From the front: The last mile?

It was appropriately sunny in beautiful downtown Burbank on Thursday as hundreds gathered outside the Disney and ABC gates for what hopefully will be the last mass picket of the Great Walkout of '07-'08. A few dozen others made sure there was a red-and-black presence outside NBC as well.

Officially, everyone was still in "cautiously optimistic" mode. But it sure felt like a gathering of people who'd spent a lot of quality time together but were preparing to go their separate ways for a while. There were lots of group hugs, group photos taken (as pictured below), numbers and email addresses exchanged and reminiscing about picket-line experiences in the past tense.

There will be one more three-hour picket sesh at NBC on Friday afternoon, and of course, the scribe tribe will undoubtedly turn out in significant numbers on Saturday for the 7 p.m. membership meet at the Shrine Auditorium.

"We've been down this road before," said scribe Leonard Dick ("House," "Lost"). "I have faith in the (WGA) leadership...but I may continue picking for another two weeks -- just to be safe."

The timing of the apparent denouement of the strike is kinda funny for Dick. The last seg of Fox's

"House" that he finished writing around midnight on the day they went out finally aired on Tuesday. Dick noted that he's told his friends and family "wait until at least Saturday night before you stream it on Fox.com."

For sure, there's plenty of nervousness about the details of the deal. Many scribes seem to be zeroing in on the length of the "promotional window" that studios have for free streaming of shows before residual payment kicks in. As laid out in the DGA pact, that window is 24 days for freshman series and 17 days for all others. There's rumblings that the WGA has managed to shave some time off that window, probably for the freshman shows, but even seven days feels too long for a lot of folks.

"There are some real serious points that I need to be convinced of," said screenwriter Garrick Dowhen (pictured left). "A lot of us have lost a lot in all of this. I lost a development deal and a rewrite deal. It's cost me big."

Strike captain Marjorie David, a co-exec producer on NBC's "Life," echoed Dowhen's sentiment.

"We we want to make sure we went out for a reason," David said.

There was some grumbling about the propriety of the guild calling off the strike before the formal ratification vote of the membership is conducted, a 10-day process. More than one picket suggested that the real urgency was not to jumpstart the TV season or pilot season, but to create a clear path of the Academy Awards on Feb. 24 -- a superficial deadline, in the eyes of some scribes.

Nonetheless, it was also telling that the conversation buzz was about a lot of things unrelated to the strike -- like Mitt Romney's pullout of the GOP race, the Super Tuesday results, up-and-coming neighborhoods with decent home prices, and of course, much speculation about what TV shows and pilots may be fast-tracked back into production if the strike does indeed end early next week.

"Everybody Loves Raymond" creator Phil Rosenthal was on the scene, preaching restraint to those who were making plans to celebrate on Saturday.

"The deal isn't done. And remember, they tried to get away with murder before," Rosenthal said. He'll be heading to the Shrine on Saturday. "It promises to be a good show," he quipped.Another illuminating quip overhead coming from a young femme scribe: "I spoke to someone last night who said she was going to vote it down -- and I yelled at her."

Favorite moment on the line Thursday was spending some quality time with the always-entertaining Alan Kirschenbaum and Lowell Ganz, as they made the trek with others down Keystone Street (pictured right), between  the main Disney gate off Buena Vista Street and the ABC/Animation gate off Riverside Drive. Kircshenbaum and Ganz swapped memories of spending time in the Catskills in their youth. Kirschenbaum's father, comic Freddie Roman, was once the king of the Catskills hotels and clubs, and those summers in the bungalows rank high on his list of fondest memories.

Ganz, who marveled at the unity displayed by scribes young and old during the strike ("I've been in the guild 35 years -- I've never seen this much cohesion"), summed up the feeling of scribes on the picket lines the past few days.

"It's like Labor Day in the Catskills," he said. "Everybody's saying 'So nice to have met you' and 'Yes, we've put our deposit down on next year."

Down the road outside NBC, there was a modest picket presence outside NBC's two main entrances there, though it was clear that the holding pen for "Ellen" studio audience hopefuls had more bodies.

