From The Front Line - Writers Strike - Day 2

Turns out Wisteria Lane is actually Clybourn Ave. “RedShirts” are there in abundance, as is the media, and a strong police presence. Marching with me again are Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wanda Sykes, and Larry Wilmore of The Daily Show. For a while, I walk alongside a woman who has recently had hip surgery, and is clearly struggling. She says she’s not really supposed to walk, but adds that she couldn’t have had the surgery without the WGA health insurance.

The Burbank cops actually seem supportive, and are very polite whenever they have to ask us to let cars pass. One of the cars that passes (heading to the private golf club at the end of the cul de sac) is driven by a startled Joe Pesci. He rolls down his window, smiles, and gives a big thumbs up, eliciting cheers from the writers.

With much of the Desperate Housewives crew watching, the writers start to become very creative with their chanting. “No feud, no fuss, Marc Cherry is one of us!” “Marcia don’t Cross that picket line!” “We write the laughter for Teri Hatcher!” (which the guy next to me hears as “We write the crap for Teri Hatcher.” As you will probably see on tonight’s news, clearly the most popular chant of the day is “We write the story-a for Eva Longoria!”

Not sure if Eva finds this amusing, but I do catch a glimpse of her peeking out from behind a patio door. Shortly after, we are given the news that Eva is going to come out and address the crowd at 1 o’clock.

You can tell it’s time, when everybody in the streets starts rushing towards the front lawn of the location house. Surrounded by the writers, and entertainment show camera crews, Eva makes a quick statement. She tells us that Desperate Housewives is stopping production (after tomorrow). She seemed to be fighting back tears as she talked about the hair and makeup people who will be out of work. When someone shouted, “Do you support the strike?” Eva responded by announcing that she bought all the writers pizzas.

I must say, this is the closest I’ve seen to disunity within the union, as some writers shouted “keep your blood pizza!” while others inhaled the pepperoni as fast as humanly possible.

Again, it felt like a good day. As I’m leaving, word trickles down that the cast of ER is joining the picketers back at Gate 3. We hear that Warner Brothers has officially suspended production on all of their multi-camera shows. That may or may not include the following shows, which have also officially just shut down: 2 and a Half Men, Big Bang Theory, Back To You, ‘Til Death, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and Rules of Engagement.

We are also told that, while they continued shooting Desperate Housewives, much of the audio was unusable, and that the production was going to have to ADR the entire day. (not cheap) As I leave, the late shift is chanting “We won’t stop marching until the strike is won.”

photo by Heath Biter