When (not if) the WGA strike is resolved, (as Ray Richmond sounds a note of cautious optimism) will there be a replay of the NBA strike, when players came back too fat and too lazy? We asked around:

Nina Bargiel

It’s not like the strike hit and I slapped my ass to the couch to start watching The Hills. Instead of working on a script but I’ve been working on other endeavors –blogging, vlogging, the Post-Apocalyptic Workout–so those creative muscles are still being flexed, just in a different way. Even when I’m not working, I’m writing. I always write. Of course, now one of my writing projects demands that I get in shape, so I’m doubly screwed!

Ken Levine:

I’m getting all of my projects ready to go so that when the strike is over I can begin procrastinating. My ass is just not fat enough yet to return to work.

John Aboud:

I wish it was that easy to turn off. Being a jackass comedy writer is a congenital condition.

Dale Launer:

You don’t have to keep in shape to write. In fact one could argue that some down time, if anything, gives you a break and you can start with a fresher outlook. Also, if you have any talent at all, it’s like riding a bike. All the good habits (and bad habits) come rushing back. It’s easy to get out of the groove as a writer, but that has little to do with the strike.

Hell, some of us have been diligently walking the picket line. Not that it burns up a lot of energy, but it burns more than sitting at a laptop.

And though we’re not supposed to be writing (which I never quite understood), but I’m sure everyone (at least feature writers) have been working on their specs.

How can you stop writing?

Eric Kaplan:

My mind and soul are in perfect fighting trim.The truth of the matter is that writers don’t need jobs to be ready to write.

Of course, the really enterprising writer would corner the market on Red Vines now.

CBS looks to the Great White North for writers, because Due South was such a success.

Avital notes the return of Deal or No Deal:

the story of a banker who must protect his money and family…of models holding briefcases…from random criminals who take advantage of his generousity

WGA Strike Changing Media Viewing Habits

TV WATCHING ABOUT THE SAME AS BEFORE WGA STRIKE, SURVEY SAYS

RESULTS: EW’s National Strike Survey

Conan defoliates.

(photo from Tobias Higbie)

THE STRIKE SHOW: A live comedy/variety show produced by Nick Kroll and Kat Foster.
Wednesday December 12th at 10:00 pm at THE STEVE ALLEN THEATER Center for Inquiry-West, 4773 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90027 Two blocks west of Vermont — Plenty of FREE parking in the rear. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. WGA Members get in Free, but donations are encouraged.
All proceeds will benefit members of the industry who are affected by the strike via the Motion Picture and Television Fund.

MIRACLE ON 1ST STREET TOY DRIVE: The Latino Writers Committee is sponsoring a toy drive to benefit east L.A.’s famous Hollenbeck Youth Center on Thursday December 13th.
Please bring a new toy to drop off when you sign in for your Thursday picketing shift – there will be boxes available at all picket sites and in the WGA Lobby. Contact Alan Dybner at dyb@aol.com if you have any questions.

WRITE AID: A benefit concert (organized by Marti Noxon, Dawn Prestwich, Nicole Yorkin and the United Showrunner Committee) to provide assistance to industry employees affected by the Strike featuring performances by Edie Izzard, Lewis Black, Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman and Tenacious D (Jack Black and Kyle Gass).
Friday December 14th at Royce Hall, UCLA at 8:00 pm. Tickets are $75.00 per person and can by purchased at www.UCLALive.org or by calling (310) 825-2101 or through Ticketmaster.

Where’s the AMPTP’s holiday spirit? Oh, right.

Nina Bargiel knows.

So, is the picket line where the cool kids hang? Nina Bargiel walked the walk and got a history lesson for her pains.

Bryan Burrough writes about the school yard fight between Sumner Redstone and David Geffen in the December Vanity Fair. You can see the level of people the WGA has to battle.

Walking the Line really gets it:

Part of the problem the networks and especially studios are having is a direct result of relying on an old business model that is simply not responding to the marketplace and they do not know how to adapt. Most who’ve created a show know how this manifests itself in our small microcosmic case: they want close-ended episodes for “syndication” purposes. Even in light of successes like Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty they refuse to believe their model is obsolete.

But the LAT readership seems clueless:
Does Oprah use non-union writers?
I feel a lot of these comments are the children of producers writing in from their dad’s compounds at Carbon Beach or Bel Air.
The writers on Telemundo and Univision don’t get health benefits or a pension.
It’s not my fault that you majored in English at Hampshire College and all you could do in Hollywood was write one episode of Gidget..

And finally, writers get some love. In support of the writer’s strike, The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood is opening its legendary doors to all members of the Writers Guild of America.