Writers on Strike!

I can only imagine how the news must be assiduously covering this Hollywood Crisis! I'm sure they must have reporters decamped to Paramount and other studios, getting sound bites of people, writers, holding up picket signs and chanting for more money.

I am usually a supporter of unions, having had to join one as an adjunct at SMC. But somehow mustering up sympathy for Aaron Sorkin, Darren Starr, or Dick Wolf seems a bit, well, against the principles of what unions are supposed to do: protect the worker. If, in this case, the worker earns millions of dollars does that mean our sympathies should be any less fervent than our sympathies for, say, the auto workers union? The New York Times reports the average paycheck for the union membership is $200,000, while the average earnings for a family in LA is $52,572.

The writers' are also grumbling about being treated poorly by the big bad studio and television networks. Somehow this whining for respect seems, again, just a bit like the baby whining about not getting another sweet treat. Hollywood's abuse of writers is well documented in many, many books. F. Scott Fitzgerald's beautiful, heartbreaking memoir, "The Crack-Up," documents his mental break down while in Hollywood, getting paid as a studio writer. This industry's abuse of writers is not new and is on par with its abuses of all workers in its own industry.

Everyone has heard about the legendary screamers in this business, those bosses who scream at their underlings because their Latte didn't arrive with enough foam. This is the only industry where such unorthodox behavior is not ignored, but in some cases applauded as some masochistic machoism. Don't get me wrong, some of the power brokers, who happen to be women, are as notorious as their male counterparts for all sorts of abusive behavior, behavior that would in any other industry be grounds for major lawsuits and firings.

I've often wondered why this particular business--key word since those 'creative types, who like to delude themselves into thinking they are in a creative industry should check their naivety at the door once entering the business--seems to draw out such meanness. After living in LA, it started to dawn on me that those attracted to this business were, most likely, those kids ignored or picked on by their classmates in high school. (I'm talking about those behind the scenes since most of those in the higher profile end tend toward the super jocks, cheerleaders, and beauty queens.) Instead of licking their adolescent wounds in private, they set their sights on HOLLYWOOD where they lick the bottom of every boss's shoe until one day they are, ta da, the bosses themselves.

It is once they are in this position of power, sycophants at every turn, that their true misanthropic tendencies get free reign. They then set out to seek revenge, think, "Revenge of the Nerds," on all those that had somehow done theme wrong. From the parent company's perspective, well, who cares when this abusive, pathological person is making them money, that being the only thing they truly care about.

The entire industry, much like else in life, is high school redux. The caveat being more money, more toys, and meaner games being played out. There are those who are popular--think George Clooney--, those who are most likely to succeed--think Ang Lee--, the class clown--think Steve Carrell--, etc.

So, forgive me as writers go on strike if my compassion for their plight is not there. Again, just as it was difficult for me to muster up a great deal of sympathy for those Malibu beach front properties in danger during the fires, the same applies here. Perhaps with television shows in reruns, people will spend more time reading or talking to their family instead of zoning out on that black box that seems to take up so much room in any house.