But who's gonna answer the phones?

Showrunners, stars, kids... just about everyone's gotten their own theme day on the WGA picket lines. So why not the assistants?

Done.

Here's an email just sent to Scribe Vibe about a pro-WGA rally being organized by the folks who normally answer the phones and fetch the Ice Blendeds.

“ASSISTANTS PICKET” – MONDAY, 11/19 @ 12PM-2PM at the Main Gate (Pico & Motor) at THE FOX LOT.  For assistants and other “below-the-line” employees (particularly those who have been laid-off by the media conglomerates) who support the WGA and would like to picket in unity with the writers.  For assistants and “below-the-line” employees, this is a chance for us to show the writers we support them, and to show the media conglomerates that they need to take responsibility for their own decisions and not blame the writers for their lay-offs.  For writers, this is a chance for us to celebrate the assistants and “below-the-line” employees, and to recognize them for the sacrifices they’re being forced to make as we fight for a fair deal.

Since CAA had its assistants serve churros to scribes at last Friday's Fox rally, we think it's only fair that tenpercenters Tony Etz, Joe Cohen and Chris Harbert  scoop ice cream at the assistants picket.

--Josef Adalian

Comments

[no name]

you're gonna have the hard working people that actually have something to lose come out.... sounds like trouble. better believe i'm going to try and be there! We are among the people hurting the most, the one that live paycheck to paycheck, and yes I am on the writer's side. i was hoping something like this would be organized. how can i get more info?

[Michael Raysses]

WGA writers aren't hurting! Remember in 2000 they wouldn't even support the leaders of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the AFL-CIO when they striked by 8,500 janitors in Los Angeles County, asking for terms that are far short of the workers' demands for living wages?

[hfyf]

Everyone deserves to make a living, I grant you that. But get your spoiled a**es back to the negotiating table NOW! My husband's union supports your strike but if you aren't at the table in good faith RIGHT NOW working on a resolution you deserve the scorn from the rest of the industry for removing the paychecks from those "little" people that don't have the benefit of pizza and starbucks and "soundbites" served in the picket line. No, they get to panic as to how they will pay for the groceries, keep the lights on, put gas in the car and afford Christmas toys for their children.

Spoiled brats of writers don't remember the lockout back in the late 80's when NYC and LA came to a stand still for a year. Businesses closed down permanently, people left the industry and it took a loooong time for everything to recover.

Want to do that again to "prove" your point? If it makes you feel good to have people lose their homes, savings and way-of-life then I hope you are the first in line at the food bank. And BTW, no lattes are served there.

[WGA Writer with Business Sense]

Excuse me, I hate to interrupt your vitriol spew with facts, but the fact remains that it is the AMPTP who has refused to return to the bargaining table.

Until yesterday they were in violation of Federal labor law by refusing to negotiate with striking workers until they cease striking. They have backed down on that but the ironically named Nick Counter refuses to...um, counter the offer the WGA left on the table. Why aren't you mad at the AMPTP?

As to the notion that writers aren't suffering please think again. The average WGA member earns $60,000 a year. I know plenty of Teamsters, hell I know plenty of gardeners and nannies who earn more than that. Many writers are just regular middle class people. The fact that their jobs sound fancy doesn't make them any less middle class, income-wise. Writers are in danger of losing their homes and savings as well.

And in this country, everybody drinks lattes. I know a lot of Teamsters who enjoy the lattes.

Please, both of you, save your ire for the real villains in this, an AMPTP who came to the table with a proposal of no payments for anything on the internet...ever. That's what they will demand of the directors and the actors if the writers cave. And since IATSE payments are based on our payments, you will lose too. Look to this week's Entertainment Weekly where Nick Counter publically states that if they give writers payments for Internet the actors and directors will want the same.

No project in this town starts without a script. Give some respect to the people who start the ball rolling by facing the blank page. Give some respect for the people who generate payments into your health fund every time the cameras roll.

The only people who aren't suffering in this thus far is the AMPTP. Hopefully when their shareholders see how they have allowed their enormous egos to prevent them from using good solid management sense, they will get their punishment.

68% of Americans think the WGA is right, 4% think the AMPTP is right. Hollywood has taught America well when it comes to figuiring out who are the villains in the story.