I was (and remain) pissed off that the late night hosts went back to work before the WGA strike ended. These guys are Guild members who were clearly not ad-libbing. If Jay, Conan, Jon and Stephen composed their thoughts seconds before tape rolled, I maintain they wrote something...

I also didn't appreciate what was a dirty little secret on the picket lines... late night writers choosing not to picket their own shows. Never mind the overwhelming majority of Los Angeles-based screenwriters who dutifully picketed outside their respective studio gate.

But anyway... that's done, I suppose.

In a return to relative normalcy, Stephen Colbert welcomed his crew back. Holy shit, this was funny:

Well, this strike is just about over. I went into this membership meeting anxious, but also recalcitrant. I only received the summarized points of of the new agreement an hour or so before the meeting. So, fairly pissed off, I bombed down to Times Square and the took my seat in the Crowne Plaza Hotel ballroom to listen to a summarized presentation of what I expected to be an old fashioned Hollywood Ass-Fucking, as the old-time Sammy Glick sort might have postulated, by our erstwhile Negotiating Committee.

Instead, I left fairly impressed, relieved and hopeful.

We didn't get everything we wanted. Didn't get a lot of what we wanted, actually. And we certainly didn't get as much as we damn well deserved. 17 days of what's now called a promotional window to watch programs online without having to pay writers their justly due residuals is odious in my opinion... even if the studios maintain that TiVo and DVR watching has changed the way viewers watch programming for the first/initial time.

But I can and will support my leadership and vote to ratify this deal.

We established jurisdiction over new media and digital delivery. We got a decent number off of the holy distributor's gross for internet rentals, electronic sell through, etc. Most important, we stood together, we stood strong, and we got far more than they ever thought they'd have to give us. I didn't believe this was possible when this strike hit the streets, but I do believe it now.

Bottom line, before this deal, if/when you bought or rented THE TRIPPER on iTunes or Apple TV, I got, as my Italian grandmother would say, "Ungots!"

Now, I get a piece of the distributor's pie, as I and my co-writer rightly deserve.

Terry George, writer/director of IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER and HOTEL RWANDA and tough-as-nails member of the WGAE Negotiating Committee described the alternative to not taking this deal today, at our maximum point of leverage: nuclear winter. In his own words, this man (a former IRA member) negotiated terms with the British Army and he never faced down such a cold, soulless adversary as he did in the AMPTP.

There was a bit of a schism in the room over whether to support the Neg Com in immediately lifting the strike action and ending the pickets so everyone could get back to work on Monday.

But many of us said fuck that -- we want the 48 hours our constitution allows for an expedited vote. In the interest of solidarity, which we achieved and maintained in never-heard-of-before fashion during this work stoppage, this seemed to be the prevailing course of action. It seems the WGAW meeting fell out in similar fashion.

Back to work, likely, on Wednesday (or, in my case, to trying to set up a new project and find a job) after a hastened vote on Monday by the looks of things. Nobody told us what to do. I'm very proud of that. The media was reporting "Back To Work Monday" and we threw them a justified curve. It happened first, on the East Coast, amongst the WGAE like so much has happened by, for and to us before the sun rose on Los Angeles and those wearing t-shirts instead of parkas could hit the picket lines.

I'm pleased we stood together this last time. It puts us in the best position possible going forward, with an eye on our next contract (which would need to be banged out, if not struck over, in May, 2011 btw).

And I am intensely proud to be a member of the strong, victorious WGAE.

I'm not holding my breath. That DGA deal was a joke. Must have been. But I'm keeping an open mind this time.

I've honestly been holding off posting anything about the supposed 'breakthroughs' we've been hearing about. My Strike Captain has been wonderfully sobering in keeping us rank and file up to date and undaunted. We're on strike. We're not going back for a deal that's less than fair.

That said... let's see what leadership has to tell us. Huge membership meeting this Saturday in both New York and Los Angeles.

I'll report what I learn... and how much angst it activates in my inner revolutionary's gut... after I've had a change to digest things.

