I was at the last 45 minutes of todays picket at Time Warner, arriving in time to hear the last of the speakers. We returned to our "hamster wheel", circling the sidewalk just to the Left of the doors that lead into the shops at Columbus Circle aka the portion of the structure the Mogul doesn't see. Unless of course his office is on the Circle with a view of the Park - in fact is a high probability that is so.
The picket itself is what you see upon exiting the Columbus Circle subway station at W. 57th Street. After missing last week's rally, which was cancelled, I was looking forward to seeing the writers I have been fortunate enough to get to know. The guys from TDS - TCR - hte men from Letterman were e there, and perhaps my favorite: Jerome Coopersmith. Jerome has been writing for TV since its inception in 1947, has written for radio, co-authored two musicals: The Apple Tree and Baker Street, and Hawaii Five O. I chatted with Jerome, Rob Kutner, who introduced me to his wife, and a number of other writers. I met up with a 2nd year student from NYU who has her eyes set on writing for television and we caught up on what we had been doing since we met in front of Viacom. Rep John Hall's "little brother",a United Airlines pilot was there supporting the WGA. The man is a virtual twin of Rep Hall.
On the Celebrity Who Walks side of this, Michael Moore was there, and I teased him about his red CHICO STATE hat and me being a Cal Aggie (UC Davis) and all. He blamed the hat on his sister an alum of Chico... yeah, right, Michael, (and VELVEETA is no longer in the Gourmet Aisle at Safeway there). It was a nice end to the day. Tomorrow is the informational meeting where the Contract will be presented. Hopefully, it will be what these stalwarts have been fighting for and not something to be fought over three years hence.
And, now, the few pictures from today:
The Men from Letterman:
A couple of Stephen's Guys:
