Five days before a scheduled meeting between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the Writers Guild of America – their first since the strike began – the writers staged a massive rally in Hollywood along the Walk of Fame. Three mammoth Teamster trucks led the mile-long parade today that began with a two-song performance by Alicia Keys on north Hollywood Boulevard and ended in front of the Mann’s Chinese theater. Crowd estimates ranged from 5,000 to 10,000 people, to say nothing of the hundreds of tourists who got to witness an actual Hollywood protest occurring in front of Ripley’s Believe it Or Not Museum.
The location was chosen for its proximity to the old Knickerbocker Hotel on Ivar Avenue where, WGA West President Patric Verrone told the crowd, 10 screenwriters met nearly 75 years ago to form a union “with teeth.” Today, he went on, “we are here to show our teeth. We want to smile, and walk down Hollywood Boulevard on a beautiful day.”
Among the picketers taking the mile-long stroll was Joss Whedon, who’s tried to hit the lines daily since the strike began on Nov. 5. He has mixed feelings about the talks set to resume on Monday. “It’s always a good sign that they come back to talk but that doesn’t mean there’s a deal. And that doesn’t mean the deal is a good deal. It’s very possible they feel pressure to make a show of good faith but they really haven’t moved on the issues we care about. I’m hoping that’s not the case. We’re prepared for the worst. I’ll keep shouting at the top of my lungs until they come out of the room and say they’re done.”
Three days before the strike began, Whedon struck a deal with Fox to create a new drama series called Dollhouse starring Eliza Dushku. He’s outlined seven episodes for the net but has yet to write them. “I’d love to make it. I couldn’t be more excited about it than if I were actually making it. But I turned that part of my brain off. I’m on strike.”
I really don’t see a deal with the writer’s in the near future. I say let there be more Reality TV shows.
The Reality shows are by far more entertaining, than the scripted stuff.
I really don’t see a deal with the writer’s in the near future. I say let there be more Reality TV shows.
The Reality shows are by far more entertaining, than the scripted stuff.
As I see it, stacking “Beauty and the Geek” or “America’s Next Top Model” up against “The Office” or “Rescue Me” results in a rather one-sided tilt toward the scripted. Reality TV is about eavesdropping on the worst in human nature. Scripted TV, when it’s done well, is about condensing and making real the best aspects of human intelligence and imagination. It’s like comparing listening to your neighbors fight through paper-thin walls to watching a film that takes your breath away and makes you wonder how somebody actually thought up something that original.
Given the chance, I’d rather watch something that makes me think and gets me emotionally involved instead of just filling an hour of my time with lowest-common-denominator noise.
That’s why I think the writers of “My Name Is Earl” and “Friday Night Lights” deserve a share of the “elephant dollars” the shows’ producers make by playing the shows on their websites — with commercials aplenty generating huge income for the networks.
I absolutely hate Reality shows. I want Fiction, I get enough reality already in my ‘real’ life. I want escapism and I think that most people do. ‘Reality’ shows are about greed and usually backstabbing, I see enough of that already in real life. I want to see a really good story on TV. I hope that the Writers and Actors succeed soon in getting what they deserve. Or we will be fated to nothing to watch on TV or in the Cinemas soon. I especially like Sci Fi and Drama. If all we get is Reality TV I will be turning off my TV and not watching those stupid commercials. Instead I will be reading good interesting books more. The Hollywood fat cats and the TV Stations should be aware that if ratings go down, they will lose financial support from the Advertisers.
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