The reason why eva longoria caught flack for crossing the lines was because it was a location shoot and my friends were there picketing the shoot to disrupt it and it was all out in the public and caught on camera. HL is on a soundstage in a private area. I understand why it made the news and I understand the inclination on the part of the protesters. I don't fault the writers and actors who disrupted the shoot. I get it. But, plenty of shoots have been disrupted. As far as the general public is concerned, Chris Titus isn't catching shit. Neither is the cast of "Scrubs" who had their location shoot shut down. But, someone who is a little less popular in the world of catty online bloggers is getting more flack for doing what many other actors did. She didn't walk off the set, so the public opinion is that she did a bad thing. She walked with everyone the next day and still got mocked mercilessly on the blogs. Because she's Eva Longoria. Wanda Sykes can be heard shouting something to the effect of "I'm not working" on one of the videos from that "event", but that's so hollow. Wanda's not working because her show was shut down. It wasn't shut down because she walked off the set, it was already shut down as Julia Louis Dreyfus made very clear to the press. Julia outright stated that she wasn't to be seen as the great noble person that walked off of a set, she was out there because her show was already shut down and she was supporting her writers. I just think the perception of certain actors and their continuation of work is interesting. I hope people here don't think I don't appreciate the hard work of the crew, I do and always have. I'm usually the writer who hangs with the crew and gets hit on by the crew, oh yes I enjoy the male attention. What I dont appreciate is the crew coming out and complaining about it and undermining our cause. That's what the AMPTP wants and exactly why they're promoting that POV. We're all screwed. We're all going down together. Not that it matters, given the fact that the platform for the anti-writer spin is so big what with the internet, but I don't think most people who are actually paying attention to what's going on have made that assumption that the writers don't care about the crew. I think the writers and actors who have been interviewed have done a very good job of pointing out the fact that they realize how big it is and how many people's lives are affected. It's probably incorrect to say "most", but a *lot* of people understand that the strike wasn't taken lightly. We didn't have to parrot the answer, but it was very helpful in reminding technical people with a lot of insider info who didn't usually talk to the press what we should (and should not) talk about and how to keep our message focused when the press started fishing. It doesn't seem like the writers have a cheat sheet. I haven't heard the interview, but given that pamie is a strike captain, has her "reading material" handy and blogged about having been at an hours long meeting before the interview, you'd think she would have the answers. Though, you'd also think she'd have some sort of answer to the Ellen issue as well. I guess I'll have to actually listen, though, before actually making any real comment on it. Speaking of the Ellen thing (sort of), it looks like Perez swiped the entire letter from Liz Feldman with no attribution. Asshole. I dont mean to nitpick and I have nothing to do with entertainment industry but am just an outsider following the strike(and hope the writers succeed in getting their dues)- but thats the attitude that the crew probably feel upset about. Its not nice to be forced to take unemployment benefits and lose your job even though temporarily- they dont get anything from the strike, they are going to lose thier jobs for what looks like a long time, may need to claim benefits which may not cover their mortagage costs etc and should stop complaining? While I understand that attitude, it would seem that the majority of crew members angry at the writers are misplacing their anger. The writers are the easy target because they're the ones that walked out and the ones that are on the picket lines. It's the studios, however, who don't want to resolve this fairly. The writers want what's fair to them the same way that the crew members want what's fair to them. I recognize that not all people who work on the show are Teamsters, but those who are should appreciate what a union does and what the writers are doing right now. It *sucks* for them. I don't think anyone is unsympathetic to them. But, they should know better than the next guy that the writers aren't the enemy.

But in reality, crew guys can get work on other shoots i.e. movies, commercials, etc, I don't have any options right now. Doesn't the guild have a strike fund? Every union I've ever known socks away part of the dues to paying at least something to its members during a strike. (Not saying that it's a lot, but it's something.)

In the "hopefully every little bit helps" realm, BlogCritics jus published my column on the strike, explaining that Unbox downloads (and the like) are what it's all about. It' not much, I don't know how many people read my column, but it will appear on Google and Yahoo news etc. Anyway, the link is: http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/11/11/145829.php

I have three questions to our knowledgeable strikers. First of all, isn't IATSE working without a contract right now? Wouldn't they need to renegotiate as well or is that a completely different matter? Secondly, there have been a lot of references to the strike in '88. How was that resolved? I've heard intimations that the showrunners returned to work thereby irreparably damaging the union position. What is the story? Lastly, when was the infamous VHS deal made? I've read '86 and '88.

Doris Egan just wrote an excellent and inspiring blog about the strike on her LJ - look here: http://tightropegirl.livejournal.com/16033.html

Oh yes. It's a great post - right on point with fantastic writing. Who knew? ;)

The WGAE website http://www.wgaeast.org has added info on what TV & Movie Fans can do to help the writers win a fair contract. It also lists the scheduled NYC locations for pickets for the beginning of this week. If you scroll down to what is currently the sixth item (or link here: http://www.wgaeast.org/index.php/articles/1043?wgra=1#wga1043) there's a very funny video; Tim Kazurinsky (formerly of SNL) on the WGA Strike. The WGAE member explains the issues to Chicago viewers. His approach is simple but it says it. It emphasizes the Producers are really Conglomerates (like Doris wrote) and garners the support of the Chicago news team on who’s show he is appearing. It’s like an Old-Time RL Weekend Update.

oops. someone beat me to it.

That was great. Go Tim!

ANCHOR: You mean Flavor of Love has writers? TIM: Not anymore. LOL!

More info has been released about the showrunners' meeting from Wednesday: the bigger story of that meeting was the (as I remember) almost unanimous agreement (which I don't think the Guild leadership was completely happy with -- this isn't a ploy by them) that we hyphenate showrunners would absolutely go back to work to finish the episodes left to post if the AMPTP agreed to come back to the table. I think most of us would agree that it doesn't even have to be them that makes the first move. If someone were to tell me that if I went back to my producing duties on Monday morning and the Companies would come back to the table Monday afternoon, I'd go. I'd trust them that much. From an anonymous commenter, so take with a grain of salt: ...all these comments seem to assume that that AMPTP is willing to be reasonable. The bottom line is - the AMPTP wanted a strike and have no intention of coming back until they take their write-offs on all the crappy shows of the current season, cut all the production deals they wanted to get rid of anyway, trim their own dead wood internally, and otherwise take advantage of this situation for their own financial advantage. That should take - oh - about six months or so, conveniently timed to the other two guilds negotiations. In the end, I assume the AMPTP will give some kind of nominal back end just to get their hit shows running again - but they have some housecleaning to do first. They don’t give a s— about how this strike is affecting any individuals. This situation is truly disheartening, although quite fascinating.