Anne-Marie Johnson update

Three weeks ago, I blogged about Anne-Marie Johnson’s campaign for the presidency of the Screen Actors Guild.

Well, the results are in. Anne-Marie lost.

Ken Howard (“The White Shadow”) was elected SAG president with 47 percent of the vote. Ms. Johnson pulled 33 percent, and Seymour Cassel got 18 percent.

After recent years of labor turmoil in Hollywood, Ken Howard was considered the “moderate” candidate.

Break a leg, Anne-Marie.

Last time I saw Anne-Marie Johnson, it was during the Writers Guild strike two years ago. She and other actors had come out to walk the picket lines with us. Very cool.

I didn’t know she’s now running for president of the Screen Actors Guild... till I saw this campaign video on the 3 brothers and A SISTER blog.

Remember Anne-Marie Johnson from “Hollywood Shuffle” and the last season of “In Living Color” and tons of other TV work? Her main opponent in this presidential race is Ken Howard... the “White Shadow” himself.

The SAG election results will be announced on September 24.

Sarah Silverman wrote something funny.

I wouldn’t call myself a Sarah Silverman fan. And I’m certainly not wild about her boyfriend, Jimmy Kimmel.

But Thursday night I stumbled on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and Silverman was there with a special video in honor of that show’s 5th anniversary.

It was a song called “I’m F*cking Matt Damon.” It is hilarious. Matt Damon’s in it. That’s what makes it hilarious.

Now the video has gone viral... the hottest piece of professional comedy to explode across the Web since “Dick in a Box.”

That’s all cool. Except I wondered: “Is this scab writing?”

“Jimmy Kimmel Live” is owned by ABC. And writers have been on strike against ABC (and the rest of Big Hollywood) since November 5. So what’s up with this?

Alan Sepinwall informs me that, according to what Ms. Silverman said on the program, this video was produced in October. Pre-strike. I take her at her word. She said the clip was originally intended for Kimmel’s birthday show (November 13).

I’m sorry I suspected Sarah Silverman of scabbing. Here is videotape of her on a Writers Guild picket line last November, talking the good talk.

(By the way, both sides are back to negotiating, and the strike might be resolved soon. Yay!)

Now, here is “I’m F*cking Matt Damon”:

David Milch, live onstage

My old boss David Milch, the best writer in television, will deliver a lecture today in Beverly Hills on “The Idea of the Writer.” It is open to the general public.

It’s Part Three of a free-wheeling discussion Milch began on Tuesday. (He also spoke two days last week.)

What a wonderful idea to boost the morale of striking writers. Because Milch is also a great talker. No one approaches the art of storytelling for TV with his degree of moral seriousness.

If you haven’t heard David Milch lecture, you really should. Especially if you’re a fan of “Deadwood,” “NYPD Blue” or “Hill Street Blues.”

Plus... Milch is always flat-out entertaining.

Today’s discussion will take place from 2:15 to 4 p.m. at the WGA Theater, 135 So. Doheny Drive, Beverly Hills. Admission is free. First come, first served.

(Hat-tip: David Latt at United Hollywood.)

If you want to support striking writers...

... here’s a good idea (from Hollywood Interrupted). I say give the gift of music or books instead.

‘Speechless’

Filmmaker George Hickenlooper and screenwriter Alan Sereboff have created a series of clever digital shorts in support of Hollywood’s striking writers.

The “Speechless” campaign features prominent actors like Sean Penn, Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel.

The shorts will debut throughout this long holiday weekend on Nikki Finke’s blog, Deadline Hollywood Daily. (Three cheers to Ms. Finke for her indispensable blow-by-blow coverage of the strike so far.)

Here’s the most recent short posted, featuring Jeff Garlin of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”:

Two sides to every issue. (A right one and a wrong one.)

I don’t blame you if your eyes glaze over at coverage of the Hollywood writers’ strike. For those interested, the L.A. Times on Saturday published op-ed columns by the chief negotiators on both sides.

This one is by David Young, executive director of the Writers Guild of America, west. This one is by Nick Counter, president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which is negotiating on behalf of the multinational entertainment corporations.

And boy, Mr. Counter does a spin job that really roasts my chestnuts.

Before I get to that, I must correct something I posted earlier. I was under the impression that writers receive no residual payments for digitally downloaded TV episodes.

Apparently, in the absence of a contractually stipulated payment formula, the corporations are going ahead and paying a residual for Internet downloads equal to the DVD residual. So for a $1.99 episode of “30 Rock” downloaded from iTunes last season, for example, the writers’ residual is... less than a penny.

I stand corrected.

Now... Nick Counter. In his attempt to portray screenwriters as already over-compensated, Counter wrote this in his L.A. Times opinion piece:

“[M]embers of the Writers Guild and its sister guilds are covered by the country’s finest healthcare and pension plans, and our contribution to those plans has consistently increased while other industries’ contributions have decreased.”

Hmmm.

Guess what? The Writers Guild had to strike – for five months in 1960 – to get Hollywood studios to pay health and pension benefits in the first place!

How ironic for Nick Counter to bring up our health and pension plans, as if writers hadn’t had to fight like hell for those... just like we’re fighting now. The corporations give up nothing without a fight.

Speaking of the 1960 strike, that was a hugely important one. The Screen Actors Guild was on strike for part of the same time. And those strikes led to the creation of “residual” payments to writers and actors for TV reruns, and for shows sold overseas.

“The exploding power of television had brought a new kind of militancy to the [Screen Actors Guild], especially over TV residuals,” wrote Dennis McDougal about the run-up to the 1960 strikes. “While studios grew richer every day collecting TV fees for syndicating old movies, actors still got nothing, and a growing faction within SAG as well as the Writers Guild began talking seriously about shutting Hollywood down.”

