Just wanted to apologize to those who actually pay attention to this. I got tired of blogging about the strike, since there are already way too many of those out there and I don't have the energy to try to out-clever them. You have enough sources for news and strike information and it gets a little monotonous writing about how our feet hurt, how tired we are, and how much we want this to be over. But that's all still true. Mainly the hard part has been trying to strike a balance between putting as much energy as I can into supporting the strike efforts, and keeping my sanity, and my life and my creative spirit intact. Anyway, I just wanted to let y'all know that I'm doing okay, hanging in there, still picketing, still supportive... and even more grateful for everything and everyone else in my life...
Tired and in pain. My back appears to be injured in such a way that it doesn't hurt when I'm walking in picket position, but it hurts when I do anything else. I'm now a human picket. Taking advil and going to the chiro tomorrow. Sony lot was pretty droopy today. I was going to go to the gay picket but couldn't get my ass out to hollywood. Limping my way to the finish line which is thanksgiving. Hopefully they'll be changing things up after that. Hangin' in there until then.
The days are sort of starting to flow together into one big picket line. Saw Larry David on my picket line today, I suppose I should have thought to take a picture -- but my brain has been mush these days. I swear every ounce of creativity has been walked out of me. That's really the frustrating part -- fighting for money, when all I really want is to be able to write... grrrrr. I know that we're right, I mean, in terms of what we're fighting for. I know it well enough that I've gotten tired of reaffirming it. Right now I'm more concerned with what we're doing and how this is being handled. I'm worried that the animosity between the negotiators is prohibiting communication. And that's just dumb. I want to know what's happening, what steps are being taken to get everyone back to the table while we're all killing our feet out in the heat for 20 hours a week. That's all I want to know. Hopefully more interesting stories to come in the upcoming days.
Can I offer a little constructive criticism? I probably shouldn't be typing this now since I'm tired and cranky after four long hours in the heat out at Fox, a lot which is much larger than the Culver lot which I'd gotten used to... But first of all, what is up with the "sign OUT" form? Apparently someone is attempting to document that people are indeed putting in their four hours. And as someone who's done the full four hours every single day, I'm pissed and pretty insulted. With the amazing turnouts we're getting, what's the purpose of this? Some sort of witch hunt to see who might have god forbid left early for a doctor's appointment, or lunch plans, or (god forbid) simply because he or she was exhausted? Look, we're all very responsible, dedicated adults, and I think we should be trusted enough to assume that we're all pulling our weight as much as we can. I didn't "sign out," and I don't think most people around me did either. I appreciate the work the guild is doing, but honestly, I think the decision of how much to picket is a very personal one, dependent on health, money, and all sorts of circumstances, and we don't need to be monitored like errant children, especially since the massive visual presence is proof enough we're out there. Anyway. That's my rant for the day. I do hope the rumors of an imminent return to the bargaining table turn out to be true. This is getting old fast.
At least the strike has spared me the pressure of coming up with clever titles for blog entries. Today, of course, was the big rally at the fox lot, which was inspiring and the most fun I've had picketing all week. Saw so many old friends from every show I've been on and familiar faces from my standard picket line. Watched writers lie in the middle of Pico blvd. in a "W-G-A" formation which was pretty amazing. Heard it was on the news all afternoon, on every channel. Heard from those in the know that there was "nothing like this back in '88" and it was heartening to see so much energy out there. Now, if only we could get the powers that be back to the bargaining table, at least...
I can only write so much before I draw myself a nice, warm bath. Yeah, it's one of those days. My feet and my legs and my muscles hurt from all of this standing and walking. Good news of today was that we had some high energy folks who had previously been on the Fox lot who came over to our lot and kind of got everyone's attention and riled everyone up. So today's strike was more energized than previous days for us. Though it's funny -- everyone I talk to seems to think everyone else's lot must be more fun. Well, I'm here to tell y'all that nobody's lot is more fun. At least no one I've talked to. It's hard work, and we don't really have very much sense of if we're doing any good at all. It's very taxing and scary. I hope we are. I hope we're annoying the crap out of the execs who are in the power to make any decisions about this and that they get fed up enough to just decide to settle this thing out. It can't be that hard. Is shutting us out of internet residuals, which in their estimation, aren't making any money yet ANYWAY (and any% of 0 is still 0) -- really worth all this bullshit?
Today Karyn and I were on honking patrol, in the hopes of getting every single driver who passed by to honk for us. This was more entertaining than walking in circles, at least for couple hours. Plus it has a goal. Kind of like a game. Plus it was fun to come up with things to say to the people who didn't honk. "Corporate greed affects you, too!" "Do you want to watch repeats of CSI for the rest of your life??" We even got a couple cops to honk -- that is before one got on a loudspeaker and told us that we can't "encourage people to honk" and that it's some kind of violation. Everyone, better hide those "Honk if you love Jesus" stickers because they'll be after you next.
But, I'm tired now, going to try to actually get some work done. Everyone's getting sick. I think I had a hot flash today. Later.