The honk factor from passing motorists remained strong for the two dozen or so pickets who made the trek in front of "The Tonight Show" logo.

Although the resolve has stayed strong, the sense that a deal and settlement to the strike is near has many thinking to life after picketing on a daily basis.

"Nobody's walking around here saying, 'Man, I hope this goes on another six months," said scribe Tom Walla.

-- Cynthia Littleton

Comments

[Fi Core]

well what can i say ? i was hoping for more force mejuer cuts hopefully the waiters in charge will reject this offer,so the real power in the union can leave ,the showrunners and feature writers can go back to work.I learned something during this strike about the wga,some of them, a minority,do have a lot of power,look at all the havoc they created !!!!!and because of that enourmous power,using it,should be carefully excercised.If a homless man declared war agianist a country so what,but if our president does well,thats a different story.I've been told that we live in a democrecy,that the majority rule,and thats the thing that makes the calling of this strike all the more wrong,alot of power was concentrated in a few very incompetent individuals.It happens in life,and thru out history the people in power constantly misuse their power and its the lesser people who get damaged not to say that a lot of writers didn't get hurt also,but they had a vote in it,many,many more did not.This is unfair and should never happen again,call me a shill make fun of me and make false posts I don't give a shit,i know in my heart that what i wrote here,has at a minimum a piece of the truth,and yes the amptp had a hand in it,but hte wga allowed it.The wga has weakened not only themselves,but everyother union in this town.In 3 years if they call a strike agian no will give a shit,becauce of all the reality shows that they won't be able to orginize,who would want to sign up with a bunch of losers,who have no concern for all the people who work with them.

[Fi Core]

Has anyone seen my mommy?

[Don't be a Stranger!]

I, for one, am gonna miss you guys out front. The colorful signs and bodies add a real touch of life outside the security gate. Kind of like the bands playing when you walk inside Disneyland or something. You were cheerful and (usually) didn't ask for change. Of course, those rainy days when you looked soggy and miserable were heart-wrenching. Fridays are always a little lonely when I look out and the sidewalk is barren, like an old friend is gone. See, even when you aren't writing, you're still eliciting emotions! Well done! So, hopefully things won't work out with this weekend's vote, but if they do, it'd be swell if you came by and picketed occasionally for old time's sake. Thanks for the memories!

[Fi Core]

Now u get 2 face all the people u put out of work 4 no gains

[Fi Core]

Say hi to me. I'm the one who eats my boogers!

[Serge]

Hey Fi Core, since this seems to be your repeated general attitude towards writers, why be civil in or even attempt to argue with you reasonably? Fuck you, you lowlife troglodyte piece of shit. You are truly a douche nozzle, and I hope you post and return fire, because I'd be happy to fire right back, you arrogant asswipe. Hope you get fired as soon as the strike ends, and that you never work again. Blow me.

[Nick the Greek]

In honor of those of us who spent months of the picket line with our fight, and with apologies to Victor Hugo and Delacoix, I created an epic strike painting that hopefully will inspire and prompt us to think about the concept of struggle, and that it's not over yet:

www.myspace.com/hauntedworlds

For my brothers I marched with at CBS, the name of the piece is "Tomorrow will discover what our God in heaven has in store. (Hugo)"

[Bubbi]

Wow Serge,
Your a writer? How very adult of you.
Your ability as a potty mouth is awesome--was this what the strike was about?

You still have to face those you put out of work--some who will never go back to work in the industry--including some writers.
Good job!

[Serge]

You know, Bubbi, sometime, in the face of an unreasonable insulting crap-bag like Fi Core, when countless reasonable arguments have not only been completely ignored, but any semblance of civility was never even attempted, sometimes, even though it's probably wrong, you just have to let it fly. It's called being human. If you can't understand that, well, god bless you and your unswayable maturity. And for the record, my language, and my attitude, was for Fi Core, and only him. And given his behavior, the way I see it, he's the one who has to face us.

[Bubbi]

Your human--I get it.
You do not have to like anothers opinion but they still get to have it.
However, if your rant made you feel better--then cool!