The picketing has started, and TV shows are going dark.
Last-ditch negotiations Sunday night failed, even as the WGA removed their DVD plan from the table, mirroring a move the studios made weeks earlier. The WGA says the studios didn't budge on any of their other demands, while the studios claim they did, and now people are gathered with signs outside of 30 Rockefeller Plaza and Viacom headquarters, among other locales. Hollywood Wiretap says it's not likely the strike will be over quickly, considering how far apart they are on terms. It's also created a lot of awkward situations.
One scribe told Variety that he was incensed after getting a WGA memo informing him that he would be required to picket the studio he works most closely with. The scribe said he's perturbed at the WGA for putting him in the position of being seen holding a picket sign in the sight of execs who have paid him big money to write projects.
"This is a potential relationship killer, and it's wrong of the guild to force me to picket the people who've done so much for my career," the writer said.
The picketing instructions also told WGA members to not talk to the press and to not bring hors d'oeuvres. "This is not a posh strike," one captain said in the message to members.
Further, the strike poses a dilemma for writers who are also producers or creators of their shows.
"I have to figure out how to strike and picket myself," said Spike Feresten, a former writer/producer "Seinfeld" who now has his own weekly talk show on Fox. "How do you egg yourself? How does that work?"
