On Thursday a Hollywood mogul kept whining to me about the "blizzard" outside his luxury NYC hotel room. I should have reminded him about the striking writers walking the picket line that day in rain and sleet and hail and snow and temps of 30 degrees. I'm told it was "brutal" outside Viacom on Broadway in the heart of NYC’s Times Square. Yet the WGA East claimed the picket was the largest to date, 300 strikers. "They threw everything at us -- plus locusts (roaches, actually, but they could have been locusts)," striking writer Lewis Friedman emailed me. "We disbanded before they could play the frogs and the old 'first born' gag on us. I suppose we should have expected the producers had that kind of power..."
As usual, members of WGAW, SAG and AFTRA joined the line. Also, it was Guild Day so more than 50 college and high school students (creative writing and film students) showed up. 
Some striking writers gave speeches to the students, others shared their experiences in smaller group chats. Then Viacom’s permalance employees protesting a company cut in their benefits walked off their jobs temporarily and onto the picket line.
Cast members of The Sopranos - Steven Schirripa, Arthur Nascarella, and Sharon Angela - were among the picketers; also Griffin Dunne, Zeljko Ivanek, Seth Meyers, Tony Gilroy, Liz Tucillo, Marcia Norman, Peter Hedges, Dramatics Guild president John Weidman, Tom Fontana, John Marcus, Rene Balcer, Warren Leight, Charlie Rubin, and, of course, the writing staffs from all the NYC-based late night shows – Saturday Night Live, The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and The Colbert Report.
Damn, we must support those guys (as he sips another margaritas and applies sunblock).
Comment by aotherWGAmember — December 14, 2007 @ 12:25 am
I sympathize with those guys walking, but they should be thankful they aren’t walking in SE Wisconsin…we’ve gotten walloped with several inches of snow/ice the last couple of weeks!
Comment by Pete Fanning — December 14, 2007 @ 2:01 am
Charlie Rubin is the man! Best teacher at NYU, period.
Comment by VarietyGuy — December 14, 2007 @ 2:13 am
That’s funny. Both times it sprinkled in Southern California, there wasn’t a single writer picketing here in Burbank. I guess the WGA-E is made of sternor stuff.
Comment by SoonToBeUnemployed — December 14, 2007 @ 5:50 am
Thanks for giving us some coverage. We were like cold, shivery, wet puppies by the end of the day. (Aw…)
Comment by wgae picket person — December 14, 2007 @ 7:06 am
That is simply amazing!
Comment by PJ - Writer — December 14, 2007 @ 7:35 am
We’re not worthy!
Thanks, guys. You make LA pickets look like a vacation. I should at least start taking the bus out of solidarity.
Thanks a million!
Comment by stuck in development — December 14, 2007 @ 8:26 am
GRRRRRR!!!! Those friggen greedy-a#@ bastards. This news makes me SO incredibly angry. How can Lie-acom treat their employees and writers this way and still sleep at night? How?!? HOW?!???!!!
I just don’t understand it…
Comment by Lisa — December 14, 2007 @ 8:31 am
If the combination of the pic and that opening sentence don’t sum this whole thing up, nothing does.
Comment by Kristy — December 14, 2007 @ 10:24 am
I wish all you writers a
A Merry Prosperous Time Progression
Go WGA.
Comment by ChrisKringle — December 14, 2007 @ 10:37 am
Writer’s Guild of America, East: you do us all proud.
Comment by WGA West — December 14, 2007 @ 10:43 am
when are people/wga gonna start using the web to organize /rally people to start boycotting films this holiday season? wouldn’t be hard and might be the only way to get studios to negotiate.
Comment by bob hope — December 14, 2007 @ 11:03 am
My dear “Soontobeunemployed”,
Where were YOU on Friday November 20th when LA had the worst rain/cold temps of the year? I was rallying outside of Sony Studio in my raincoat and boots holding an umbrella in one hand and a strike sign in my other! There were hundreds of other writers with me, ages 22 to 92! I assure you it was no “sprinkle”, it was a full on downpour. Most of us were soaked and shivering because the wind blew the rain UNDER our umbrellas.
