Strike Day 96 (21 A.D.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Chinese New Year, that is.

And what a Chinese New Year it was -- at least for WGA Strike Hawk on the picket line at Disney today.

For the first time ever, Strike Hawk was RECOGNIZED by someone who had never seen him in the flesh and knew him only from the "blogosphere." (See slideshow to the right!)

It was a bit surreal -- but in a very good way. It put a smile on my face that now returns with the memory of the whacky moment.

For the Guild at large it looked like a very good turnout at Disney today, at least while I was there between Noon and 3:00pm.

As is usual at these city-wide events, there were a lot of familiar faces, among them a great writer I hadn't seen for close to nine years, since he had played a key role on the writing staff of the first TV show my partner and I ever got on the air. Since then we've tried more than once to hire him again but -- as is usually the case with people who really know what they're doing and who do it very well -- unfortunately for us he was always already spoken for. Now he's writing and selling his own pilots, which is great. He very much proves that hard work, dependability and talent can be rewarded here in Hollywood.

Somehow I wound up being interviewed by Socialists once again -- the third time since the strike began. Maybe registered Republicans give off some kind of peculiar "challenge" scent that attracts the Socialist party faithful. The guy who stopped me this time was the best-dressed Socialist I've ever seen. I told him so. Turned out he was a lawyer. His specialty? Police misconduct cases. But of course!

It was another gorgeous day -- and it literally began to swelter around 1:00pm.

There was talk about what the soon-to-arrive deal proposal will include, whether or not it will be good enough to accept, whether or not it will be bad enough not to. There were some folks from the Negotiating Committee there, answering questions near Disney's main gate on Alameda. It seems to me most of us have two thoughts about this coming proposed contract:

Number one is that we can't really have any opinion at all UNTIL WE ACTUALLY GET TO SEE WHAT IT SAYS.

But thought Number Two kind of flies in the face of Number One...

Thought Number Two is that the leadership would not be bringing us this deal and going out of their way to lay the groundwork for us to accept it (by going out to talk about how relatively good it is) unless it actually was at least a decent deal.

Suffice is to say, there is simply nothing intelligent to say about it at this point.

Not yet.

We just have to wait and see.

Something hit me that's kind of interesting. If the strike really ends on Sunday, it will have lasted exactly 99 days. Monday will be day 100. That would provide a good title for the '07-'08 WGA strike: THE HUNDRED DAYS.

Historically speaking, the term "The Hundred Days" refers to the period between Napoleon Bonaparte's return from exile on the island of Elba and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy to the throne of France after his final defeat at Waterloo and final exile to the island of St. Helena.

I still don't want to assume events will absolutely follow this script, because assumptions are bad to make when they can lead to disappointment and -- for some -- even despair.

But if things should proceed this way, then the obvious casting choice to fill the key role of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte will of course be...

Nick Counter, Emperor of the AMPTP.

Wasn't he always set to retire after these "negotiations" were concluded anyway?

Maybe not, since the SAG contract comes up this Summer. Maybe that one is set to be his swan-song.

Either way, if our strike actually ends on Day One Hundred, it might be cool if we of the WGA chipped in to make him a retirement gift of an all-expenses-paid trip to St. Helena, complete with a reservation for "The Black Room at Longwood" -- where the former Emperor slept every night for the last six years of his life.

I for one would be happy to make a contribution.