BO: Absolutely!

Also, well said Bo. This strike has been hard everyone working (or currently holding work) in Hollywood. We are all hoping for a quick and fair resolution to the writers strike and that it may stave off future strikes in 08′.

Bravo girls for finding a humorous way to cope with a tough situation!

Just enjoy the article for what it is…an entertaining article that has turned some lemons into lemonade.

Bo

I saw first-hand how hard it is to even get in the unions (SAG/WGA…doesn’t really matter which) and then once you are in the union, that just gets you the POSSIBILITY to get work for anything that is union.

* I have an award-winning script — please someone just read it

Oh wait, you don’t have an agent…well, you need an agent to get your script read. Oh, you don’t have any purchased scripts, you can’t get an agent.

Somehow!
* I have an agent!

Once the agent is secured, a set of rejections, script doctoring (sometimes uncredited) and other grunt work is the most likely way you will go as a writer in Hollywood.

You are thankful for that work since it is very sketchy, seasonal and can end at any time. Oh, and the pay is probably spotty unless you happen to “hit” with a TV show, movie, etc…

Welcome to Hollywood…

A couple of very quick comments:

* You must be in the union to get union work. Non-union work for writers = video games, the Internet and reality shows (oh wait, those are “editors” and not writers…sure they are…)

TV and Film = union

No choice in the matter so don’t even bother making comments like “I will never join a union”. It’s just not a realistic choice for real work in Hollywood.

* Below the line folks
I know a lot of “below the line” folks in the crew, art department, etc…

This strike sucks for them — no way around that. They are really caught in the crossfire of the strike and certainly want it to end ASAP.

Everyone connected to the industry (from the obvious like talent agencies to the not so obvious like hotels, restaurants, etc…) are impacted by the strike.

Conclusions
* NO ONE (repeat NO ONE) wants to be out of work — especially over the holiday season.

These folks have gone through tremendous trouble and effort to get into a Hollywood union and be a working writer. Jobs are tough to come by and steady jobs even harder to come by for writers.

* Someone has to give and I don’t think the writers are going to move. They got jacked out of millions of dollars over that crazy new media known as VHS (and then DVD).

* There is a real possibility of a combo strike of WGA/DGA (Directors) and SAG (Actors). That would be the ultimate “scorched earth” scenario where we have 13 episode TV seasons or (God help us) EVEN MORE reality TV.

For those that don’t like TV now, wait until you have so much reality TV that you forgot how actual actors look onscreen. You will beg for the so-called “scripted” TV!

As for screenwriters in LA all having mortgages, I guess us (oops – “we”) IT/technology types must all live in mansions like Bill Gates, huh? Get real. And, if all writers made that much money, would they really be in line buying 3 Buck Chuck at Trader Joes?

And, as for those who comment on reading (which must be difficult while they looking down their noses…) as opposed to watching TV, I’m surprised that reading blogs on the internet is such the intellectual pastime! BTW, some of us have the ability to multi-task.

Liz/Hilary – best of luck for a quick and just end to the strike!

However, it is just ridiculous that studios won’t pay any type of residuals for the “new media” known as the Internet.

Come on — I watch plenty of shows over the Internet. I especially enjoy stuff that conflicts with other shows during the same time slot.

Ask yourself — who WANTS to not work and make no new income during that time frame? No one…

I feel for the “below the line” guys such as teamsters because it’s not their fault that there is a strike.

As for the “haters” out there, you try to write a 20 page script for a 30 minute sit-com. Then, try to shop it around town in LA.

By the time you start crying “mommy, why won’t they at least read my script”, let us know how “easy” it is being a writer…

First there’s Kevin, who clearly could not be bothered to, y’know, actually read the WGA strike rules before accusing these authors of breaking them…

Then there’s the poster who alleges that they are part of some political agitprop group think collective, when as far as I can tell, the authors never once mention their political views in this piece…

And then there the commenter who actually took the time to correct their grammar, forgetting that this is a comedic piece and not a foreign policy paper. You must be some fun to hang out with on weekends honey… “no I’m sorry I cannot go to that Bar-B-Que place with you, as they have engaged in superfluous and incorrect usage of the hypen.”

This is a light-hearted, and I thought very funny, look at life on a picket line. How about we take it for what it is, and not twist it into another opportunity to make some kind of nasty churlish point.

Just because you CAN post a comment, doesn’t necessarily mean you SHOULD post one.

‘How can writers be creative when they’ve locked themselves inside a politically-correct groupthink lock-box’

Afterall, writing agitprop requires that writers conform, which leaves little room to engage in anything remotely creative.

That said, keep up the strike ladies your siliconed fakery is an expensive image to maintain.