It has been a month of highs and lows. The high? I had a great time at the swearing-in. The lows? The TV series that my husband works on ran out of scripts and now we are in the midst of the Writer’s Strike. To the “civilians” it means more reality shows and re-runs. To the tens and tens of thousands of people on the East and West coasts that work behind the scenes it means no more work, dipping into the savings account and unemployment checks. They laugh on the Late Night shows. Ha, Ha. Guess you have to cut back on your Lattes, you writers. Very clever. What is not so clever and less publicized are those workers who try not to turn on their heat and buy groceries as these spoiled brats (both sides) stare each other down.
I wrote a letter today to a NY Post reporter who mentioned todayin her article about the hundreds of companies shut down and the 75,000 people here in the NY/NJ/CT are that are currently out of jobs. Here is a copy of my letter to her and her response…
Mon 1/7/2008 11:44 AM
To: Holly.Sanders
Subject: Writer’s Strike…Not a “joke” to us…
Holly-
Thank you for stating in your article this a.m. the amount of local companies and businesses that are affected by the Writer’s Strike. As a spouse of one of those “below-the-line” employees the jokes that the late night shows make about the situation is no joke to our family and all of those families that have been thrown out of work due to the inability of the Writers and Producers representatives to sit down and hash out a deal.
The timing? Just perfect. Right before the holidays. It was just great to have to look at your Christmas budget and think, “Gee, am I going need this money to keep the heat on later this winter?” So you cool it and cut back. Do you know what the max is for NYS unemployment? Just a little over $400 a week (NJ is $100 more, but it is based out of where you work, not live). Stll, pathetic. We have some money saved, but we are going through it quickly. Strike fund? Our Union isn’t the one on strike. My husband is so down now and the kids see that. I feel terrible for him and as much as I try to cheer him up and keep the bills away from him, he sees.
Every expense in our home has to be weighed as to the importance to day-to-day living.
And you know what pisses me off? That my family and thousands of other families are now starting to go into debt, that could take months to get out of so that some WRITER can get his/her piece of DVD and New Media sales. Where is OUR piece for our suffering?
My husband was on a TV series. They filmed until they ran out of scripts at the beginning of December. I know we have been more fortunate than others who have been out longer but the outrage is still the same.
We have been married for 20 years and have been through some of the other strikes and production issues of the years but the difference between than and now is how the TV and movie industry has changed in the tri state area. There are so many more studios with TV production going on than ever before. The state and city governments have done a terrific job to encourage companies to invest in NY/NJ and CT production only to have it closed down by a group of people that apparently have no sympathy for those that they worked with. It’s all about “them”.
I read an article the other day that stated that the writers and producers need to be closed off in a hotel room and not be allowed to come out until they have a deal, no matter how long it takes. I would go one better. I would do that and leave in one plate of deli food and a six pack of water for everyone in the room. When that runs out, that’s it. Too bad. Stay hungry. Maybe then they will understand how the thousands of others on both coasts scrambling to stretch their resources to pay their bills feel.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01072008/news/nationalnews/wein_if_you_must_714749.htm
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080106/FREE/864798462/1008
Hasbrouck Heights...living on the edge... 
Show me where the AMPTP has a fund for the below-the-line workers. Yet they have the means to keep everyone on their feet for months – many months – without even taking a ding to their profits.
Yet the WGA has set up that fund, despite the fact that they are not as wealthy. They raise money, they try to do what they can for the people who are getting stepped on in this fight.
So yes, the writers ARE sharing – they’re doing it RIGHT NOW if you take the time to look for it, and their primary stream of revenue is closed off, now! It’s called the “Writers Guild Foundation Industry Support Fund.”
http://www.wgfoundation.org/supportfund.html
Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving your comment. While I disagree with the substance of your comment on my blog, I respect it, value it, and feel bad that you are in the situation you are in. I simply do not blame the WGA, and I further feel that characterizing writers as snobby rich kids (e.g. the latte comment, and the spoiled brat remark) is unfair and grossly inaccurate.
