Okay, look: We all know money’s tight, the economy’s halfway down the drain and layoffs are hitting every sector of society (including 3,000 LAUSD teachers – the subject of a future rant I don’t have space for here).

But we have to wonder – just a little bit – who’s really behind the please-SAG-don’t-strike site SaveTheBiz.org.

Veteran actor James Cromwell pleads in the video above for both parties in the ongoing contract haggling between the Screen Actors Guild and the AMPTP to remember the gaffers, grips, craft-service drones and honey-wagon drivers – and don’t bring on a strike.

So – is this a non-partisan plea for parity, reason and good-faith bargaining?

Or is it a well-muscled push from the non-acting screen trades to dissuade actors from picketing if they’re faced with fuck-you terms from the AMPTP?

Discuss.

CurbedLA just posted about a new report that predicts rising unemployment to last through 2010.

From the UCLA Anderson Forecast:

“The news from the economy is bad,” writes Anderson Forecast senior economist David Shulman in his essay “The Balance Sheet Recession.” “The recession we had previously hoped to avoid is now with us in full gale force.”

Nationally, we can expect the loss of 2 million jobs over the next 12 months. In California, “the unemployment rate is expected to rise as high as 8.7 percent next year and remain at that level through 2010.”

So, anyone still think this is a good time for SAG to strike?

I’m up at 5am with another of my intermittent early-morning allergy attacks, which has afforded me the extreme pleasure of some spare time in which I can communicate with you, dear reader. I figured while I was waiting for the benadryl, xyzal and vitamin-B-complex (which actually helps the most) cocktail to kick in and make my sinuses stop feeling like they’re about to peel themselves off my skull, I might as well transmit a bit of vital information.

Today will surely be a busy day for many people beginning their holiday preparations. Therefore it is with great joy then that I inform you of today’s Santacon, quite possibly our city’s biggest to date, and a spirited event GUARANTEED to get you in the mood for the holidays to be over already. I know nothing of its location or appointed rounds (as the Red Tide does often span the city) because the event is shrouded in secrecy, but for those who’d like to follow along in spirit, I highly suggest you look to…no, not the skies! to Twitter!…where I have it on good authority that many well-known LA twitfolks will be broadcasting their experiences. You can also check my photostream on flickr, where I will be posting horrendously lousy cameraphone photos all day long.

Ho ho ho!

Pic by The Opus from flickr under a creative commons license.

Oh, and to those elves who’ve been fomenting discontent and grumbling about a strike, GIVE IT UP! You strike  EVERY YEAR!!! And you know what happens EVERY YEAR?! Santa smacks you DOWN, bitches! You know why?! Because you’re FOUR FEET TALL!!! Ohhhhhhh DAAAAM! Boo yah!!!

Yes, the pen truly is mighty than the sword.

With the looming possibility of another entertainment-related strike happening this year, and virtually no end in sight to the hair-pulling squabble between SAG and AFTRA, let’s take a moment to absorb today’s news:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The recent Hollywood writers’ strike tipped California into a recession, resulting in a loss of $2.1 billion to the state economy and costing 37,700 jobs…

…the three-month writers’ strike that ended in February cost the entertainment industry alone $500 million. But because Hollywood overlaps with other state industries, the report found the strike had a wider impact overall.

I’m curious… Have you lost your job in the past six months for strike-related reasons? Did the strike force you into a different career path? Did it make you leave the biz altogether? Even if you’re not in entertainment, how were you affected?

Consider this a highly scientific State of the Business poll. Tell us how your life and career have changed because of the Writers’ Strike. Comment.

Photo from Here in Van Nuys’ photostream

Hello, friends. It seems the AMPTP has suspended negotiations with SAG. In a press release, SAG President Alan Rosenberg said:

“It is unfortunate and deeply troubling that the AMPTP would suspend our negotiations at this critical juncture. We have modified our proposals over the last three weeks in effort to bargain a fair contract for our members. We are committed to preserving rights that have been in place for decades and not giving the studios the right to use excerpts of our work in new media without our consent and negotiation. Our negotiating team is prepared to work around the clock for as long as it takes to get a fair deal. We want to keep the town working.”