Today’s strike, then, is a little bit of history repeating itself. A new media technology triggers new prosperity for the entertainment industry... and Hollywood’s creative talent must fight to share in that new prosperity.

Ali LeRoi and Todd Bridges on the picket line...

... and them boys are sick! (Hat-tip: United Hollywood.)

Hey, GSN... KMA!

So I’m watching a little “High Stakes Poker” last night on GSN (the Game Show Network), and a promo comes on for GSN’s late-night reruns of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”

It shows a contestant answering a million-dollar question, followed by screams and balloons and confetti. And then these words flash on screen:

“You can’t write this stuff.”

Ummm... say what?

An hour later, another GSN promo... a different contestant answering a million-dollar question on “Millionaire”... more balloons and confetti. And again, the tag line:

“You can’t write this stuff.”

Oh, hells no... Are they mocking Hollywood’s on-strike writers? Is GSN saying: “Who needs scriptwriters to tell you a story when you can sit back and enjoy some fuggin’ eight-year-old game-show repeats?”

Not only is that a ridiculous insult, but I got news for you:

The Writers Guild of America includes game-show writers.

So, in a sense, the GSN tag line is utterly accurate: As long as this WGA strike is on, you game-show writers can’t write that stuff!

Jesse Jackson lends his support...

... and we appreciate it. This video was shot at Friday’s big rally outside of Fox Studios:

Why Hollywood writers are striking

If you’re interested in what the current Writers Guild of America strike is all about, here’s an audio bite that should make it clear (without making your eyes glaze over).

Patric Verrone (pictured), president of the West Coast wing of the WGA, appeared yesterday on the Bill Handel radio show. Handel is the morning man at KFI 640, L.A.’s leading talk station.

I’m streaming a slightly edited 9-minute version on my Vox blog. Click here to listen.

Bill Handel is a joker, and he has some fun with the issue. But Handel also understands the bottom-line fairness of the WGA’s position: If the Hollywood studios make money selling TV shows over the Internet, then the creative community – writers, actors and directors – deserve a small share of it.

As of now, we get zero.

The corporations would rather let this painful strike happen than sit and negotiate a number higher than zero.

You can download the Patric Verrone interview as a podcast via iTunes. Just search the iTunes podcast directory for “Bill Handel” and find the November 9 clip labeled “Writers Strike.”

Our friends in need are friends indeed.

I didn’t plan to blog much about the Hollywood writers’ strike. But I feel increasingly motivated to do so.

On behalf of my fellow scriptwriters, I want to thank every actor who joined us on the picket lines today. Particularly three familiar faces I marched alongside at Warner Bros. Studios: Anne-Marie Johnson, Anne De Salvo and Len Lesser. Thank you, guys!

They carried signs blazoned with the Screen Actors Guild logo and these words: “Unions Stand Together.”

Actors aren’t standing with us because they’re so damn grateful to read our magnificent poetry. They stand with us because their own contract with the studios will expire in six months. And the deal we make – to share in Hollywood’s new Internet revenue streams – will surely be the template for SAG’s next deal.

As of now, the studios and networks share with us none of their income from digitally downloaded TV shows and streaming episodes on the Web (for which they sell advertising).

Why do writers and actors deserve a little piece of that money? Because for nearly half a century, the industry practice has been to pay “residuals” for the re-use of our creative work.

An episode is repeated in prime time, the credited writer gets a nice residual check.

Episodes are rerun in syndication or on basic cable, and the writers get a little something-something.

When TV series are sold overseas, writers receive a (tiny) “foreign residual.”

And when episodes are packaged and sold on DVD, we get a (too-small) taste.

The future is online. We just want our fair share.

But power cedes nothing without a demand. And the bosses are willing to put everyone through the pain of a strike rather than sit down and hash out a decent deal.

They must think we’re weak.

They’ll find out.

Some interesting drama took place today a few blocks from the Warner Bros. lot. Veteran comedy writer Bill Prady, who’s running “Big Bang Theory,” stumbled upon a location shoot for “Desperate Housewives” on a residential side street. He contacted a Writers Guild strike captain, and pickets were dispatched to the location. I was among them.

As police officers stood by, we marched and chanted and raised a ruckus and totally disrupted the day’s shooting on “Desperate Housewives.”

When you’ve got comedy writers working a picket line, you’re bound to hear some clever chants. Here were some of today’s best:

“Eva! Longoria! Who’s gonna write your storia?”

“Marcia Cross, don’t cross the picket line! Marcia Cross, don’t cross the picket line!”

“Nicollette! Sheridan! We can’t think of one for you!”

And this one I’m still feeling:

“We’re finally getting some exercise! We’re finally getting some exercise!”

Even a couple of cops smiled at that one.

A time for action

I’ll be picketing this afternoon in front of my old stomping grounds, Warner Bros. Studios.

What better way to psych up for a labor action than with some old-fashioned suck-ass Communist rock-’n’-roll? BAM!

Will Hollywood writers go on strike?

I do not know. But the current three-year contract between the Writers Guild of America (my union) and the Hollywood studios will expire tonight at midnight. The entire industry is anxious.

I don’t intend to blog much about labor matters. But for those of you interested, I point you to a brand new blog: United Hollywood.

It was launched on Monday by four WGA “contract captains” to publicize the guild’s side of the story... and to provide the membership with updates on the grinding negotiations for a new deal.

I shall be reading it every day.

(Hat-tip: Craig Mazin at The Artful Writer.)