Via Defamer: Greg Garcia, millionaire creator of My Name Is Earl, took a job at a fast food restaurant for a month during the writers’ strike. He did not need the money, obviously, but was looking to “reconnect” and for possible show material.

I find this… weird, funny, and weird. Also funny.

What I want to know is: did he put in his 12-20 hours per week on the picket lines?

There are so many possible takes on this. Here’s mine: situation comedy about a millionaire television showrunner who takes a job at a fast food restaurant when times get tough. What’s your take?

Photo: Anne Fishbein

It’s hard to knock Harlan Ellison‘s credibility as a writer. Besides being an incredibly prolific producer of prose and non-fiction, he’s also an accomplished TV writer. Hell, dude wrote what’s widely considered to be the best Star Trek episode of all time. So, when daddy talks, people listen:

HARLAN ELLISON ON THE WRITERS STRIKE SETTLEMENT

YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION TO RE-POST THIS ANYWHERE:

Creds: got here in 1962, written for just about everybody, won the Writers Guild Award four times for solo work, sat on the WGAw Board twice, worked on negotiating committees, and was out on the picket lines with my NICK COUNTER SLEEPS WITH THE FISHE$$$ sign. You may have heard my name. I am a Union guy, I am a Guild guy, I am loyal. I fuckin’ LOVE the Guild.

And I voted NO on accepting this deal.

My reasons are good, and they are plentiful; Patric Verrone will be saddened by what I am about to say; long-time friends will shake their heads; but this I say without equivocation…

THEY BEAT US LIKE A YELLOW DOG. IT IS A SHIT DEAL.

I think you get where he’s going with this. More after the jump…
Read the rest of this entry →

Sharpen Those Pencils!

According to Variety, as of 7pm tonight “members voted to lift the strike order with a 92.5% endorsement.”

Hooorraaaay!! Let’s get some quality WRITTEN material back on the air!

You want details? Go here.

(Photo by Arda Balkan and used under Creative Commons.)

Even though the strike is over, TV production crews (and viewers, of course) are still wondering if their series will return to production any time soon, go hiatus until next season, or disappear completely. E! Online has a developing breakdown of the status of some of the more popular shows, among them:

• 24: Even though only 12 hours/episodes have been finished so far, producer David Fury says, “I don’t think we’ll see it until 2009.”
• Battlestar Galactica: Production status is also unclear, but the fourth and final season will likely be divided into two mini-seasons.
• Big Love: E! hears production will resume in March for airing in the summer.
• Desperate Housewives: Producer Marc Cherry is eager to cram in seven more episodes by the end of the season, and that it would only take two weeks to get back into production.
• Grey’s Anatomy: Word is that production will resume for new episodes to air in April and May.
• Heroes: E! reports it won’t return until late summer for an early third season.
• Lost: Damon Lindelof says: “A game plan should begin to manifest by the end of the week. (We) have every intention of making sure you guys get more episodes this season beyond the eight already completed…””
• My Name Is Earl: Production is planned to resume in two weeks for an anticipated nine new episodes.
• The Office: E! hears ten new episodes will be completed this season.

Have any of our readers who work in the biz been called back into work yet?

The WGA has announced that a tentative deal has been reached with the AMPTP. A summary of the deal is available in PDF form from United Hollywood. I’m reading it now — good news is that original new media content is covered with separated rights (meaning that if you write a series for the internet for NBC, they have to pay you for it, and they want to pick it up for Bravo as a series, they have to buy separate rights from you); possibly bad news is that the residuals for downloads, etc., look a bit low to me and include a 17-day free window for TV downloads. (I haven’t read the whole thing and I am not a lawyer or a member of the WGA, so my interpretation is as armchair as you get. I am, in fact, sitting in an armchair.) As I understand it, the WGA meets today and will vote this week to ratify (or not) the new agreement.

(Edit: Tammara and I posted at the same time! Sorry, Tammara. Glad to see that you are optimistic about the deal!)

Says Michael Eisner in an article on CNBC’s website.

Photo by myyearofnewthings.

Sorry to post this so late, but hopefully it will reach some of you with enough time to plan. Tomorrow, Wednesday the 6th, there are two big genre happenings.

9:00 a.m. to noon at Warner Brothers gate 2 is Spooky Wednesday. This event continues the new tradition (usually Thursdays) of writers offering advice to aspiring writers and fans. Writers from Supernatural and Sarah Connor Chronicles will be there, among others.

12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. is Sci-Fi Channel Day right down the street at NBC. The event is put together by Jaime Paglia of Eureka. People from Battlestar Gallactica and Painkiller Jane will also be there, and presumably others as well.

Via Jane Espenson and United Hollywood.

I can hardly believe that this isn’t a joke. Taco Bell is offering WGA writers the chance to come up with witty slogans for the packets of Border Sauce. Yes, really. Previous witty slogans include such gems as “If you throw this, would it be a flying saucer?” Believe it or not, someone has actually compiled past slogans here. (OMG, and this one has pictures! I love the interwebs.)

For the chance to win up to $260 in fast food, I’m sure every striking writer in town will be away from the picket lines today, agonizing over the perfect slogan.

Hey, it’s better than what the Companies have offered so far.

Hat tip to Research Buzz and to Travis for finding this story.