Hollywood is a funny business. But no one's laughing right now. Nominees for the Golden Globes have been announced, but the Hollywood Foreign Press Association--the group behind the Globes--has yet to get a waiver from the Writers Guild of America to let writers write the awards broadcast January 13th. Actually, I might like an awards show where they just, you know, get to the awards.
I would also watch to see which stars crossed the picket line to attend because they feel this may be their only chance to win something. Back in 1980, during an actors strike, Powers Boothe crossed the picket line to collect an Emmy for playing cult leader Jim Jones. He said, "This may be either the bravest moment of my career, or the dumbest."
The point here is that it looks like we'll still have a strike January 13th. There was a huge rally by actors supporting striking writers this week, and most of them have given up hope of getting back to work soon.
Katherine Heigl of "Grey's Anatomy" told us, "I have a terrible feeling it's going to be a while...I'm thinking February, I hope, at the latest." "Grey's" creator Shonda Rhimes is even more pessimistic. "I'm fearful that it will last 'til March." "The corporations are ruining Christmas," said cast mate T.R. Knight.
I'm starting to sense a fear that, at some point, this strike is going to hurt more than just the people in the entertainment biz who aren't rich, those who make a decent living but are currently burning through their savings. The fear is that, at some point, this is going to pinch the wealthy, too.
We asked Rex Lee, who plays Lloyd on "Entourage," when this may all end. "Oh gosh," he replied, "I have no idea. I don't have a crystal ball...I think that the writers are not being unreasonable, and I support them wholeheartedly, so, yes, this creates a bad situation for a lot of people."
Meantime, writers have become merchandisers! At www.strikeswag.com, writers sell extra t-shirts they've made for specific rallies. The most recent shirt available for sale is for Star Trek fans who support striking writers (strange bedfellows, because Star Trek fans--me being one--are quite passionate about plot incongruities and other lapses in scripts).
The back of the shirts have the hand symbol signifying the Vulcan message of "Live Long and Prosper," while on the front it says, "Logic dictates clearly that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few--Spock." So...does that mean the writers are the "many" and the studios are the "few"? Time for a mind meld.
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