Agree with you about Craig Mazin. And that’s why I no longer go to his sorry excuse for a blog. I mean, the guy didn’t even vote and he kicks up a stink about the most asinine things.

He’s done so much damage to the guild by making nonstop idiotic posts on his blog while knowing full well that it’s going to be in the trades the next day. You know, instead of getting off his fat ass and picketing. And don’t get me started on his constant bragging about the “seven figures” he gets for writing crap comedy sequels.

He’s an embarrassment to all writers.

The only well known writers that appear to be on the picket lines are the TV guys. I haven’t seen a single A-list movie scribe.

I agree with you about Craig Maizin. That guy’s hostility to his own guild during a strike is just astounding. His undeservedly influential blog (why do these lazy reporters assume this hack co-writer of Scary Movie sequels speaks for ANY real writers?) has been a source of disinformation as reliably as Variety. He’s published false information about the strike that always happens to be damaging to the WGA. And when he “corrects” it, he doesn’t change the original entry.

This is how Fox News and the Drudge Report operate — get damaging information out there without caring whether it’s true, then quietly “correct” it after it has done its damage.

And he’s working during the strike. “Directing” a comedy that he wrote (word is more experienced directors are looking over his shoulder at all times). Ever seen a comedy being shot that didn’t have new lines and adjustments constantly being written on the set? Ever?

If Craig Maizin had any loyalty whatsoever to his guild, he’d at least make a token appearance on the picket line. But you’re right — although he posts entries and comments to his blog CONSTANTLY, in two weeks couldn’t find a single hour to report to a picket line, even though there is no doubt one just minutes away from his home. It’s like he TRYING to display public contempt for the WGA and its membership.

Someone really needs to do a story about this guy. A kept man of the AMPTP who did their bidding basically in front of everyone — and has gotten off scot free so far.

Albert Brooks is hardly in the league of George Clooney and although this other wannabe “renaissance men”.

It’s not like Albert’s got anything else to do.

Where’s Matt Damon? Ben Affleck? All these other stars who like to call themselves writers? Everyone’s so quick to snatch a writing credit but God forbid they show up on a picket line.

And what of Craig Mazin and JJ Abrams and these other writers who are directing films at the moment? Why aren’t they picketing (at least in their lunch hours)? And don’t tell me they don’t have time when Craig is posting on his blog seemingly every five minutes.

Tom, runaway production is a huge problem, one we should all be concerned about, and I would love to see Sacramento, and Washington, get more involved in trying to fix it. That said, it’s absurd to think the strike is going to push the rest of SoCal production out of state. If filming out of state was always the better, cheaper choice, why would anyone still be shooting here at all? The truth is, most production still takes place here and there are a lot of reasons, including financial ones, that so many choose to stay in LA. Even the congloms can’t afford to pack up the entire business and move it to Vancouver just to avoid a couple of thousand picketers (no offense, writers!). The solution would be far more costly than the problem.

Belowtheline, I was a Teamster for many years and I will be pro-union until the day I day. This strike isn’t just about writers, it’s about the very relevance and survival of unions in the 21st century, including your own. The congloms, not just in Hollywood but everywhere, laugh and high-five every time they see this kind of inter-union sniping and squabbling. I’m sorry you feel the WGA has not done enough to support local unions. How about we put aside the bitterness and the grudges and use this opportunity to start building some solidarity?

YOU have your facts wrong. 399 does indeed have a no strike clause. They also have language that allows individuals to make the choice as to whether they want to cross a picket or not. They can choose to not cross, and the company can ‘choose’ not to bring them back for the next day. By sanctioning the picket lines, the IBT offers some level of recourse for any IBT member replaced for refusing to cross the line, but that doesn’t help much in the immediate future.

And Striking for all of us - our residuals are not based on WGA residuals. They’re based on, well, IATSE residuals. Please don’t predict our future based on your vision, allow us to do that, based on ours.

If you really consider yourself to be fighting for all of us, IATSE included, please stop, take care of your own, and we’ll do the same. This recent rebranding of the WGA as a ‘Si Se Puede’ rings as hollow as the ‘assistant and BTL’ day at the picket. If the WGA was even vaguely interested in supporting the other trade unions, they could have done so locally by becoming members of the Cal Fed, and the LA fed, and had a voice in Labor issues in Los Angeles.

Clooney said he plans to make this the first of periodic donations to the fund, and said he is prevailing upon his peers to do the same. The goal is to provide some cushion for workers who find themselves in dire financial straits after being laid off. Clooney said he chose the Actors Fund because applicants do not have to belong to a union to be eligible for relief, and because the fund issues grants and not loans.

“To people like myself, the strike is a forced vacation, but with the rhetoric high, and two other strikes looming, there is the fear that a prolonged strike can destroy people who make a living in this industry,” Clooney told Daily Variety. “My hope is that people who can afford it will take responsibility for this and help out. This felt like the right place, because the Actors Fund is the most inclusive. It helps writers, and everyone from craft services workers to agency assistants who have been laid off.”

Yes the crew broke for lunch, and I hardly think Mr. Murphy’s act was anything close to solidarity. Also, they will be back tomorrow, as wintessed by the continued presence of their production base camp at Temescal park.

While I hope for more high profile industry players get involved, I do not think any writer wants to put anyone out of work. It is just a matter of timing that the writers contract expired before the directors and actors. This is the battle for them as well as the writers. When did the climate in this world change to support big business profits over the workers? Very sad to me.

Tom