I am hurting from this strike as well. I have never been anything close to rich, and I have always made very little money. Presumably less than your husband has made in any year over the course of his career. Honestly. But I still support the strike.
As the previous commenter mentioned, there is a foundation that the WGA started to support non-Guild members (such as your husband, or myself) who have been hurt monetarily by the strike. I urge you to contact them.
But I would also like to point out something else. You asked a specific question: “And you know what pisses me off? That my family and thousands of other families are now starting to go into debt, that could take months to get out of so that some WRITER can get his/her piece of DVD and New Media sales. Where is OUR piece for our suffering?”
Here’s the truthful answer. The DGA. The DGA splits their residuals with below-the-line production crew. And if they were the first ones up with an expired contract, they would be the ones doing what the WGA is doing. Writers just happened to come first, and the reason the AMPTP has refused to negotiate is that they know whatever they give the writers, they’ll have to give at least as much to DGA and SAG. But all of the unions are fighting for the same thing. The WGA just came first. So this IS a fight for your husband as well, and you WILL see your part for your suffering.
I completely understand if you disagree. I’m completely broke at the moment, and I am not the least bit happy about it. But I felt the need to respond. You came to and commented on my blog randomly, and you left the link to yours, suggesting you were looking for a response.
I support the writers who wish to be properly compensated for their efforts, but—
I do not support the collateral damage to the below the line crews, the thousands of grips, carpenters, costumers, soundpersons, camera loaders, drivers, caterers etc who cannot pay their mortgages or rent and car payments, who never get a red carpet walk and never got dinner? Where are the words of encouragement to the tens of thousands of small vendors to the industry, whose names filled the handbooks used by the production crews for trucks, trailers, generators and watertrucks and the like used to film on location? They too are not living on their residual checks and multi-million dollar investments crowing about how they support the unions.They are paying their dues, worrying about their future and hunkering down.
From your story it appears that the people in charge of this chaos are more involved with their own ego than solving this strike.
Strikes are a outmoded and basically stupid creature of the thirties. They are like the neighborhood gangs who shoot at each other, miss and kill babies in their cribs. They are also “the firing squad that forms a circle” before they shoot.
THESE SPOILED CHILDREN SHOULD ALL GO BACK TO WORK. COMMENCE A TIMED LIIMITED MEDIATION IMMEDIATELY WITH THE BEST MEDIATOR USED BY GIANTS TO SOLVE BILLION DOLLAR SUITS. FROM THERE IF NEEDED GO TO ARBITRATION WITH RETIRED FEDERAL OR STATE JUDGES, ONE PICKED FROM EACH SIDE AND THE THIRD FROM THE TWO. TIME LIMIT THIRTY DAYS, NON-APPEALABLE, AND BINDING FOR THREE YEARS.
Hollywood AND New York City says the Iraqi blood flow of innocents must stop. How about these same people stopping the financial blood bath of innocents in Hollywood and Manhattan?
Thank you!!!!! The must go into arbitration now!!!!I am tired of waiting for all of these spoiled children to start acting like adults!!!
Ray, you may claim that the writers are sharing from the foundation, but your actions speak louder than words. And in this case, the action is the continuing strike. In reality, you WGA people don’t give a d@mn about the “below the line” people, only yourselves.
Besides, I seriously doubt that foundation has enough money to keep thousands of families from losing their homes. I find you very disingenuous.
I have no sympathy for a bunch of immature blowhards who believe harming innocent families is a viable option. So get over yourselves! I believe you’re shooting yourselves in the foot anyway. There’s plenty of entertainment out there that doesn’t require a bunch of self-important writers.
The directors and producers have led the way to a settlement. The writers now have at least a template of a settlement and they should lose no time in getting back to the table with the producers.
This is about the entire industry. The collateral damage to out of work below the line crews and literally hundreds of vendors should be recognized and taken into account not just the feuding parties.
People just settle the strike and get back to work.