Shawn Ryan on the WGA Strike

While I'm not directly affected by the WGA strike (I'm not a member and am not currently engaged), I'm 100% in support of their strike. The WGA ultimately sets the standard for all writers' terms, and what they're fighting for here, particularly in terms of new media residuals, is going to affect all professional scribes.

I did want to share this, found at Deadline Hollywood. The Shield and The Unit creator-executive producer Shawn Ryan's thoughts on how he's not letting his hyphenate status cloud his perspective on the strike:

"As you all know by now, we are on Strike. It's sad that we have arrived here and I don't know each and every one of your opinions, but I wanted to share my personal plans for what I intend to do until we have a fair contract.

I am currently quoted in today's Hollywood Reporter as saying that I will do some producing work, but won't do any editing as I consider that to be writing. While I said something similar to that earlier last week (I've learned you can't trust a word of what these trades report), that was before I went to the Showrunners Meeting yesterday and became very crystalized in what I need to do. Like many of you I have spent the last week contemplating what to do in case of a strike. What are my responsibilities to my writers, my cast, my crew, my network and my contract? How do I balance these various concerns?

At the Showrunners Meeting it became very clear to me that the only thing I can do as a showrunner is to do nothing. I obviously will not write on my shows. But I also will not edit, I will not cast, I will not look at location photos, I will not get on the phone with the network and studio, I will not prep directors, I will not review mixes. These are all acts that are about the writing of the show or protecting the writing of the show, and as such, I will not participate in them. I will also not ask any of my writer/producers to do any of these things for me, so that they get done, but I can save face.

I will not go into the office and I will not do any work at home. I will be on the picket line or I will be working with the Negotiating Committee. I will not have an avid sent to my house, or to a new office so that I can do work on my show and act as if it is all right because I'm not crossing any picket lines.

I truly believe that the best and fastest way to a good contract is to hit these companies early, to hit them hard and to deprive them of ALL the work we do on their behalf.

How do we ask our staff writers to go out on strike as we continue collecting producer checks? How do we ask the Teamsters to respect our picket lines if we won't ourselves or if we're sneaking around to do the work off-site?

Just so you all know what I am prepared to give up....

Tomorrow, we begin to film the Series Finale of The Shield. I think it's the best script our writing staff has ever written. This is the show that made me. This is the show that is my baby. If the strike goes on longer than two weeks, I won't be able to step on set for the final episode of the show. I won't have a writer on set, as I have had on every episode since the fourth episode. I won't be able to edit this final culminating episode. I won't go to the wrap party that Fox TV and FX are paying for. You can't tell me that any episode of television is more important than this one is to me, and I am ready to forego all those things in order to strengthen my union.

Tomorrow, we begin filming a new pilot, The Oaks, that I am Executive Producing. It's an amazing script that David Schulner wrote and I signed up to help him make this show. Until we have a fair deal I cannot do that now and it kills me.

We are currently filming Season 3 of The Unit, a show that does fairly well, but against House and Dancing With The Stars, usually finishes in 3rd place. We have no guarantee that we will back for a 4th season. I just gave a director friend of mine his first TV directing gig. I'd like to see him succeed. He'll have to finish the show on his own now without a writer on set, or my help in the editing room.

Some people have made the argument that if they don't do this producing work or this editing, that someone else will do it, and this act won't hurt the companies. I respectfully disagree. If we ALL stop ALL work tomorrow, the impact of this strike will be felt much more quickly, much more acutely and it most likely will end sooner, putting our writers, our cast and our crews back to work sooner!

I spent nearly 12 hours today in the Negotiation Room with the companies. I watched our side desperately try to make a deal. We gave up our request to increase revenue on DVD's, something that was very painful to give up, but something we felt we had to in order to get a deal made in new media, which is our future.

I watched as the company's representatives treated us horrendously, disrespectfully, and then walked out on us at 9:30 and then lied to the trades, claiming we had broken off negotiations.

I can't in good conscience fight these bastards with one hand, while operating an avid with the other. I am on strike and I am not working for them. PERIOD.

You will use your own instincts and consciences to decide your own actions. But if you would like to follow in my footsteps (and those of many, many others who made this pledge at the showrunner's meating on Saturday), I encourage you to sign the trade ad that the WGA will be putting out on Tuesday by the dozens and dozens of showrunners who will simply not work at all beginning in the morning."

All Day BREAKFAST

Looks like the Kiwis have pulled the trigger on their option on my screenplay Hell For Breakfast, with literally days to spare before the rights reverted to me. I'm a little sad to see it go, but I'm not going to cry over a script I wrote a decade ago. I've got more irons than fires as it is right now. I guess I'm still in a state of shock that someone actually intends to make it.

At least this means that the calls I've been getting every six months for the past four years inquiring as to its availability will finally cease.

Agent Season

I've been a professional screenwriter for a little over ten years now. In that time I've had three agents and one manager, a not-unusual rate of attrition for this business. The first agent I fired, the second one quit agenting to pursue a career in development, and the third quit agenting a month before I was planning on firing him. The manager I kept, but she's in Los Angeles, and I'm not. I think this makes her a little sad sometimes.

2007 was already shaping up to be a year of great change -- all for the better -- even before I found out (on January 2nd, no less) that I had a baby daughter on the way. That trend continued today when, following a link from crafty screenwriter Alex Epstein's blog, I wound up cold-calling a local literary agency, The Alpern Group, that dealt with both Canadian and US markets (a very important consideration for me).

Now, understand, cold call contacts are the part of being a freelance writer (freelance anything, really) that I'm really bad at. Brad, my former writing partner, really excelled at that sort of thing. Me, I make all my professional acquaintances at parties, at conventions, through friends and colleagues; sometimes they even call me out of the blue. Me calling other people out of the blue? Not so much. Frankly, I suck at it. I get nervous. I stammer. I sound like an idiot in front of people I'm trying to impress. It's not pretty. I think there's some deeply insecure part of myself that feels like I'm bothering them or something.

But cold call I did, after business hours, and left a brief (and relatively idiocy-free) message for Elana Trainoff, the point person there. For obvious reasons, I didn't expect to get a reply until tomorrow at the earliest, if at all (there's that insecurity again). Imagine my groove-is-in-the-heart dee-lite when Elana calls me back a half-hour later. "Just an example of what a hard-working agency we are," she said. I like that. A lot.

Anyway, I've sent Elana my curriculum vitae, and if she likes what she sees (or, at the very least, isn't scared off by what she sees), she'll want to see some writing samples. From there, who knows? But her agency specializes in television, which is a market I really want to crack this year.

The best part of this story is, of course, that I discovered The Alpern Group's Toronto office is literally a block from my apartment. A block! What are the odds?

j!

Brain Crack

Via the show with ze frank, an excellent pearl of wisdom about gettin' it done: