LOS ANGELES, Hollywood writers took to the sidewalks, if not quite the streets, on Monday, as last-ditch bargaining failed to avert the first industrywide strike in more than 19 years.þþJust after midnight, about 12,000 movie and television writers represented by the Writers Guild of America East and the Writers Guild of America West went on strike against Hollywood producers represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.þþPicket lines went up at more than a dozen studios and other production sites on both coasts. And at least a handful of television shows — including the CBS series “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men” — quickly shut down.þþBut it was not immediately clear how much damage the writers’ actions would inflict on a sprawling industry that performs its labor in thousands of workplaces in America and abroad.þþAt the Fox lot in Los Angeles, about three dozen picketing writers were still getting the hang of things at 9:30 Monday morning. “Who’s got the power?” a strike captain bellowed through a bullhorn, as the answer mostly got lost in the traffic sounds on Pico Boulevard.þþThey laid in bottled water by the case, and came equipped with BlackBerrys and backpacks for what promised to be a long day in the sun once the morning fog burned off.þþYet studio vans, transportation trucks and construction vehicles freely crossed the picket line as Fox shows like “24” and “Prison Break” remained in production, at least for the moment — perhaps quelling the writers’ hope that a strong show of support by Hollywood’s blue-collar workers would heighten the strike’s effect. þþIn a telephone interview shortly afterward, J. Nicholas Counter III, president of the producers’ alliance, said he expected the strike to be a long one. “We were on strike for five months in 1988,” Mr. Counter said. “The issues this time are more difficult and more complex.”þþMr. Counter said companies were prepared to use alternative programming like reality shows, reruns and movies to fill broadcast and cable networks during a walkout that might last, by his estimation, 9 or 10 months. Late-night talk shows have immediately turned to repeats, but most prime-time comedies and dramas have about half a dozen episodes already filmed.þþThe final breakdown in talks came on Sunday night, at a session convened by a federal mediator at the Sofitel hotel in Los Angeles. By Mr. Counter’s account, producers made a number of steps toward the writers in the course of an 11-hour session, and writers countered by abandoning their demand that DVD residuals be doubled.þþBut guild negotiators, Mr. Counter said, refused a request to delay the strike by “stopping the clock” while the bargaining continued. The strike thus began at 12:01 a.m. by prearranged plan in New York, even as negotiators were still talking in Los Angeles. Immediately, Mr. Counter said, the companies ended the talks with no plans to reconvene.þþPatric M. Verrone, president of the West Coast guild, said in a telephone interview, “If we had decided not to strike when we said we were, I think we would have sent the wrong signal.”þþThe guild said the companies had dug in their heels by, among other things, refusing to grant the unions jurisdiction over most writing directly for new media, and insisting on the right to offer promotional showings of movies and television shows in new media and elsewhere without paying an additional fee.þþThe companies have also insisted on pegging residuals payments for downloaded movies and shows at the same rate historically used for DVDs and videocassettes — a formula writers have regretted almost since the moment they negotiated it two decades ago. In effect, the sides finally got down to what they were really fighting about: who will get what from the media of the future. þþThis led to the curious spectacle of a glamour strike.þþIn Manhattan, about 75 picketers (including Tina Fey, the creator of “30 Rock” on NBC) set up a line in Rockefeller Center and chanted: “No money? No downloads. No downloads? No peace.”þþBut for a time, the chanting was drowned out by the roar of a crowd that was assembled for the “Today” show. þþAll of the trappings of a union protest were there — signs, chanting workers, an inflatable rat and a discarded bag of wrappers and cups from Dunkin’ Donuts. The rat commuted from Queens, where it was borrowed from Local 79, an A.F.L.-C.I.O. laborers’ union. But instead of hard hats and work boots, those at the barricades wore arty glasses and fancy scarves.þþ“A lot of the public probably feels like we are brats,” said Sarah Durken, a writer for children’s programs. “But I think everyone understands the issue of corporate greed versus the needs of workers and their families.”þþ(At least one presidential candidate saw it that way. In a statement, Barack Obama declared, in part: “I stand with the writers. The guild’s demand is a test of whether media corporations are going to give writers a fair share.”)þþSome New York writers tried a gentle approach in talking to passers-by. “Don’t worry, we won’t hurt you,” said Andrew Smith, who writes for “The View.”þþ
Source: NY Times
