It was sunny and brisk today on the Writers Guild of America picket line in New York City on the third day of the strike. The pickets have been moving around the city since the strike started on Monday--Day One we rallied outside the NBC (General Electric) studios in Rockefeller Center (just in case you've never been...mid-town, 49th Street, you know, where the ice-skating rink is); Day Two was out in Queens in front of Silvercup Studios, just under the rumbling tracks of the "N" and the "W" lines.
Today, the action shifted to Chelsea Piers, which is all the way west on the Hudson at 23rd Street, where, inside the mammoth complex, "Law & Order" is filmed. People were still quite energetic. About 100 WGA members and supporters formed picket lines outside the complex, while others took over an island which sits on the northbound side of the West Side Highway. Brian, a WGA member, had thought about staying home today but he told me that when he got up he was just furious at the producers--so to the lines he cames (he had been out picketing the first two days). The hearty soul in the picture is an actress named Lisa, a member of the Screen Actors Guild--she definitely gets the award for audaciousness, plunging right into the traffic lanes just before the traffic reached her. The signs were eclectic (thanks in part to the handiwork of Susan, who cranked out the slogans): "Pencils Down" (which played off an ad signed by key "showrunners" that appeared in Variety) is one of the enduring slogans making the rounds.
Tomorrow, the pickets move to the TimeWarner building in Columbus Circle (you are welcome to join). Meanwhile, there are apparently no negotiations underway between the sides, though there are constant rumors about informal, back-channel communications. As I pointed out last week, this is a pure example of greed running rampant. Even more so now since the WGA has dropped its demand that the residuals for sales of DVDs be increased to 8 cents (which is pretty darn low) in return for the producers agreeing to pay money for downloads from the Internet--which is clearly where the technology and the delivery system of content is moving. The producers response: no.
The writers are getting strong support from other quarters. As The New York Times reported today:
Hollywood writers and the studios that produce the most popular programs on television began tightening the screws on each other Tuesday, the second day of the first industrywide strike in nearly two decades.
On the writers’ side, some prominent show runners — the writer-producers who fill multiple roles at the helm of television programs — said publicly that they did not intend to perform any of their duties while the writers’ strike continued.
Among the more prominent writers taking such a stand was Shonda Rhimes, the creator and executive producer of two of ABC’s biggest hits, "Grey’s Anatomy" and "Private Practice," who sent an e-mail message to other Writers Guild members saying that she would "choose not to render my services as a producer" during the writers strike.
Shawn Ryan, the executive producer of "The Shield" and "The Unit," said much the same thing in an e-mail message. "The only thing I can do as a show runner is to do nothing," Mr. Ryan wrote. "I obviously will not write on my shows. But I also will not edit, I will not cast, I will not look at location photos, I will not get on the phone with the network and studio, I will not prep directors, I will not review mixes."
Good for them.
One observation from the picket lines: since the last WGa strike was almost 20 years ago, a lot of the younger writers have no memory of the walk-out. This is totally new territory for them and for even some older writers. It struck me that they were heartened by the support that appeared to pour from the trucks and cars racing by. And I would venture to guess that it may have dawned on them that much of the support came from truckers, sanitation workers, bus drivers, cab drivers and a whole lot of people who maybe the writers didn't always see as their natural allies.
The fight goes on.