It was a wet day out there on the strike line.
Now, before you call me a baby for complaining about the rain, especially in light of the fact that the Writers Guild East members are striking in conditions approaching absolute zero, I will remind you that this was to be a very special strike day.
Okay, now stay with me: Yesterday was the holiday celebrating Martin Luther King’s birthday. The Guild said, “no picketing, except for [you guessed it] NBC Burbank.” Today, in honor of Martin Luther King’s birthday, they decided to focus the entire effort on Paramount Studios. Why Paramount would have the dubious distinction of being picketed in the name of MLK, I don’t know. So every striker was to report there, , except for, you guessed it again, the regulars at NBC Burbank. A writer spoke to reporters this morning in KNX, and he too was baffled. He also thought no picketing took place yesterday, forgetting the Guild’s standing order to picket Jay’s show no matter what.
Business as usual, right? Well, not exactly. By way of specially honoring Dr. King, writers were to march all the way around the Paramount lot. With an expected turnout of every voting writer in the guild, save the 100 or so in Burbank, this would result in a throng roughly equivalent to the final battle scene in the last Lord of the Rings movie.
But it was not to be. Maybe it was the rain, or maybe parking was a bear, but the turnout left something to be desired. I drove around the lot, and this was a typical view:
The girl in the middle there had just walked out of the building. I think she works in the cafeteria.
With the TV cameras arriving, the writers bunched up in front of the Paramount gates. Here’s a look at that, at around noon:
I couldn’t figure out where to sign in, so I got back on the scooter and went to my usual haunt, the back gate at NBC. I was greeted by these soggy folks:
That’s Rob, Beth, Mike, Dave and Dickie, all Tonight Show writers except for Dickie, who is Carson Daly’s head writer. The only reason they’re smiling is because they thought I was carrying a portable space heater, which turned out not to be the case. We tried in vain to use our strike signs as umbrellas, then swapped Angel Thompkins stories (well, there’s really only one) until the clock ran out on the shift.
After a $150 trip to Costco (you really can’t spend that much when you’re on a Vespa), I got home and was greeted with a new email from the Guild. Here’s the quote of interest:
“In order to make absolutely clear our commitment to bringing a speedy conclusion to negotiations, we have decided to withdraw our proposals on reality and animation. Our organizing efforts to achieve Guild representation in these genres for writers will continue. You will hear more about this in the next two weeks.”
You know what that means, don’t you? My “Here’s the Reality” T-shirt is going straight to eBay! No reserve! Burns my skin with shame to wear it! Happy Bidding!