Here’s to hoping all of our buddies and friends in various crews and kraft service won’t have endure another round of temporary joblessness.

Here’s a surprise: George Clooney, member of the Writers Guild of America, West, has gone Financial Core.

Actually, he did it last fall. Quietly and with tremendous class, not wanting to make the union look bad during the impending strike. His beef? He’d been denied writing credit on Leatherheads (which opened Friday). He’d taken the languishing script, by Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly, and rewritten (according to him) about 80% of it. He wasn’t looking for sole credit, but wanted to share credit with the screenplay’s creators. In a 2-1 decision, WGA arbitrators said no. Rather than withdraw his membership, Clooney went fi-core.

I am pro-union. I’m the first to say that they are FAR from perfect, but we need unions. This time, though? I am pro-Clooney.

During the strike I had a meal with someone who tried to tell me that it was OK for me to work during the strike because I could “just go fi-core.” He simply did not understand why that was a totally unacceptable idea. And I am really sad that the union put Clooney in the position where it was the better choice for him. (Please note that I am not saying it was the only choice–it wasn’t–or that it’s the choice I’d have made–I don’t know what I’d have done. But it’s what he did and it’s done. No do-overs.)

Story at Variety, via Writer’s Blog, via writersstrike.

Via Defamer: Greg Garcia, millionaire creator of My Name Is Earl, took a job at a fast food restaurant for a month during the writers’ strike. He did not need the money, obviously, but was looking to “reconnect” and for possible show material.

I find this… weird, funny, and weird. Also funny.

What I want to know is: did he put in his 12-20 hours per week on the picket lines?

There are so many possible takes on this. Here’s mine: situation comedy about a millionaire television showrunner who takes a job at a fast food restaurant when times get tough. What’s your take?

Bored now that the writers have stopped picketing? There’s no time like the present to prepare for the zombie apocalypse! Nina Bargiel, aka The Slackmistress, is in training and documenting it at Post-Apocalyptic Workout, where she blogs, vlogs, and posts super-hot photos of herself in her running clothes (like the “before” at right).

The basic gist is that Nina realized that as an unemployed television writer who throws great cocktail parties and solves mysteries, she is prime zombie fodder. So just in case, she is out to make herself into a productive member of society who can perform CPR, grow and prepare food, and outrun you in the event the the zombies give chase.

I will not be playing along because my strategy for the zombie invasion is to barricade myself (and family) in our compound and fight them off from my couch. But not everyone has a compound* so I figured some of you might want to join the preparations for the good fight.

*I do not have a compound. But I totally want one!

Photo: Anne Fishbein

It’s hard to knock Harlan Ellison’s credibility as a writer. Besides being an incredibly prolific producer of prose and non-fiction, he’s also an accomplished TV writer. Hell, dude wrote what’s widely considered to be the best Star Trek episode of all time. So, when daddy talks, people listen:

HARLAN ELLISON ON THE WRITERS STRIKE SETTLEMENT

YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION TO RE-POST THIS ANYWHERE:

Creds: got here in 1962, written for just about everybody, won the Writers Guild Award four times for solo work, sat on the WGAw Board twice, worked on negotiating committees, and was out on the picket lines with my NICK COUNTER SLEEPS WITH THE FISHE$$$ sign. You may have heard my name. I am a Union guy, I am a Guild guy, I am loyal. I fuckin’ LOVE the Guild.

And I voted NO on accepting this deal.

My reasons are good, and they are plentiful; Patric Verrone will be saddened by what I am about to say; long-time friends will shake their heads; but this I say without equivocation…

THEY BEAT US LIKE A YELLOW DOG. IT IS A SHIT DEAL.

I think you get where he’s going with this. More after the jump…
(more…)

Sharpen Those Pencils!

According to Variety, as of 7pm tonight “members voted to lift the strike order with a 92.5% endorsement.”

Hooorraaaay!! Let’s get some quality WRITTEN material back on the air!

You want details? Go here.

(Photo by Arda Balkan and used under Creative Commons.)