Writers' Strike, 11/11.

"The head of the British screenwriters' guild has urged members to seriously consider the consequences of working on US films while their American counterparts are on strike," reports the Guardian. Also: "Even though I haven't been to Los Angeles for 10 years it's odd to find myself palpably embroiled in an American labour dispute - and financially disadvantaged thereby," writes William Boyd. "But it's a good and noble cause and I am happy to stand - albeit metaphorically - on the picket lines in Hollywood with my fellow screenwriters."

Motoko Rich has a piece in the New York Times on how natural allies, book publishers and authors, are being affected by the strike: "Over the last few years [Stephen] Colbert and his fellow late-night Comedy Central 'news' anchor, Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, have established themselves as prime movers in the book world, and an appearance on one of their shows is highly coveted by authors and publishers. To make matters worse, fall is the biggest time of the year for booksellers, who schedule many of their heavyweight titles to appear in October and November." For more, the WGA's a Times topic.

On a separate front: "Most of Broadway was dark yesterday as stagehands went on strike over new work rules that producers have imposed or have been pushing during months of contentious negotiations." Campbell Robertson reports.

Via Sujewa Ekanayake, Mark Harris in Entertainment Weekly on "Why the Striking Writers Are Right."

Christopher Campbell lists seven of the "Most Memorable Screenwriter Characters" at Cinematical.

The WGA East has lashed out at Ellen DeGeneres: "We find it sad that Ellen spent an entire week crying and fighting for a dog that she gave away, yet she couldn't even stand by writers for more than one day - writers who have helped make her extremely successful." And her people have responded: "Ellen has not done anything in violation of the Writer's Guild of America agreement, or the WGA's internal 'Strike Rules.'" The Los Angeles Times is tracking the ongoing tussle.

Not a word.

Posted by dwhudson at November 11, 2007 2:10 PM