My Weekend Solidarity Crush

Forgot Hot Girl Summer, we’re celebrating Strike Solidarity Summer this year. For the first time in six decades the writers’ and actors’ guilds are striking together to get a fair contract from Hollywood. The AMPTP, which represents the major studios and streamers, has refused to share the wealth –quite literally – with the people most responsible for creating the television and movies we all love and makes them billions of dollars.

This fight is an actually not so small micorcosm of all of our struggles in this moment (and truly most of history). The rich get richer. Periodt. The rest of us, well, we just keep working harder for less. I can rant about Late Stage Capitalism with the best of them. But all we really need to know is that the already obscenely wealthy CEOs of these massively profittable media companies are purposely making decisions (like not releasing whole-ass movies and pulling rafts of too titles from their streamers) that further enriches the already rich (keep in mind, the richest 10% of Americans own 89% of all the stock/mutual funds). So, essentially we’re watching two rich dudes who already hae megayachts keep throwing money at each other as they keep buying more megayachts.

And, no, I am not bullshitting you with these numbers. In fact, they’re even worse than you think. The 1% (a.k.a. the grossest wealth hoarders of them all) own 53% of all stocks/mutual funds. Yes, you read that right – 1% owns more than half of the stock market. Think about that the next time a megacorporation does anyother major stock buyback. That’s all going to the Elons and Marks and Jeffs of this planet.

Look, we all know the concept of capitalism meritocracy is a lie they tell to get us to work harder. Of course, people can have success by working hard. But as they say, exceptions prove the rule. For too long, the American Pull Yourself Up By Your Bootstraps mythology has been just aspirational marketing for trickle down economics. Profit has become too divorced from the labor that makes something profitable in the first place. And that’s wrong.

Instead, these companies pray at the altar of endless growth/stock market expectations at every single worker’s expense. Again, workers make these company profitable and then as thanks these companies turn around and give those profits to people who had absolutely no hand in making anything and are already insanely rich. Vive la revolution!

And, we haven’t even talked about the most insidious undertones of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA current negotiations that will soon bleed out to almost every industry: AI. If these rich bastards can find ways to cut us out entirely and just hand money directly back-and-forth between each other they will have achieved their ideal society of infinite wealth for the already infinitely wealthy being propped up by a chronically underpaid worker class of everyone else. Yes, I do belong to a union and have sat across the table during contract negotiations many, many times. Why do you ask?

As I was saying, it’s Stike Solidarity Summer and we should all be hot and extremely bothered. Pay your writers. Pay your actors. Pay workers everywhere. Solidarity forever. Go get ‘em, Fran! Happy weekend, all.

