Writers Picket Eddie Murphy Movie

A picket line at the Palisades Recreation Center started with about 10 writers last Thursday morning, but steadily grew to almost 75 as members of the Writers Guild began marching in a circle on the perimeter of the ‘Nowhereland’ movie set. The Eddie Murphy film was shooting at the park and television and movie writers had come to seek support from actors and other production staff. Shortly after the picketing started, Murphy walked off the set and the writers chanted, ‘Thank you Eddie! Thank you Eddie!’ ‘We are inviting everyone on the crew to walk with us in solidarity,’ said Alfredo Barnos, one of the strike captains. ‘The other unions need to know that if we fall, they’re next.’ Although Barnos was from Glendale, the majority of the writers at the park were from Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica. Typical was Michelle King, a writer/producer of ‘In Justice’ and ‘Judy’s Got a Gun,’ who attended Palisades High School, where her father taught. ‘I consider myself a writer first and I think this is a just cause,’ King said. ‘If networks are making money on Internet downloads, then writers should be, too.’ The picketing writers urged crewmembers to learn more about the strike. ‘We’re not here to upset your day,’ Barnos said. ‘If you get a break, we welcome you on the line.’ ‘If they stop writing night scenes, we’ll support them,’ joked ‘Nowhereland’ camera operator Lawrence Karmen. On a more serious note he added, ‘I support the spirit of what they’re trying to accomplish. The Internet is going to be a big market for our product and they should get their share.’ The major stumbling block in contract negotiations has been residuals paid on movies and television shows that can now be downloaded onto cell phones and computers. There are two methods of downloading. One is a digital download, which means the entire movie file or TV show is stored in your computer before it can be viewed. For that process writers currently receive one cent for every three dollars received. The second type of download is streaming videos, which means the show is sent to the user in a constant stream, and the user watches it as it arrives. A viewer can log onto the Internet and view complete episodes of popular shows like ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ’30 Rock,’ making a television set unnecessary. The writers receive no residuals for streaming videos. At the ‘Nowhereland’ set, the Teamsters were asked to park three trucks to obstruct the view of strikers. Some strikers were asked to move, but didn’t. The lead driver got out, and refused to move his truck further. ‘I’m not going to hit anyone,’ he said. Ironically, instead of blocking the strikers from view of the set, the trucks remained bumper to bumper, which resulted in lengthening the strikers’ picket line. The ‘Nowhereland’ extras and crew broke for lunch at 11:20. Murphy did not come back to the set and filming was shut down for the day. Palisades writer David Odell told the Palisadian-Post, ‘Producers are saying ‘Let’s settle this and get on with it.’ We had producers and directors with us as we walked the picket line at Sony.’ Odell won an Emmy for ‘The Muppet Show,’ and his screenplay for ‘The Power of the Dark Crystal,’ an animated film, is in production. Other writers said that the support they received from actors, directors and the Hollywood community was a major factor in reopening negotiations next Monday. ‘Tom Hanks said he wouldn’t start filming ‘Angels and Demons’ since the script wasn’t ready,’ Palisades resident and film writer Juliet Giglio wrote in an e-mail to the Post on Tuesday. ‘I think that helped us a lot.’ Writer/producer and Palisadian Lew Schneider, who was also on the Rec Center picket line, thinks bottom-line fears are on the writers’ side. ‘Advertisers paid for primetime spots on new shows and new episodes aren’t happening,’ he said. When advertisers ask for their money back, the media giants lose money and their stock prices can suffer. Schneider, who won two Emmys for ‘Everybody Loves Raymond,’ said there are two major differences from the writers’ strike in 1988 that lasted for five months. This time television and movie writers, as well as writers on both coasts, are unified. In addition, some show runners (the people who are responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television series) have refused to cross the picket lines.