A Survey of Recent Writers Strike Coverage

As the Writers Strike heads into its sixth week, one is tempted to quote from Joan Didion’s essay on the last Writers Strike in 1988. Didion contended that the strike wasn’t so much about money but rather “respect, and about whether the people who made the biggest money were or were not going to give a little to the people who made the less big money.” This time around, public opinion seems to be squarely on the side of the writers. As reported in the Los Angeles Times on December 6, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has hired a PR firm to counter the image that has gained currency in the media of a coterie of money-grubbing moguls resentfully pinching pennies from the talented artists in their employ. The alliance, the Times reports, “initially considered hiring Joe Lockhart, a former White House spokesman for Clinton, but he wasn't available.”

Variety recently reported on the discrepancy between east and west coast coverage of the strike in an article that touched on coastal differences generally where the Industry is concerned. “Compared with Hollywood,” Variety notes, “where seemingly every waiter, hairstylist and P.A. is hustling a script, entertainment in Gotham -- especially the narrow slice directly affected by the walkout -- is a flyspeck in a city bustling with finance, fashion, publishing and 8 million other stories.”

(This, incidentally, aligns with my assessment of Los Angeles after five weeks in residence. Last night I remarked to a friend that I think I would like the city a good deal more if I wasn’t an aspiring actor. To those who are, of necessity, painfully aware of the movements of the biz, LA provides no escape and the ubiquity of Industry chatter can sometimes feel mightily oppressive. Gridskipper, the Gawker Media “urban travel guide,” touched on this subject in an Onion-esque titled bar guide dated on December 5: “LA Bars for Getting Hit On by Unemployed Industry Douchebags.” The article lists the likeliest Hollywood pubs for unwelcome pick-ups by sad-sack Tinseltown aspirants: “You know the type: He's been on unemployment for the past six months, but now things are 'really starting to come together,' like he's going to start his own agency with none of this bullshit, and he's also finally going to get SAG, and his buddy has this idea for a script that's guaranteed to sell, and when it does he's, like, totally going to produce it.”)

Further Writers Strike coverage notes the difficulty of conducting a strike with a union whose members’ disposable income—and ability to endure a strike—varies wildly. The LA Times ran an article on December 6 regarding various discounts and benefits offered to west coast WGA members. “The union also has a list of 40 places in and around Hollywood with free or discounted items and services for writers with a union card,” writes the Times. The Times also interviews a "life coach" (seriously) who is offering free counseling to union members. “So far, however, she said no one has taken her up on her offer.” Clairvoyant Kris Cahill, on the other hand, “said she had received [a] nibble from a writer on strike.”

Meanwhile, late-night talk show hosts continue to pay their striking staffs out of their own pockets, a stop-gap solution which, as Bill Carter writes in the New York Times, can only continue for so long: “Estimates of what it is costing the hosts range from about $150,000 a week to as high as $250,000 a week, depending on the size of the staffs.” Carter notes that some hosts are better equipped than others to continue with this type of arrangement. David Letterman, for instance, is the highest-paid host, making around $35 million a year. “But some of the other hosts are making single-digit millions — a lot of money, but obviously not enough to pay out hundreds of thousands a week indefinitely, especially because the hosts themselves are going without pay during the strike.” At the same time, the studios producing these shows are currently “saving more than $1 million a week in costs for those shows, and still were taking in significant revenue from advertisers for repeats.”

Finally, Los Angeles Times columnist—and WGA member—Joel Stein writes about his experience on the picket line and the opportunity it provided him for networking, an oft-noted side benefit of the strike. “Picket lines,” Stein writes, “are the best networking opportunity ever invented.” He continues:

“My schmoozing, though, was amateurish compared to that of a small group of super-attractive people amassing spellbound crowds. It turned out they were not writers at all but actors. ‘I think networking is all this is,’ explained ‘American Dad’ writer Chris McKenna. ‘Especially the SAG [Screen Actors Guild] people. It's, “Hey I love your show. If you ever need voice work ...” and then they give you their card.’”

Stein’s finest moment on the picket line occurred when Seinfeld creator and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David showed up to lend his support: “When I introduced myself, [David] responded, ‘Joel Stein, the writer?’ I felt very important until I realized that was the safest thing in the world to say to someone on a WGA picket line.”