Opinion: Strike notes
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When I was a lad they’d have been burning those cars!
Whatever your thoughts on the WGA strike, the writers deserve some credit for their civility. My route most days takes me past the CBS entrance that forms the fourth turn in the intersection of Beverly Blvd and one of those little streets running north (Orange? Ogden? Genesee?). There’s a traffic light, barely required at what is effectively a three-way intersection, yet the writers honor it every time it changes, patiently waiting with their signs on both sides of the driveway, and allowing people to drive on and off the CBS lot. I go by Paramount’s Windsor and Bronson entrances too occasionally, and observed the same behavior there this morning. I can’t say as how the writers’ respect for jaywalking laws is doing much to blast into atoms the remorseless gears of capitalism, but it shows good breeding.
That ought to get to the bottom of it...
If you haven’t read Richard Verrier and Claudia Eller’s 12/12 piece on the strike, be sure to read through to the end, for an appearance by our man in the Dust-Up Craig Mazin, as well as this bon mot:
[Unionized directors] are expected to be more flexible on terms and more sympathetic to studio arguments that Internet-related businesses are still in the formative stages and that there are many uncertainties about where and how soon those future revenues will pour in. The Directors Guild has spent more than $1 million to study those very questions, hiring two outside firms to prepare a detailed report on new media. The findings will be presented at tonight’s meeting.
Got your own strike observations, hints or allegations? Share your thoughts in the comments or by mailing [email protected].