Big Darn Writer's Strike

Nikke Finke's sources say that if this dispute isn't settled by December, there could be six more months of strike-filled fun. Find out the latest at Deadline Hollywood Daily.

A friend of mine is an editor at Universal. His union local (I.A.T.S.E. or the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts [It goes on.]) has a no-strike clause in their contract. That means they can't walk out in sympathy. Nevertheless, he honks his horn and patiently endures the strikers' "slow walk" in front of his car as he leaves work.

Oddly enough, I also belong to I.A.T.S.E. and would hazard a guess that animation writing falls under the heading of "allied crafts." Long ago, they represented animation artists when artists and directors worked out the action on storyboards. There were a few "gag writers" such as Michael Maltese who came up with story ideas, but for a 6-minute theatrical short, you didn't need a script.

By the time I started full-time at Warner Bros. (1992), there were 65 half-hours to produce and the clock was ticking. Writers wrote scripts that were story boarded, inked, painted and animated. But we remained in I.A.T.S.E. In the mid-90s there was a push by the Writer's Guild to represent us. But our I.A.T.S.E. local must first release us from their jurisdiction. At a meeting I attended, a local official stated the national union wasn't interested in letting us join WGA. Furthermore, the local would side with the studios if that were necessary to block our transfer.

Some union. But they had pretty good health coverage that my wife and I dearly miss. Health coverage is based on the amount of hours you work on union jobs in a six month period. Alas, I haven't worked many. Over the last few years I've burned through my COBRA and now pay a hefty fee for mediocre coverage.

In any case, I don't know what happened between WGA and I.A.T.S.E., but, as I mentioned earlier, it's nice to be remembered.

Strike News

Nikki Finke from the front lines.

Today We Have . . .

Strike

Details of the Writer's Guild strike will be announced today. Nikki Finke has a good round-up of the issues dividing writers and studios. DVDs, blogs, MySpace pages and other forms of new media occupy center stage.

Of lessor note, the Guild wants to represent writers currently working in the fields of reality TV as well as animation — me. That would be cool, since most TV animation doesn't pay residuals. But it sounds like one of those things you include in a deal in order to throw out so you can show you're being reasonable.

Nevertheless, it's nice to be remembered.

Good luck, writers!

Something to Ponder

So here I am over at the Disney Channel, looking for work. They have monitors in the wating area running Disney programs. Suddenly, a shocking, familiar sight: Pinky and the Brain! It seems Disney's Jetix channel leased a block of the old Warner Bros. animation library. Returning to TV this Sunday will be Batman, Superman, and, on Monday, Pinky and the Brain.

An episode I wrote, "Brainania," airs Friday evening, Oct. 5. (Check your local listings, as they say. ) P&B attempt to take over the world using the power of static cling, generated by a colossal clothes dryer. "Brainania" was part of the WB's short-lived, P&B prime-time show, produced by Peter Hastings and Rusty Mills. Our indefatigable mice were slotted head-to-head with 60 Minutes, a Sunday-night ratings monster in 1995.

And that was that.

But 12 years later, 60 Minutes ails, the WB has perished and Pinky and the Brain live on.

Or, as the Brain might say, "HA!" (He always played a long game.)


P&B airs on Disney's Jetix, beginning Oct. 1. Check out episodes and show times here.

Dummy Down!

Just completed draft one of a book outline for Dummy Fever, a young adult novel about a loner kid who learns to appreciate others. This makes the third novel I've outlined since last June. (Horror novel, Apple Dan, and young adult novel, The Shifting). Plus I'm beginning the outline on a sci-fi detective story called The Toy Man.

I'm getting really good at outlining. Could be, maybe, time to write one.

Ed, Edd, Eddy and Hezekiah

WARNING! SPOILERS! In animation news, those goofball brothers are rumored to have their own feature in the works. Insiders say the Eds will team up with a Judean king to outwit the Assyrian Empire. The story is said to include a scene where the brothers trade bossy Sarah to Assyrian potentate Sennacherib for some jawbreakers. But Sarah never warms to life in the capital of Assur and throws one tantrum too many. A weary Sennacherib orders her sealed in a lead drum and rolled into the Tigris. Meanwhile, the brothers bumble their way through plagues, massacres, and the rout of a mighty host. We'll have to see how this plays out with audiences.

