andymcelfresh.com Blog

I went back on the strike line today, and boy, have things changed.

First, a little history: After the Writers Guild promised at the general membership meeting in Santa Monica before Christmas that they would not give David Letterman’s company a deal, then went back on that promise a couple of weeks later. The Tonight Show writers a got a pass on having to go out and picket — after all, the Guild had also released a statement supporting Jay’s return to air without his writers, only to turn around on that decision as well and send a large contingent of picketers to NBC to protest Jay’s show. It wasn’t right to ask us to join the protest, and besides, we had become a casualty in the war with the AMPTP, so some concession was in order.

Fine. We stayed away. At least most of us did: our strike captain and guild liaison went back right away (along with some of the guys, to tell their story to the press (not that it came out that way on air). In any event, more than a week has passed and, stress-free from my acupuncture treatment, I decided to clock in and march.

After two months of marching in front of NBC, I had expected something of a homecoming. Instead, I was met with unfamiliar faces, strange and unwelcoming. Five days absent, I was a stranger to my own strike location! Worse, the strikers who had filled in seemed to have all come from some strange unincorporated West Virginia Appalachian town, or their parents’ basements, or some weird high school drama class. One guy looked like he managed to come from all three, and that the Who’s down in Whoville all cried Boo-Hoo when he left to become a big Hollywood screenwriter.

I mean, my guys are no prize, but who were these people slouching down Alameda in jeans and T-Shirts? I watched them round the strike circle at the Executive Gate and it was like watching the worst Gap fashion show runway in history. Teeth were sticking out at all angles. Was this the writers’ room from Blue Collar TV? I kept asking myself, “If they’re here, then who’s playing World of Warcraft?

I thought the high school drama class was doing vocal warm-up exercises, but it turned out they were just having a heated discussion about what they thought would happen on Lost next month. Obviously, Benny and Joon had made a big impression on the guy in the Stetson Special Edition Western Bowler hat.

What the hell was going on? Was the circus in town? Were they casting a movie about the New Jersey Pineys nearby?

Then I realized: there was a big protest at Warner Brothers just down the street. More than five hundred writers had left their usual posts around town to show support for the 1,000 or so Warner’s employees who had been let go on Friday. The Morlocks huddled around NBC were just temps. Phew!

At least, I hope that’s true. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow, when I shoulder that sign for the 1,000th time back at Gate 3.