Strike report: Day Three

For a delightful change of pace I decided to picket at CBS Radford on Wednesday. This tradition-rich San Fernando Valley institution has produced thousands of TV series and Sonja Henie ice skating movies.

The streets inside the lot are named for various shows that filmed there. “Gunsmoke Street”, “Mary Tyler Moore Ave.”, etc. In the spirit of accuracy they should now rename those streets “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Drive”, “Shaft Ave.”, “Other People’s Money Street”.

There were more bakery goods here than at 20th Century Fox. A number of writers were eating doughnuts while on line. Doesn’t that defeat the “exercise and cardiovascular” benefit of marching? Actor Gary Sinese made homemade cookies. They were delicious!

I walked behind a dog for about an hour. His last job was writing HERE’S BOOMER but God love him he was there supporting the new generation.

At least it was 75 degrees and sunny. Protesting writers in New York are freezing their asses off. How important are our east coast brothers and sisters? Look how much smarter Fred Thompson was when the LAW & ORDER writers were putting words in his mouth.

A woman was actually marching in stilettos. That's something you don't see at a Teamster's strike.

Every picture of the strikers I see in any publication includes at least one actor. It’s always a shot of Maura Tierney and John Stamos and a bunch of signs (us) behind them. But here’s the picture they should be using: A little boy of about six or seven was holding a placard that read, “KIDS FOR WRITERS”.

The BIG BROTHER house is also on the CBS Radford lot. I used to walk by their backyard fence, knowing they were cut off from the world and news and say “Oh shit! Did you hear? We just attacked Korea!!"

Lots of folks from SAG were on the line. They were the ones not eating doughnuts.

I overheard a couple of writers working on their screenplay story. I couldn’t really hear what it was but the dog did and gave me a look like, “Yeah, great. A buddy comedy/road picture -- DEAD”.

In a strike tactic I don’t quite understand, we marched clockwise for awhile then were told to start marching counterclockwise. Hey, anything to bring the producers to their knees.

A lot of motorists rolled down their windows and shouted out support… as they drove onto the lot.

Ellen DeGeneres told her television audience that she’s contractually obligated to continue doing her show. But she loves her writers and in support will discontinue her monologue. That’s great except…she CAN’T do her monologue without writers!! A few weeks ago she probably read a script that said, “Ellen cries”.

The big question early in the week was why would our negotiating committee give up DVDs? It made no sense. And then we learned the truth: the producers pulled the old Charlie Brown and the football, leading the WGA to believe if they gave up DVDs they'd offer some internet formula for residuals. And then did no such thing. AAGGGGHHH!!!

I didn’t see anyone with a megaphone trying to whip us into a frenzy. I guess they got wise. The only way to get this bunch to shout out protest chants is to hire the Laker Girls to lead them.

Of course, there's really no need for the rah-rah people. The producers themselves have managed to galvanize the union into such a state that to a man writers will fight this contract till the end of time.

Which starts tomorrow with Day Four.