This Writer Wrote

From Day 1, fans have been supportive of their favorite striking writers and striking writers in general. Moonlight fans brought pizza to picketers at the Warner Brothers gates when I was there and today, Battlestar Galactica fans fed us Krispy Kreme donuts at NBC Studios where we were picketing Jay Leno. While for many people, today was a holiday celebrating Martin Luther King, Jay Leno had a show and an audience and writers were out front protesting that he was doing it without a signed contract with the WGA.Apparently, Xena fans have been bringing water and snacks to the writers picketing Disney studios.I’ve never been to the picket lines at Disney, despite the fact that I hear Carl Binder walks the line there and I’d love to say, “Hey, I met you during a story meeting on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman which (showrunner) Beth Sullivan was kind enough to let me attend.” So I haven’t had the opportunity to meet any of the Xenaverse fans.This will change on Thursday, January 24, 2008 from 11am – 2pm, when Xena fans have been invited to join the writers, producers and actors of Xena, Warrior Princess on the picket line at NBC Studios, Alameda gate.It is uncertain who all will show up, because, like everything else, it depends on availability, but so far these actors and writers are planning to be there: Renee O’Connor, Claire Stansfield, Rob Trebor, Adrienne Wilkinson, Rob Tapert, RJ Stewart, Katherine Fugate, Liz Friedman, Steven L. Sears, Tim Omundson, Vicki Pratt, TJ Scott, Paul Robert Coyle, and I believe Bob Orci as well. Possibly others, so don’t stay away just because your favorite might not be listed.

And if those people aren’t attraction enough, yours truly will be there. I didn’t work on Xena, but I did work on her big brother, Hercules, so I suspect they’ll welcome me with open arms and not chakram me off the sidewalk.

If you can come, it will be a delight to meet you. Like always, I’ll be the one with the Hercules ball cap on, with the miniature Writers Strike sign sticking out of it.

If you see a miniature Writers Strike sign sticking out of a hat band of a tan hat, covering a full reddish brown beard, with cameras hanging hither and yon, that’s NOT ME. That’s Steve Sears.

For those who are heeding the call, Steve Sears drew up guidelines for how to act on the picket line. You can find them here:

http://www.pondalee.com/picketrules.htm

These are very important to abide by, not only so we can have fun, but because picketing is serious business. So far, the police and the guards have shown sympathy for us and been decent to us, but that’s because we do not make their jobs harder and we are all well-behaved.

And while we’ve had the odd finger and nasty yell to contend with from a few angry motorists, nobody has tried to run us over as has happened at other studios (close calls, nobody hurt). We need to keep it that way.

For more information, see:

http://www.ausxip.com/wgastrike.html

Hope to see you there.