My Weekend Crush

I believe in unions. I really do. Which is good, since I also belong to a union. And while the Writers Guild of America strike is not my union or my fight, I feel unbelievably invested in its outcome. All this week I’ve read the coverage obsessively. Maybe it’s because it involves writers, and that happens to be an occupational hazard of mine. Or maybe it’s because it involves the people who make the shows and movies I watch/enjoy/ marvel at every single day. Or maybe it’s because I’ve sat in on contract negotiations and know the kind of money-grubbing, mind-boggling, flat-out-evil crap that companies will put on the table.But I think I feel most invested because it’s an example of solidarity at work. A union’s sole power is the strength of its support. Strength in numbers isn’t just a saying, it’s a fact. So I’ve been greatly heartened and down-right moved by the solidarity I’ve seen so far on the lines. Writers, actors, showrunners -- they’ve all turned out. They’ve all carried signs, brought food and generally rabble roused. I get a sense that there is an organic groundswell of support in the creative community. This may not be an actors issue or a directors issue or showrunners issue per se, but they all believe that to be unfair to one segment of the creative process is to be unfair to the entire creative process. And they know what is at stake is the future of the industry and the future of who its future profits will go to. Isn’t it better to share success fairly? (And when I say fair, I mean fair; the writers only want a bump from about 4 cents to 8 cents on DVDs and from 0 cents to any cents, period, on internet downloads.) Who would you rather a piece of the profits go to? The people who come up with the ideas in the first place or the people in the nice suits with the big offices? It’s a no-brainer in my book.And while some may argue that it’s easy (and, dare I say, hip) to be all rah-rah now, I would argue that now – more than ever – is the time to get all Norma Rae. The stronger the solidarity now, the more quickly all production grinds to a halt. The more quickly all production grinds to a haul, the more quickly the people in the posh offices feel the pinch. The more quickly the people in the posh offices feel the pinch, the more quickly this thing gets resolved. For the suits, it’s all about the bottom line and the sooner the strike touches it, the better. This does not discount, in any way, the very real financial and professional suffering this strike will have on countless other worker bees in the entertainment industry (the grips, the assistants, the makeup artists, the caterers, etc. etc. etc.) But it’s a question of long-term thinking versus short-term survival. Once a company feels it can ride rough-shod over one segment of its workforce, how long do you think it will take for it to come after the rest? Yes, strikes suck. But if everyone shows a united front now, it will hopefully make it a much less painful process. It’s like ripping off a bandage – either way, it’s going to hurt like hell. But do you do it fast and all at once or slow and piecemeal?So with that, this week’s crush is all the amazing writers, actors, actresses, directors, showrunners and the like who have put on red shirts, picked up placards, chanted slogans and pounded the pavement for writers everywhere. While I can’t post all their pictures, I can thank them all from the bottom of my heart. As a writer, a union supporter and a entertainment junkie, this outpouring of support has inspired me and reminded me that even in a town as cynical as L.A., our better angels can still win out if we work together. Thanks for helping to restore my faith in the power and the purpose of unions. Solidarity, scribes. Happy weekend, all.p.s. For further inspiration read strike blog United Hollywood and for further reporting read Deadline Hollywood Daily. Fans can chime in at Fans4Writers or sign the WGA Online Petition. And in case you’re still fuzzy on the issues, this is why they’re fighting:

Mafia hit

Say hello to the first casualty of the writers strike. ABC has bumped midseason replacement “Cashmere Mafia” from its original Nov. 27 premiere date to an indefinite TBA. Presumably, they’re saving the show in case the strike goes long. But what this means right now is that we’ll have to wait until who-the-hell-knows when to see some Bonnie Somerville girlie action. And that also leaves us in lesbian limbo with one fewer gay woman character on TV to root for this season.Dammit, producers. Pay your fucking writers fairly and let’s be done with this thing. We want to see women kissing on primetime television! In fact, we demand it! Trust me, the last thing you want is a mob of pissed gay women descending on your posh Hollywood offices. We know how to use power tools and can wield a mean softball bat. Believe me, the teamsters got nothing on us.

A peek at what we’ll be missing. Now, where did I put that bat?

Pencils down, pickets up

The Writers Guild of America went on strike today, which to the casual consumer will mean mild TV watching disruption now and, depending on how long it drags on, repeat/reality hell later. But what it means for the writers is so much more. Now, I believe in unions. In fact, I belong to a guild so I support the striking workers unequivocally. And you know I’m always going to have another writer’s back. Solidarity now, scribes! While the negotiation details are complicated they essentially boil down to giving the writers a bigger, fairer slice of the profits pie.

So, what does this mean to the average couch potato? Starting today, all the late night talkers (Dave, Conan, Jay and the rest) and-- sniff, sniff, sob -- Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will have their shows go dark. Expect repeats and the sound of millions of Americans flipping through the dials in frustration come 11 p.m. As for the primetime lineup, most of the scripted dramas and comedies have about two months worth of shows already in the can. So we shouldn’t see too much of a difference, unless things get ugly. And then -- oh, the horror -- networks may start filling the airwaves with even more unscripted reality programs. Kind of makes Tina Fey’s joking on “30 Rock” earlier this season about “MILF Island,” “America’s Next Top Pirate” and “Are you Stronger Than a Dog?” less funny and more foreboding. Bottom line, writing matters. Imagine turning on your TV and seeing nothing but “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” on every dial. Shudder. Pay up, Hollywood. Pay up now.

p.s. I was happy to see almost all of the showrunners from my favorites included in this ad supporting the striking writers. As if I needed another reason to love Tina Fey, she is also no scab.