And by the way, on Fridays, we (the WGAW) RALLY at one place. We don’t picket the studios. So THAT is why you didn’t see one writer out there in Burbank.
My props to the WGAE. You guys are troopers. I lived in NYC for years and I know how nasty the weather can be there. On our WORST day here in LA we will never, ever have it as bad as you do. I’m sending each and every one of you my warm thoughts. And if I get to NYC before this strike breaks, I will be right there beside you.
Stay stong! (and stay warm!)
Comment by dschmalie — December 14, 2007 @ 11:44 am
SoonToBeUnemployed, the rainy days fell on weekends and rally days mostly, and the pickets were strong in LA - we just had umbrellas, silly. You can check the videos if you like. This might not come as a suprise, but many WGA members are actually from places where it snows…ya know, like NY.
Hang tuff WGAE! Will send hot cocoa stat.
Comment by sidelined — December 14, 2007 @ 11:53 am
Soontobeunemployed, thanks for demonstrating yet again that “studio supporter” and “disingenuous ass” are synonymous. Shouldn’t you be out harassing people down the homeless shelter or something?
Comment by Anon — December 14, 2007 @ 1:02 pm
The weather was absolutely RANCID. Let me tell you, feet and feet of snow would have been preferable. But then I’m Canadian - the only one there, so many told me - and we’re, on average, a little odd.
As a TV Production grad student, UCLA Extension TV Writing certificate student and future WGAer, I was so proud to be there. One HELL of a group of people. Never been that drenched in my entire life, and I couldn’t get my leather gloves off my hands! But hey, how can you go wrong when you get to fix Bobby Bacala’s soggy, disintegrating sign?
Go WGAe!
Lana
Comment by Lana — December 14, 2007 @ 1:22 pm
Dear soon-to-be-unemployed:
Did you miss the Freemantle rally? There were several HUNDRED people out there in the rain. Including me.
Comment by Anonymous — December 14, 2007 @ 2:15 pm
I do not belong to the WGA, but both my sons are in the actors unions, so they are directly effectd. I grew up on the east coast where my mother worked as an executive secretary to the President for Teamsters and than AFL-CIO, I know union busters when I smell them. As a child, I walked picked lines, only shopped at Union grocery stores, bought only American cars, and so on. Why? Because she represented those unions, and we were giving back for a wonderful salary and benefits a single mother could raise a family on. My mother always told me, “you are only as strong as your union”. It is hard to stand up in these trying times, but if not now, when?
Please, don’t let them break you. It is not only for you, but for the future of writers yet to come. My sons may one day be part of the WGA.
Comment by Lynn — December 14, 2007 @ 3:21 pm
I was at this picket-line and I have to say for anyone who lives in Southern California or Florida the conditions were brutal. But for those of us who have had experience with Chicago or Nova Scotia the conditions were not so bad. The temp was a little above freezing and the first hour of the picket line alternated between snow and sleet finally settling down to freezing rain around 1 pm. And yet at its height around 12:40 I counted 350 people in the line. I am a veteran of picket lines having marched in hundreds during many strikes and actions in my life and I think that the counts of the organizers underestimated the count of people who came out to support the strike.
An important point: I talked to a few of the Viacom permalancers for about 25 minutes. They told me that the reason Viacom settled with them so quickly is because the writers on strike. They are afraid, that in the current conditions, with unions showing up outside their door regularly that some of their employees might get the idea that they need a union also. So they settled quickly on the health care and 401k issue.
Also among these permalancers are many writers. There are a few who write copy for and direct short spots for example. These people need representation. They are completely at the mercy of the company bosses and they need a union. Who will organize them?
I am not a member of your union but I used to be a union organizer and have at all times supported the union movement. I have a sense that even you guys don’t realize how important the WGA strike is. It is not only important to you but it has taken on a significance way beyond the members of your union.
Jerry Monaco
Comment by Jerry Monaco — December 15, 2007 @ 9:55 am