Just, please... media... non-WGA people... industry types... etc.... back the fuck off. If the deal doesn't work for me, I'm not voting for it and I know many of us feel the same way.

The strike is over when the WGA membership says so.

We were supposed to rally in front of the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle (you'll always be the NY Coliseum to me, baby girl).

A sign of good faith as bargaining resumes between leadership and management? We shall see...

United Hollywood has the lowdown on the recently struck deal between the DGA and the AMPTP, dissecting all the pros and cons as they see it. Very useful and illuminating.

Working Life has their own analysis (which I'm going to digest later today).

I agree with John Rogers, honestly. This is a deal that seems pretty good considering the Guild which struck it doesn't really depend on residuals the way the WGA membership does, and has struck over.

This deal seems to suck for TV people. And since, as a feature writer, I have the relatively unique perspective of marching the picket line with mostly television people... I suspect I'm going to hear a lot of misgivings in my circular walkabouts this coming week.

Honestly, the single most annoying thing I hear from my non-WGA Hollywood-type friends, colleagues and associates is that the DGA's acceptance of the studios' terms represents some sort of fait accompli... as though we, the writers who started and caused this whole labor mess, will have no choice but to accept what the directors got and end our strike.

Why?

Hey, I think this covenant between the directors and the bosses is a good step toward our own settlement. It's shady in that it clearly shows the AMPTP has not been remotely interested in bargaining with us fairly before getting the easier to roll Directors Guild to agree to more favorable terms. But we're apples and oranges here. And while I know the prospect of getting back to work is going to tempt some of our membership to really consider taking what we can get and ending the walkout... I don't see us caving unless the residual numbers come up substantially.

And why, oh why, don't I see that happening easily, quickly or willingly on the part of management?

Well, sort of... I haven't been down at the Conan/NBC picketing last week, but I'm resuming my line walking duties today when we show up to picket the return of THE DAILY SHOW this afternoon.

Come down and check it out if you're curious... we'll be at 51st Street & 11th Avenue. Should be something of a media event. We'll be out in concentrated force.

We're then picketing Viacom in a big way on Wednesday.

Big things happening... I think. We'll see. But I'm optimistic about the UA deal and reports Nikki is referring to regarding lots of side deals with movie companies such as The Weinsteins, Lion's Gate and more.

We remain united and I don't see us cracking anytime soon. We're getting the deal we want or I'm confident we won't vote to accept.

I wasn't all that thrilled, initially, by leadership's recent deal with Letterman's World Wide Pants to get Dave back on the air... but something about this makes me perk up and get excited.

Nikki Finke has the details, as usual...

Well what do you know...

The AMPTP launched their own site, here... but apparently did not go the extra mile and spend the extra fifty bucks at godaddy to secure all the domain extensions. God, you'd think they'd at least spring for the dot-fucking-com!!

Behold the AMPTP.com site!

You know... I'm starting to think these people in charge really don't have a clue as to how this whole internet thing works.

Talks broke down again yesterday. Unrest everywhere you look. I feel awful for everyone who's out of work (myself included)... both in the guild, and 'below the line'. Lots of people are going to lose their homes, their cars, their hard-earned piece of the pie... but let's keep things straight here...

The WGA is on strike because the producers, studios and other shark-like, emotionless threshing machines DO NOT WANT TO SHARE their windfall profits with those who author the material they sell... and re-sell... over and over and over.

We can't, and won't, go back to work until we get what's fair... we have too much at stake and to settle for less than we're entitled to would be catastrophic in the long-term. The AMPTP is keeping this strike going by refusing to negotiate in good faith and with fairness in mind. To blame the writers is ludicrous. I'm hopeful we can keep the public opinion on our side... but, frankly, it doesn't matter to me anymore. This is becoming a war of attrition. And I want to win because I know what I'm fighting for is right.

In the meantime... more cute videos from the striking comedy writers. This one's from THE COLBERT REPORT guys:

Better settle in for a long, cold winter...

We're in it now. The companies are hoping to divide us. They're trying to test our solidarity, offering a so-called 'deal' that's far, far away from what we want or deserve. I say it's just as far away from what we'll settle for.

