My Creative Mojo » WGA Strike!

WGA Membership Ratifies the New Contract

Doug — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:30:19 +0000

That’s right, the contract was approved by 93.6% of the vote. It’s officially done.

And now back to our sedentary lives…

Strike wrap up

Doug — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:04:19 +0000

It looks like the strike is wrapping up and the vote to end the strike and ratify the contract is just a formality.

This blog was originally intended to be about the creative process, and it got sidelined by strike news and experiences. It was unfortunate that the strike had to happen. The upside is that we had a wonderful group of creative people getting together 3 hours a day. All that creativity and talent together. It was a powerful, kinda like the Ghostbusters crossing the streams. People that might not have met any other way met on the picket line. Especially the screenwriters that tend to be more solitary. I know of at least one budding relationship that started on the picket line.

Now on to the stuff I intended to write about when I started this blog. Creativity. And what makes Doug tick. We’ll see if we can get to the bottom of that. Inquiring minds want to know. That’s My Creative Mojo!

Nearly time to vote

Doug — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 04:57:31 +0000

The contract looks okay. Not great, but also not the polished turd that the AMPTP offered in November and December.

The WGA members will vote on Tuesday to either lift the strike, or to continue striking until the contract is ratified. The ratification vote will be in the next 10 days.

Things are looking good, and I’d call these votes just a technicality.

Is the strike coming to a close?

Doug — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:00:15 +0000

Apparently a deal is imminent. We don’t know the terms, which won’t be released until late tonight, whenever they are ready. Several of the studio CEO’s have a handshake deal with the WGA, and now it’s a matter of drafting the legal contract language to support it. I expect this will get slowed down by the AMPTP lawyers trying to play their usual shenanigans.

We should know soon enough.

The studios and networks have a lot to lose at this point. The Oscars, pilot season. We’ve got them by the nads, and if they want us to release, they’ll call “uncle” and give us a reasonable contract.

My Tivo Likes Jon Stewart

Doug — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:36:22 +0000

I got a Tivo HD over the holidays. I don’t have an HD setup in my living room, but I liked the dual-tuner feature. There were times in the past where it would have been great to record two channels at the same time.

Yesterday I sat down and flipped through the “Now Playing” screen to find a long list of Daily Show episodes.

The episode from Monday night was listed twice. Not a rerun, not an episode recorded from two different times — my Tivo recorded the 11pm episode on both tuners. Maybe it wanted me to watch the episode twice??? Or it’s just trying to skew the ratings for Daily Show.

I scolded my Tivo for supporting Stewart, who is working while we are all out on strike. We both yelled at each other, the Tivo wanted to storm out, but couldn’t because it’s wired to the cable and TV. So I stormed out instead, slamming the door and nearly breaking the window. Later in the evening I returned, we both had a good cry and made up. I won’t go into graphic detail of what makeup sex is like with a Tivo, but I will say it was wonderful and hi-def.

Picketing Friday

Doug — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 00:31:10 +0000

I hit the 2:30 – 5:30 shift at NBC, the only active picket today. I left a few minutes late and had trouble finding parking, so I was on the line from 3:00 – 5:30. It was a good shift with writers that are typically at various studios throughout the week.

Hours logged today: NBC 3 to 5:30 = 2.5 hrs.

Weekly total: 39 hrs.

Do I dare continue walking with a picket sign for another hour to make it an even 40?

Assuming I was walking a nice leisurely pace of 2 mph, that would be 78 miles. I expect it was much higher than that. It’ll be good to have the weekend off, which just began with a margarita! Yariba!

Picketing Thursday

Doug — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 04:00:56 +0000

8-12 WB Gate 2. There was an event at the WB picket this morning with comedy writers, so I went to check that out. My gate captain, Steve Skrovan was there with Phil Rosenthal and Tucker Cawley (Everybody Loves Raymond). I met some of the writers from Samantha Who? Lots of talk about multi-cam vs. single camera comedies. Classic sitcoms like I Love Lucy, Honeymooners…

12-3, WB Gate 4. A bigger presence today. Had Don Foster & Laird on the line today. Met a few writers from Smallville. One lives in Los Feliz, and we had a lot to talk about with places like The Griffin in Atwater Village and the Derby in the heart of Los Feliz, a place I frequented during the peak of the swing revival. It turns out the other Smallville writer is from Missoula, Montana, but he wasn’t tied in with the Montana Mafia because he went to USC. He had no idea that the satellite feed of the Cat/griz game is aired at Joxer Daly’s in Culver City. Joxer’s is declared Montana territory for the day and we proceed to drain every bit of alcohol that they have in stock. We’ll bring him into the fold at the next game.

3-5:30, NBC. Ran into Muffet again. She was walking at a fairly brisk pace. By now, my feet and legs are getting used to the abuse and they’re not feeling so achey. We lap some of the other picketers multiple times, walking the long stretch in front of NBC/Alameda.

Hours logged today: WB 8 to 3 = 7 hrs, NBC 3 to 5:30 = 2.5 hrs. Daily total: 9.5 hrs

Weekly Total: 36.5 hrs.

