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After a ridiculous bout of insomnia, I ended up walking the 5am shift. It’s an interesting shift, populated largely with Stragglers. At 5am there are maybe 3 picketers, but by 6:30, there are nearly 20 of us walking makeshift 3 hour shifts.
Some members of the teachers union come and walk with us for a while before heading off to work. Literally every day, somebody comes out to show their support, and it never ceases to amaze me. The show of solidarity keeps us motivated. To entertain ourselves, we make a list of all the dubious organizations who might support us, and wonder what we would do if say NAMBLA actually showed up to march with us.
I meet a couple guys who have been picketing outside the Carson Daly set all week. We talk about what it must feel like to be a writer on that show. When the strike ends, how are you supposed to go back to work there?
As a courtesy, we are no longer encouraging cars to honk before 8am. It’s not easy to do. Other than not carrying signs that say “HONK”, what course of action is there? A few times today when cars pass and honk, we try not to wave and smile back, but it feels like trying to suppress a reflex. I imagine some nice soul driving to work, disappointed that they tried to show their support for the writers and were dissed.
Maybe we should up signs that say “Don’t honk if you support the writers!” That way, when people do honk, we can tell the poor sleep-deprived neighbors that it’s the producers, not the writers, who are keeping them awake.
Now that I think about it, my insomnia has been worse since the strike began, so maybe I can blame the producers are keeping me awake too.
photo by Heath Biter for LAist
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Well, if NAMBLA did show up, it might bring QUITE A LOT MORE attention to the cause and faciliate negotiations because who knows how many studio execs who want to keep their dirty little secrets just that: secret.
Well, if NAMBLA did show up, it might bring QUITE A LOT MORE attention to the cause and faciliate negotiations because who knows how many studio execs who want to keep their dirty little secrets just that: secret.
Carson Daly writers can go back to work knowing that their crew members didn't lose their jobs due to the strike. I'd imagine it'll be a friendlier set than many of the drama and sitcom sets. Let's face it, I know the late night shows have writers, but these shows bring in a fraction of the revenue of prime time scripted programming. Carson Daly doesn't bring in anywhere near the kind of money as the other late night hosts. I wouldn't expect him to personally pay the salaries of the folks who work on his show. The best he can do is keep them working. I watched his show Monday. It was terrible. But he pointed out that most of his crew relocated to LA with him and he felt that out of loyalty to them he needed to go back on the air so they could keep their jobs. I have friends on crews who are out of work. Many of them are not blaming the producers, as most of the writers are. They are blaming the writers, who CHOSE to strike. The WGA could have voted against striking. Writers could have continued working while the WGA and AMPTP negotiated. The WGA voted to strike. They did so knowing it could and probably would cost crew members their jobs. Yes, the WGA pays into the crew health and pension or whatever, but when you have rent to pay and you're out of a job, pension is secondary. A lot of crew members are suffering for something they didn't vote for and didn't ask for.
Sorry for the rant. I'm just tired of the WGA not taking any responsibility for putting crew members out of work.
Carson Daly writers can go back to work knowing that their crew members didn't lose their jobs due to the strike. I'd imagine it'll be a friendlier set than many of the drama and sitcom sets. Let's face it, I know the late night shows have writers, but these shows bring in a fraction of the revenue of prime time scripted programming. Carson Daly doesn't bring in anywhere near the kind of money as the other late night hosts. I wouldn't expect him to personally pay the salaries of the folks who work on his show. The best he can do is keep them working. I watched his show Monday. It was terrible. But he pointed out that most of his crew relocated to LA with him and he felt that out of loyalty to them he needed to go back on the air so they could keep their jobs. I have friends on crews who are out of work. Many of them are not blaming the producers, as most of the writers are. They are blaming the writers, who CHOSE to strike. The WGA could have voted against striking. Writers could have continued working while the WGA and AMPTP negotiated. The WGA voted to strike. They did so knowing it could and probably would cost crew members their jobs. Yes, the WGA pays into the crew health and pension or whatever, but when you have rent to pay and you're out of a job, pension is secondary. A lot of crew members are suffering for something they didn't vote for and didn't ask for.
Sorry for the rant. I'm just tired of the WGA not taking any responsibility for putting crew members out of work.
Carson Daly writers can go back to work knowing that their crew members didn't lose their jobs due to the strike. I'd imagine it'll be a friendlier set than many of the drama and sitcom sets. Let's face it, I know the late night shows have writers, but these shows bring in a fraction of the revenue of prime time scripted programming. Carson Daly doesn't bring in anywhere near the kind of money as the other late night hosts. I wouldn't expect him to personally pay the salaries of the folks who work on his show. The best he can do is keep them working. I watched his show Monday. It was terrible. But he pointed out that most of his crew relocated to LA with him and he felt that out of loyalty to them he needed to go back on the air so they could keep their jobs. I have friends on crews who are out of work. Many of them are not blaming the producers, as most of the writers are. They are blaming the writers, who CHOSE to strike. The WGA could have voted against striking. Writers could have continued working while the WGA and AMPTP negotiated. The WGA voted to strike. They did so knowing it could and probably would cost crew members their jobs. Yes, the WGA pays into the crew health and pension or whatever, but when you have rent to pay and you're out of a job, pension is secondary. A lot of crew members are suffering for something they didn't vote for and didn't ask for.
Sorry for the rant. I'm just tired of the WGA not taking any responsibility for putting crew members out of work.
I'm a crew member who lost work because of the strike. Sure, it sucks but I don't blame the writers for putting me "out of work". The producers put them in a position where they had no choice but to strike and most of the people I work with feel the same way.
It's nice that Daly's staff has work, but as long as the studios have new shows to air, they don't have an incentive to make a reasonable deal and end this strike. Yes, his show sucks and how many people are actually watching it, but choosing to continue production might actually cause the strike to last longer. The faster this town grinds to a halt, the sooner the producers will make a deal and hopefully we'll all be able to return to our jobs.