I wonder though... would being a scab writer get you blacklisted in the future? Probably.

Probably... I'm not for certain, though.

My biggest worry in all of this is what it will do to Lost. I know they've got a lot of the scripts done and have begun shooting episodes, but with that show in particular, there's a lot of writing that's not done until they're very close to starting shooting, or even while they're shooting.

This must put actor/writers in an awkward position. As I understand it, if you do both for a show (e.g. B. J. NovaK on The Office), you are allowed to continue to act if they have scripts already written, but if they want to do a rewrite, no go. That's got to lead to frustration. And I wonder how much they'll try to get away with "ad-libbing" instead of "Writing" changes into scenes.

I dunno. Anybody see tv shows now-a-days? They have writers????

Keep up with the news, folks. The Writers Guild dropped their demand for an increase on DVD revenues over the weekend. The sticking points is the revenues on new media.

And because the Producers' Alliance had the writers agree in their last contract negotiations to a paltry DVD percentage because it was a new media, only to now refuse to give them an increased percentage now that it's an old media ... is precisely the reason why the writer's shouldn't budge on their current new media demands. Fool me once, shame on me ... and all that.


I was so pleased to see picket lines all around Sony Studios on my way to work this morning. I hope individual teamsters exercise their conscience rights to honor those picket lines.


Neither side has been a shining beacon of civility and reason during the negotiations ... but the writers are the initial creators of the work which, from that point and that point only, goes on to provide every single job in the entertainment industry. Whereas the producers and studios have proven themselves time and again - and in some very recent court rulings for good measure - to be dishonest, greedy bastards who won't honor their legal committments and will cheat everyone they can sucker.

For certain, I'd say.

And yes, Mark, there are some damn fine writers on TV right now.

That brings up a good question (keeping with the theme of cheating greedy bastards), I wonder if there are picket lines in front of Disney today?

I believe there are some very good writers on TV today, both on episodic TV as well as late night (Leno, Letterman, etc.)

Where's the fun in that?

Seriously though, this is one of the rare times I support a union. Normally, I am not a big fan of them, but this time, they are right.

OK, so you beat me to it.