Tiring, tiring day out there today but that might just be me because I got up and worked out with my trainer this morning at 7:45, then picketed for 4 hours. The upshot is there's a lot of cameraderie. I've never seen writers be so truly nice to each other, not competitive, not sorting themselves by "levels," no snobberies of feature vs. tv writers. There's definitely a nice sense of "we're all in this together." I've had the chance both to catch up with old friends and to meet new people from all worlds of writing walking side by side. A sort of strike-etiquette and culture is beginning to evolve. There are those who've decided to consider the strike a kind of weird sort of social hour, floating, sometimes 30 minutes at a time, from line to line to catch up with friends and forge new connections. There are those who don't show up at all, and there are those who show up when the mood suits them. There are those, like me, who show up at the same place, day after day, because it just takes too damn much energy to decided someplace else to go. Plus everyone seems to be sending people over to our lines, so it seems counterproductive for me to go anywhere else. I don't begrudge anybody their choices. I know I'm only doing it because I don't consider it a choice. If I considered for one second what I felt like doing I probably wouldn't ever get there. But I don't consider the options. I just go. And the unity, and all, is nice -- but I do think it's important that we don't get so blinded by the "united front" mentality that we stop thinking. We do have to challenge our leadership even while appreciating their hard work. We DO owe it to ourselves to make sure that every step of the way that we're making the right chocies. I hope we are.
Tiring, tiring day out there today but that might just be me because I got up and worked out with my trainer this morning at 7:45, then picketed for 4 hours. The upshot is there's a lot of cameraderie. I've never seen writers be so truly nice to each other, not competitive, not sorting themselves by "levels," no snobberies of feature vs. tv writers. There's definitely a nice sense of "we're all in this together." I've had the chance both to catch up with old friends and to meet new people from all worlds of writing walking side by side. A sort of strike-etiquette and culture is beginning to evolve. There are those who've decided to consider the strike a kind of weird sort of social hour, floating, sometimes 30 minutes at a time, from line to line to catch up with friends and forge new connections. There are those who don't show up at all, and there are those who show up when the mood suits them. There are those, like me, who show up at the same place, day after day, because it just takes too damn much energy to decided someplace else to go. Plus everyone seems to be sending people over to our lines, so it seems counterproductive for me to go anywhere else. I don't begrudge anybody their choices. I know I'm only doing it because I don't consider it a choice. If I considered for one second what I felt like doing I probably wouldn't ever get there. But I don't consider the options. I just go. And the unity, and all, is nice -- but I do think it's important that we don't get so blinded by the "united front" mentality that we stop thinking. We do have to challenge our leadership even while appreciating their hard work. We DO owe it to ourselves to make sure that every step of the way that we're making the right chocies. I hope we are.
It's amazing what you can get used to. It's like a job, but definitely not like any job I've ever had before. I'm used to jobs where I sit on my ass and at best, write, at worst, instant message all day. Even when I was driving to Whittier and on set, I was mostly sitting in a director's chair. This is the most physically active I've ever been for that kind of sustained amount of time. I don't think I've even ever hiked for four hours. Yes, this is because I'm a princess, but for me, all this walking is hard work. It's funny, sometimes I want to move faster or like, do jumping jacks or something. It's definitely hard to keep moving, but moving slowly... Anyway I think we need a little more enthusiasm. It's hard, I think most of us feel very uncertain over whether this all will do any good, especially knowing that they're not even meeting or negotiating now. And plus, at most of the other lots, celebrities are showing up, passing out donuts and coffee, but our lot is so low-key, that doesn't seem to be happening. Hey. Las Vegas films on our lot. I want Josh Duhamel to bring me a donut. Or better -- is Vanessa Marcil still on that show? But regardless, we are out there, spending a good four hours walking in circles -- can't really multitask, can't sit down when you're tired. We've got to show some spirit here if for no other reason than to feel like we're not wasting time, and I'm like, the worst person to like, fire up the troops. Hell, I didn't even GO to the high school football games, much less cheer them on. I've always kind of been the anti-spirit girl, much more comfortable complaining about what is than visualizing what could be. Here's to trying. Hey, Josh, I think some donuts would really perk up our spirits tomorrow...
So, it seems we've gone on strike. I have to admit, I have some misgivings about it, and I don't know if I believe we can win this thing... but the bottom line is since we're doing it anyway, we might as well have the most positive, can-do attitude we can possibly muster. Right or wrong, for better or for worse, we stand a better chance of getting what we want and ending this thing quickly if we show lots of enthusiasm and strength and numbers. Thus, I am putting in 4 hours a day,at the moment, at the Culver Studios -- where Cindy works. Is that weird? Yes. But this whole thing is weird. Weird and both inspiring and depressing, exciting and boring, invigorating and exhausting. Very weird like that. It's fun to run into people I used to work with and also strange to see them, like me, holding signs and standing on a picket line. We walked in circles by the gate for four hours, and I can't beliee that I'm going to be doing that every day for the indefinite future, but that's what I'm doing. We started out very tentative, somewhat self-conscious with our chants, not really sure what we were supposed to be doing. Gradually we grew bolder, handing flyers to drivers and announcing "You're crossing a picket line" to everyone who came through. We were happy to see a teamster refuse to cross the line, though he still unloaded outside the studio, so we weren't sure if it was really effective. At the very least, we're all in this together, and it's nice to see that kind of solidarity among our ranks. Anyway I'll leave the rumors, facts, and constantly updated info and such to the wonderful Deadline Hollywood Daily - but I'm going to keep reporting just my own personal impressions of this little moment in history as much as I can...
