Things Momma Never Told Me About Striking

On the Sunday before the big rally in Hollywood, November 18, 2007, I volunteered to help make signs at the WGA Headquarters. That in itself was a unique experience, because in all the times that I've seen people with picket signs, I've never thought once where they came from. Same with those rallies at FOX, NBC Universal, and NBC Burbank, and other days on the picket line... never once thought of where the signs came from I was carrying... that is, until the call came for volunteers to make them. Oh, we have to make them ourselves!! The proverbial light goes on in my head.

Okay, it sounds silly, but it's like we buy fruit and vegetables from the supermarket -- could we all name which ones grow on trees, bushes, independently on the ground or beneath it? Or do we think about where the chickens come from which are packaged up so nicely for us in the store?

For most of the afternoon, my job was to cut rope into little pieces. These would be put through the holes on the top of strike signs so they could become sandwich boards... those are the signs that drape over your front and back like a poncho. When we ran out of rope to cut, I helped make the sandwich boards. Other people were making the signs you carry on sticks.

Through it all, I managed to talk with a friend of mine, Melody, who is/was a writer on Flash Gordon. Apparently she is the only American writer on the show which is a Canadian production. They are pretty much done with writing and filming their first order. However, if the strike goes on a long time, and the show gets a pickup, they could conceivably continue it with all Canadian writers since it's a Canadian production, unlike their American company productions being filmed in Canada. In that case scenerio, they would replace her with a Canadian (bummer for her), and save the difference between their health and welfare payments and ours.

We had a great conversation where I learned a lot about the difference in contracts on what they meant in terms of a production and in terms of the strike.

But this wasn't the only day I learned things. For example, I didn't think twice when I saw strikers walking down the sidewalk or crossing back and forth across the street or driveway because it obviously maximizes your presence by drawing more attention to you. But when I saw my first group moving around and around in a small circle like horses on a merry-go-round on the side of the studio driveway, I thought it kind of silly. However, that was because I didn't know you had to keep moving, if you stand still, you can be arrested for loitering.

So that begs the question, if you sit down, are you squatting?

I also learned that walking back and forth on concrete for 3-4 hours, 5 days a week, for multiple weeks in 85 degree weather is harder work than sitting at a computer for 14 hours in an air conditioned office.

It also never crossed my mind that you had to get permits to picket... and that the permits were only for stated hours. So that once the allotted time was over with, you needed to pack up and go home, or the police can step in and remove you.

And lastly, I learned how biased the news media can be, even when they are pretending to tell both sides of the story.