Time will tell.

Picketing schedule for the week of December 3rd:

Tuesday, December 4: NewsCorp
6th Avenue and 48th Street, 10 AM - 2 PM

Thursday, December 6: HBO
6th Avenue, between 42nd and 43rd Streets, 10 AM - 2 PM

The WGA and the AMPTP are getting back to the table today. A news blackout has been issued so who the hell really knows what's going on.

But Nikki Finke has a great, optomistic story over at Deadline Hollywood Daily today. Hollywood is, more or less, shut down this time of year anyway. At least for my purposes. Nobody's thinking of much besides skiing in Aspen and holiday parties. To get back to things after the New Year would be perfect, par for the course, and greatly appreciated.

Thank you, Nikki, for all you do.

Unless this collapses, I mean.

It's a wintry mix here in New York City as I wake this monday morning. I'm certain it's still sunny in Los Angeles. But here, at the tip of the spear of this ongoing work stoppage, we gird for battle. I'm reminded of images of soldiers fighting on skis in the Korean War.

Here we go. Week three. In New York, picketing will resume tomorrow (Tuesday, November 20) at Sony Plaza.

Again, I feel small in the face of corporate mega-hugeness. In L.A., you're out picketing a movie studio gate... it's tangible. Something we all walk through for work-related purposes, sometimes, every day (when in town working/taking meetings, in my case anyway). Sony, like Time Warner Center, is a massive edifice filled with worker monkeys and hemmed in with tourists and shoppers lapping up the public relations effort. This is the interior/public food court:

I am certain we will not be inside. Nor am I confident that Spider-Man is looking out for us, citizens of New York City, in this regard.

I am also cautiously optimistic re: negotiations between the Guild and the AMPTP which are set to resume next monday, after the holiday weekend. There are so many theories flying around... are we landing punches and forcing them back to the table or are they just humoring us in an effort to help themselves in the public relations war we're currently spanking them in? Who the fuck knows...

I've spent a good, fun portion of my professional and young adult life conceiving and writing stories for Spider-Man in the pages of Marvel Comics. I do not like to see us as adversaries at this point. And I remain wanting for this strike to end... though I remain adamantly in support of my Guild and its goals with even greater resolve.

The Daily Show writers shot this while the rest of the WGAE was picketing around Wall Street in the background, yesterday. Funny stuff. I want TDS back... and I want this strike over already...

Wow... just... wow.

Nikki Finke's new column up at Deadline Hollywood Daily reports that heavy hitter agents at the big companies are trying to bring the WGA and the AMPTP back to the table. We'll see how this goes. The studios left the bargaining process. We've been waiting for them to come back all along. But we'll see...

Week Two of the strike is upon us. No picketing planned for Monday here in New York City, but there are major strike actions planned for both Tuesday and Wednesday here in town:

Tuesday, November 13th
10:00am - 2:00pm
Northeast Corner of Battery Park, corner of State St. and Bowling Green

The media conglomerates are busy bragging about new media profits to their shareholders while crying poverty to writers. On Tuesday we're going to Wall Street directly to set the record straight. We'll hear from Guild leaders and then spread our message throughout the Financial District with leafleting around the NYSE.

Wednesday, November 14th
10:00am - 2:00pm
World of Disney Store
711 5th Avenue (5th Avenue and 55th Street)

On Wednesday we'll meet at the Disney Store to demand that Disney recognize the work of writers, work that is being sold at a stunning pace inside their store as well as on the internet. We demand that Disney fairly compensates their writers whenever and wherever their work is shown and sold

Come on down and show your support if you can. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a quote by Mahatma Ghandi on the protest against great power by convicted men determined to win what's theirs:

"First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win."

See you on the picket line...

I was going to comment on Digby's excellent post from the other day discussing the solidarity between union members of both the white and blue collar variety in California. America needs more unions. More unions mean less profit-driven at the cost of workers' good bullshit by the corporations they work for.

But instead, I offer this funny re-post of the first comment left:

The flaw with unions is that it interrupts the vassel/liege relationship that is so vital in today's modern dark ages.

As the first week of WGA Strike 2007 comes to a close following the magnificent rally at Fox/NewsCorp on both coasts today, I finally have a chance to sit down and read up on things.

Governor Schwarzenegger is pissed. Mayor Villaraigosa is pissed. You can't blame them. I don't know the effect on the massively diverse economy here in New York City, but this is potentially catastrophic stuff in Los Angeles. Crew members, actors, drivers... as well as dry cleaners, shop owners, restaurant employees, day care workers... anything and everything flows from the tit of the entertainment industry. Very, very bad things will happen for a whole lot of people if the AMPTP doesn't get back to the table and end this thing fairly and soon.

But this quote from Gov. Schwarzenegger in today's AP piece just made my head spasm at the end of my aching neck:

Schwarzenegger said he had urged both sides to reach a deal so thousands of behind-the-scenes workers already idled by stalled TV production could return to their jobs.

"I think that's the sad story, because the studio executives are not going to suffer, the union leaders are not going to suffer, the writers that are striking, they are not going to suffer. Those are all people that have money," the actor-turned-governor said.

He said he had not been invited to participate in negotiations.

Is this man serious?

As a working screenwriter (which essentially means an oft-unemployed one with intermittent flashes of employment and sales success to make it just worthwhile enough during the long fingernail climb up the mountainside), I can tell you that I've lived off the same residual payments we're striking over while chasing my next gig, pounding out my new spec, etc. I've, like, scarcely avoided eviction on more than one occasion in my young life due to the quarterly check the Writer's Guild corrals for me from the studio. I've had "success" in the movie business sense which, I can tell you, can often go hand and hand with being broke between successes.

I'm lucky in that I also have comics. But most writers are in the same boat. We're often un or under-employed. We usually make the absolute minimum amount of money a company can get away with paying us for officially contracted work we do (let alone the extra writing they always try to squeeze out of you before paying). It's what we love to do, what we've aspired to and dreamt about doing our entire lives... but it often doesn't pay very well at all when you consider the time and sacrifice involved.

Not up front, anyway. But, hey, that's show business.

And Arnold is right to point out how devastating this is to the "little guys" (that's said with affection and respect). This work stoppage is potentially tragic for a lot of people. But he's offering up a straw man as he paints anyone who works above the line in Hollywood as some pampered excess-sucking stereotype.

Shit, if I've got all the money we must be fucked.

This is what I marched in today here in New York City, by the way:

Front lines, baby. Three hours ahead and taking the point position as we wade into the jungle on dawn's patrol. The few. The proud. The WGAE.

All things being equal with regards to our strike, now in its fifth day, I can honestly say that one of the pluses of marching in the picket line here in New York City was the realization of a lifelong dream: to work with the big inflatable rat.

A stalwart mainstay at labor stoppages, 'The Rat' (I don't know if he's actually got a name) has always been regarded as the shining icon of organized labor and our struggle against soulless corporate greed. Well, yesterday I showed up for picket duty at the Time Warner Center and, well, we might have a new champion...

Our most excellent brethren at United Hollywood have put together a simple petition where you, the viewing audience, can sign and show your support.

Check it out!

Massive rally at Fox Studios in LA and in front of NewsCorp headquarters here in NYC today.

The struggle continues!

I've been meaning to post with news and reports from the WGAE picket lines here in New York. Tomorrow, we're down in front of the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle. God, I hate that monstrosity... I almost want to picket the desecration of the grave of the old New York Coliseum that used to stand on that spot.

It's a very daunting thing, looking up at a massive edifice of corporate permanence and realizing you're striking for what you believe is a fairer share of a tyrannosaurus rex's dinner.

We have to hit these soulless borg in the only place they could ever admit to feeling it... the pocketbook.

Everyone's reposting this excellent, member-made video on just why the WGA is on strike and what's at stake. We're not being the least bit unreasonable. The concept of fairness and sharing simply isn't encoded into the t-rex's makeup.