(nearly a full time job!)

Tomorrow is a light day, so I’ll get to relax a bit. The only shift is NBC 2:30 – 5:30.

Picketing Wednesday

Doug — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 04:30:48 +0000

Radford 8-12. Ran into my new friend Lana from Alabama. She introduced me to Doug Eboch, a screenwriter. Had a great long chat with him. He got his start at Disney in Feature Animation and knows a lot of the people that my wife, Melissa knows from her time there. A little excitement today. It was insanely windy and at times hard to hold up the picket signs. Occasionally humorous when the wind would blow a sign, catching one of us off guard and hitting our strike partners in the head. Not once, but twice a gust of wind ripped a sign off one of the sticks and blew it onto the lot. The writer, not wanting to litter on the studio, ran onto the lot to grab the sign and got heckled by all the remaining picketers, “Scab! Scab! Scab…” The guards didn’t seem too concerned — good to know that you don’t get tackled for running onto the lot. Either that or our “Scab!” shouting distracted all the guards. I claimed that it was our version of a small boat in Iranian waters, testing out the studio’s reaction to figure out how they operate.

Grabbed lunch, then hit Warner Brothers 12:30-3. A small crew at gate 4 today, and a few of them had the nerve to abandon the gate early on. Laird and I held the gate down single handedly… er, double… quadruple handedly. I felt a little bad when the guard came out to do the hourly head count — the studios track the number of picketers at each gate. But we continued to march back and forth every time the light changed and maintained the picket line until Seamus came by at 3 pm to shut down our gate.

On to NBC 3-5:30. Caught up with Pierce Gardner and met Muffet (yes, her real legal name) an assistant that is out of work because of the strike.

Hours logged today: Radford 8 to 12 = 4 hrs, WB 12:30 to 3 = 2.5 hrs, NBC 3 to 5:30 = 2.5 hrs. Daily Total: 9 hrs.

Weekly total: 27 hrs.

Picketing Tuesday

Doug — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:00:54 +0000

I was a little slow getting around this morning and barely made my usual 6-9 am Radford shift. I walked 8-12 at Radford, jumped over to WB Gate 4. Spent the 12-3 shift chatting with Don Foster, met a writer named Laird who looks like a character actor with a William H. Macy type look. Then on to NBC to finish out the day from 3-5:30.

My feet and legs are a little sore, no blisters. I’ll sleep well again tonight.

Hours logged today: Radford 8 to 12 = 4 hrs, WB 12 to 3 = 3, NBC 3 to 5:30 = 2.5. Daily Total: 9.5 hrs.

Weekly total: 18 hrs.

(I think we’re supposed to put in 15 hrs/week, so I’ve already done that in less than 2 days!)

WGA-SAG Unity Day at Fox (Monday)

Doug — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 04:39:04 +0000

The shifts are 7-10, 10-1 and 1-4. I show up at 8am & plan to walk 8-11, crossing over the first two shifts. I run into some of my Universal Gate 3 crew on the early shift. As I start, the picket is a large oval on the sidewalk along Pico, mostly along the wall near the Motor entrance. By 11am the line is stretched all the way to the corner at Avenue of the Stars. Shortly after noon, it wraps around the corner and up to the Galaxy gate. This is one big-ass picket! And the passing cars on Pico are a constant honkfest, occasionally getting so loud that it’s hard to hold a conversation.

I run into many people I know from gatesurfing various picket lines the last few weeks. The energy is great, conversation is lively and the time passes quickly, suddenly I realize it is noon — I overshot my shift by an hour. Just as I ‘m about to leave, I run into another friend and decide to take a few more laps. The “I’m about to leave / run into another friend” thing cycles a few more times and suddenly it’s 3pm and I’m in desperate need of lunch.

Final count: 1500+ people turned out. Saw Chris Parnell, John Cryer, Mimi (from Drew Carey), Larry Miller, B.J. Novak, and many more actors.

I grab lunch and head toward Burbank to pick Melissa up from the airport. My phone rings — it’s Melissa. Oh shit, she arrived early! Nope, her plane is delayed and she’s still in Vegas. They should be leaving in 30 minutes. Add in the 1 hour flight time and she should get in around 5:30. I could go home for a short while, then head back to the airport, but I’m nearly there already. I pass NBC, honk at the picketers, then pass an empty parking space close by. The universe is calling me for some more laps on the line, so I jump out and get to it. I put in my time and talk to some of the audience members emerging from the Tonight show. Just as I’m checking out at 5:30 my phone rings again. It’s Melissa. She just got off the plane and is waiting for her luggage. Good timing. The drive from NBC to the airport should be just long enough for her luggage to arrive.

I didn’t intend to walk this much today, but I did it. There’s not much on my schedule this week, so maybe I’ll be “crazy picketer guy” for the week and hit all the shifts.

My feet and legs are a little sore. No blisters. I’ll sleep well tonight.

Hours logged today: Fox 8 to 3 = 7 hrs. NBC 4 to 5:30 = 1.5 hrs. Daily Total: 8.5 hrs.