As I mentioned here earlier, a mass of Writers Guild members rallied yesterday to support striking writers on America's Next Top Model. Not that this could be the main reason but I wonder if any of the producers of alleged "reality shows" are balking at the WGA contract because they think it will harm their shows to even have writer credits, thereby admitting or suggesting that the "reality" is created. Money, of course, is the real reason…just as it's the real reason why most things are done the way they're done in the industry. It will cost more money to credit the folks who create the scenarios as writers and to compensate them accordingly…but somewhere, someone has to be thinking like some comedians did back in the early days of radio. When Jack Benny became the first comedy star of radio to credit his writers, several of his fellow stars went to him and said, "You can't do that. The public wants to believe we make all this stuff up, ourselves."
How many writers marched this morning? The L.A. Times says "more than 700," Hollywood Reporter says 800 and Daily Variety says 900. From where I was — in the midst of it — it looked like well over a thousand…but why quibble? It was a good turnout and the mood was very upbeat and positive and rife with solidarity.
The crowd also seemed to be full of what some call, with varying degrees of sarcasm, "working writers." One significant factor in WGA politics and policies is that we have here a union that includes a number of folks who write movies and run shows and make millions of dollars a year. We also have a certain, not-inconsequential number who aspire to that level but who make, quite literally, nothing a year as writers. They sold something in order to attain Guild status and if they continue to not get work, they will eventually be moved to inactive or non-voting status. But still, at any given time, you have a lot of Haves and Have Nots in the same bargaining unit and it's sometimes tough to get both groups to agree on priorities and what is lost or gained by striking. It's easier to walk out on your job when you don't have one…but then again, when we strike, many of the "working writers" have millions in their bank accounts, as well as residual checks rolling in.
In times of striking (or threatening to strike), writers of both stripes are usually good about linking arms and pledging loyalty to their common cause, even if they disagree about some issues. And those who oppose the strike, whether from inside or outside the Guild, are usually bad about recognizing that. In every WGA strike of my lifetime, they have spread the always-untrue calumny that "working writers" — the ones really writing the shows and movies — are not behind the Guild's efforts; that the strike is the construct of guys who weren't working anyway so who cares about them? "Radio Shack Writers," some called them in '88, meaning that they claimed to be professional writers but actually worked at Radio Shack. The folks I marched with yesterday morning spanned the full range of the writing community. I'm sure there were some who don't, at the moment, support themselves with their writing…but there were also those who make fortunes, large and small, with their labors. And to the writers, at least on issues of Guild Support, the difference doesn't matter that much. One bonding thing about them is that most are well aware that any day now, they could be in that other caste.
It's late so I'll write more about this in the coming days. I'm generally pessimistic about what will happen in the looming negotiations of '07, when the issue of compensation for home video and new methods of delivery stands to cause serious bloodshed. But I felt a little better about it after that rally yesterday morning. My Guild has the capacity to be its own worst enemy and to divide and conquer itself. Since we're currently only warring on one front that doesn't affect many directly, unity of purpose is easy…but we seem to be more "together" and better organized than we usually are. That doesn't hurt.