The Strike, Day Four: March Of The Governator
As the sun rises on Day Four, feet are sore from hours of pacing, bellies distended from the consumption of high-calorie snacks delivered to the picket lines by supporters trying to help writers maintain their blood-sugar levels, and throats raw from screaming chants awkwardly incorporating the names of picketed executives who may be listening on the other side of a studio lot's wall. The morning round-up:
· The Governator is backchannelling! Arnold Schwarzenegger, using the Hollywood clout he's accumulated from earning studios billions of dollars by gunning down countless bad guys while uttering catch-phrases meant to take the edge off cinematic mass murder is quietly—that's how backchannelling works—reaching out to the WGA and AMPTP in hopes of getting talks restarted. [Politico]
· Did you find yesterday's ShowrunnerPallooza 2007 event awe-inspiring? Then Friday's mass rally at Fox, in which the Guild will direct its full, red-shirted fury at a single studio target, should induce a strikegasm that will curl your picket sign. [Scribe Vibe]
· What will it take to end the strike? The answer may lie in the three bullet points left on the negotiating table when the studios stomped out of Sunday night's last-minute talks. [Variety]
· WGA West members have until tomorrow to turn in their unproduced material for the Guild's script validation program, an effort to track potential strike-breaking work an apoplectic AMPTP is trying to cease-and-desist out of existence. [THR]
· You know who might be able to push the warring factions towards a deal ? Agents. They love to talk about money, live to negotiate, and have a lot of time on their hands with the city crippled by a strike. Also: The studios would likely cater any sit-downs they mediated with the kind of all-you-can-eat baby buffet they can no longer afford during this period of strike-related cutbacks. [DHD]
· A striking Steve Carell did not actually call in sick to work with "enlarged balls." [OfficeTally.com]
· Among the seven ways to shut down a TV production (and perhaps the most effective): "Let Hugh Jackman sing." [LAT]
· Pictured: The Incredible Picketing Baby surfaces at Paramount with all-new signs. Also putting in an appearance at that location: Jesse Jackson.
