Pico gate. After they all got down to Pico the police started redirecting traffic so the pickets could have the whole street from Avenue of the Stars to Motor. They funny thing was, I think it kind of backfired. When the cars were driving by, before the street was closed off, the noise was insane. But when the street was closed off the cars were gone and the silence was deafening. All this isn’t to say their demonstration wasn’t impressive, it absolutely was. It just seemed sad to me that a lot of the noise they had been making all week with a handful of pickets was unintentionally marginalized.
What is up?! I feel like I’ve been hating other writers as competition for the last three years, but here I find myself full of pride and love for my fellow scribes. I’m making so many friends out here. ‘Tis the season of goodwill! God only knows how long it will last, but while it does, it feels pretty damn good. Keep on keepin’ on!
- “I don’t know how to describe myself. How about, Stuck in Development.”
Similar to writer/mom, I was just starting to hit my stride when the strike occured. Wow–I actually sold a pilot and then all of a sudden, the rapid momentum of the process came to a screeching halt. I have also cried this week due to huge financial and creative fears. But… what I have found to be particularly interesting is how much better I feel each time I get back on the picket line. I am having experiences and conversations I never dreamed of. I literally met my writing idol in my picket line the other day and proceeded to walk with him for the next 2 hours as he explained the process and idealogy behind the writing of my favorite film of his. It has been remarkable to meet random people and learn about their vast bodies of work and lives. I wish it could always be like this minus the impending doom factor of course…
Iworkinthecity,
I am going on the assumption that you are serious in your question to Nikki about why she is taking sides in this matter.
She isn’t. She’s actually just reporting fairly, something rather unique in the entertainment business these days.
Please remember that every television station is part of a large conglomerate that owns at least one movie studio. Their reporting has been, by and large, biased at best. The network news has mainly been pro-studio. Why would they cover the story otherwise? ABC,CBS, NBS, CW and Fox are the other side in this situation. Variety and the Hollywood Reporter have become the house organs of the studios, which is a tragedy because both have a rich history of being independent voices. And then there’s the massive campaign being waged by the AMPTP and it’s shills and flacks who, among other things, are writing letters on the comments pages of all the blogs, claiming to be “ordinary people” who are affected by the strike.
Well, guess what, the average writer is just an ordinary guy and most of them don’t make extraordinary wages. The average salary for a writer in the industry is under $50,000.00 a year. At any time 2/3 of our members are unemployed (like me right now) and have no health coverage (like me again).
Sure, there are a few hundred who make vast sums of money, but that’s the situation in any business, from garment manufacture to the airline industry to the financial business – stockbrokers can make a fortune on Wall Street but the average broker salary in New York is 75,000, not 7,000,000.
Oh, and the cheese puffs are a management torture, not a luxury.
anotherWGAmember said –
Please remember that every television station is part of a large conglomerate that owns at least one movie studio. The network news has mainly been pro-studio. Why would they cover the story otherwise? ABC,CBS, NBS, CW and Fox are the other side in this situation.
—I say, like DUH? Where have you guys been? NOW you get the PICTURE? you HAVE BEEN working and trying to sell your material to CONGLOMERATES this whole time!!! They have been paying you guys
(and I mean guys) to write! Now you want to BREAK them?
What happen to the WGA, did Ralph Nader take over?
I’m sure this is good for morale, but the reality is that the studio executives don’t give a damn. I’d like to see the WGA leadership step up to the plate and issue a pubic invitation to the AMPTP to return to the bargaining table in the name of saving thousands of jobs. The AMPTP will not return to the negotiations without pressure. Writers carrying signs is not pressure. Powerful people pressing for negotiations is the only thing that will help.
If this strike is allowed to continue past the first of the year it will probably last a year or longer. Negotiations need to begin within the next couple of weeks or the opportunity for a settlement will be lost until late in ‘08.
The Times chose not to report on the rally at Fox Plaza yesterday, thus concluding that an historic 4000-member turnout that blocked streets on Avenue of the Stars and Pico was not worth being printed in the public record. From a journalistic perspective, this is an egregious oversight – and one can’t help but wonder if the Times editorial division bowed to any pressure from the studios, or from its corporate or sales divisions.
Chuck Rosin
We stopped reading Variety after Jeff Robinov at Warner Bros. issued its ban on female led films, and Anne Thompson, corporate shill, wrote a transparent puppet piece spinning WB’s denials (meanwhile, stay tuned how the ban will more quietly continue)
By day 4 of the strike we realized we’d ceased reading Hollywood Reporter, too. We read Nikki Finke.
Another commenter referred to AMPTP’s online pr campaign planting comments at blogs – this is most definitely going on so beware the anti-WGA rants you read.
Like others have said, I finally had some momentum going with various projects. The strike has brought that to a halt. But you know what? I’ve never felt more like a “writer” than I have this week. Sure, it’s scary as heck. None of us know how this is going to turn out. 95% of us have everything to lose. But it’s been awesome. Exhausting. Inspiring.
We are regular people, our average member making $62k a year and we have a right to be in a union. This is what we do. We create entertainment… and it’s very profitable for the studios. So we’re trying to sit down at the table and work something out.
Finally, thanks to everyone this week who honked their horns in support as you drove past the various studios. All that noise is your way of showing us that it matters.