Tom Corwine

On Wednesday, I picketed Universal again. Like Tuesday, it was a very uneventful day.

Friday there’s a rally at Sony Studios, and since I couldn’t find any reference to it on the WGAw web site, I’ll mention it’s Friday November 30th from 10am to 12pm at Sony Studios in Culver City.

I won’t be there, but I’m sure there will be plenty of YouTube videos.

Universal Gate 3 is much like Paramount’s Van Ness, a busy gate with no traffic light.

This week’s shifts are only three hours, as opposed to the previous weeks’ four hour shifts. This is a popular change as hour four is when the pain really starts to kick in. Since I’m not a member of the Guild, I can come and go as I please, but it’s nice to arrive and leave with the others.

Much like Paramount, I’ve gotten to know people at Universal and I am often greeted with familiar faces. One of the things that makes walking in circles bearable is the conversations with other writers, which vary widely. Occasionally, there’s talk about screenwriting but more often we talk about Thanksgiving dinner, cars, where we live, where we’d like to live, and otherwise useless pieces of knowledge. Sometimes I find myself trying to invent a conversation topic in an attempt to break the awkward silence. Universal has billboards all around which make great conversation pieces, but there’s only so many times one can ask “Have you seen American Gangster?” before that gets stale.

This is gate 3. I took this picture during a shift change, in case you’re wondering about the lack of picketers.

Wednesday, I’ll be at Universal again for a few hours in the morning.

Today I walked the line at Paramount’s Van Ness Gate, where I’ve done most of my picketing. I get nervous at this gate because there’s no traffic light, and it’s busy during certain hours of the morning. I’ve made a lot of friends there, however, and I enjoy talking with them as we walk the ten or so miles a day.

We had at least one Teamster refuse to cross our line. Several other trucks pulled over to the side of the road, sat there for a moment, then took off. Since the drivers never got out, it’s hard to tell whether they were respecting the line or just stopping for some other reason.

My cellphone battery was dead, so I didn’t get any photos. Not a big deal, since there weren’t many photo moments.

Tomorrow I’m heading to Universal for the 6am shift.

Here are some pictures I took from the Solidarity March for Writers on Hollywood Boulevard. Although I didn’t bring a real camera along, I made extensive use of my cellphone’s added feature.

The Teamsters showed up in full force. The crowd cheered as not one, not two but three 18 wheelers from International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 399, Local 64 and Joint Council 42 rolled past.

The march started off with Alicia Keys performing Go Ahead and No One.

Dedication can be expressed many different ways.

We started at Ivar and headed west to Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Not only did various entertainment unions such as SAG, DGA and AFLCIO show, but many non-entertainment unions including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) marched. I tried counting how many different industries were represented - I lost count.

Okay, so The Incredible Hulk isn’t a union. It’s still nice to have his support.

Amongst the crowd, I met some writers from The Young and the Restless. There have been some nasty rumors that the Y&R writers went Fi-Cor and crossed the picket lines to go back to work. They didn’t. They are in solidarity with the rest of their fellow WGA members.

Once we arrived at Grauman’s Chinese Theater, Writers Guild of America, west President Patric M. Verrone spoke along with many others. From Grey’s Anatomy, Sandra Oh gave a passionate speech which basically called for a complete boycott of Sony, Disney, GE, Viacom, News Corp., and Time Warner.

My inner paparazzi wishes I could’ve taken a better picture than this, but I suppose it’s not bad for a cellphone.

Walking the picket lines these past few weeks has been an emotional experience for me, but this rally was one of those exceptional moments in life when I feel like I was part of a moment in history.