SpongeBob Spared by Frustrated Jihadis!

A recent AP story reported SpongeBob SquarePants was captured by radical Islamists. They attempted to behead him, but couldn't find his neck. A quick search of the Quran revealed zip about the ritual slaying of a talking sponge. After much bitter grumbling, SpongeBob was released.

However Patrick has been reported missing.

Comicon

I've been. I've seen the spatially-challenged walking around dressed as Klingons. Bless them, it beats drug addiction. Yesterday, I was a few blocks away at a party my agency throws. Ran into Paul Rugg, who was doing a presentation at Comicon with the Hensen Company. Also saw Rich Fogel, a former Batman writer. Rich mentioned ex-Bat producer/story editor Paul Dini had a panal and said nice things about Rugg, myself and Freakazoid. Hard to believe ten years ago we were down at Comicon doing a panal for the guy with lightning in his hair.

Zup! Another decade gone.

Thoughts on Writing and Success

After a wonderful five months of paying work, I'm wrapping up the last script. Now comes the furious grind of unemployment. Lots of material to prepare and pitch. But that's only if I want more work. A few years back, I'd stashed so much dough from previous gigs that unemployment took on a holiday-like quality. Now I've burned through that cash and must hustle.

I never prepared for success. Things sort of fell in my lap. I prepared to be a writer, but not how to handle money and opportunity. Living with failure was much more straightforward: just keep swinging. But success required planning and goals, things I'd never developed outside of escaping the immediate trouble that non-planning put me in.

Now my goal is transitioning from writing TV animation to books. That's a lot of effort while continuing to pay bills. But goals have stages, something I've learned from marathons. And I'm moving slowly toward mine.

Of course, I wouldn't mind a big pile of success falling in my lap again. But I got a feeling it won't happen again. I already know how to catch. Now I must learn how to reach.

A Grand Fine Meeting

Had a wonderful pitch yesterday. I told my story of a young teen saddled with tiny but pushy alien cops and a ventriloquist dummy as he's drawn into the pursuit of an intergalactic super villain hiding out in his school. The execs. enjoyed it and laughed, but probably won't buy a script for sundry production reasons.

From a morale standpoint, the pitch was a huge lift. So much of work lately consists of writing scripts and outlines then enduring pages of exacting criticism. Or pitching material that's picked apart in the room. ( Yesterday's second pitch excepted.) It was a relief to simply tell a story that the listerners liked.

I guess it felt like the good old days of improv comedy: immediate feedback, no waiting.

We may shop my story, "Dummy Fever," to one more studio, then it's off to book outline land.

But I sure had a good time.

Big Top Wisdom

Hard-earned circus lore from a hard-drinking clown, courtesy of Dutch .

Sage observations include:

"A smart lion-tamer never drinks around the big cats."

"Before a bow, always remove the sword you just swallowed."

"If you wake up behind the elephant cage on something soft, it probably isn't a pile of feathers."

Value Added

As I'm still not running and very busy with animation writing, as well as not having any more real murders to report, here's a brief passage from my friend's crime novel, "The Value of Nothing." (Abridged)

Boston 1979
(Loser Davey has just witnessed a bloody shoot-out between Boston PD and four radical bank robbers. [Final talley: 4- 2 in favor of the PD] A sexy, amoral bank teller who survived the carnage decides she needs to forget the day. As all the police have left and the coroners are ugly, Davey appears the most attractive nearby male.)

“Excuse me,” she said.
Davey was tongue-tied. Watching a ferocious gun fight and talking to a dream girl on the same day were overloading his circuitry.
" I don’t think I should be alone,” she hinted broadly, then added, "I've had an emotionally devastating morning."
“Are you a student?” he blurted.
“Sometimes. I work at Filenes’s. But I’m off tonight and my roommate’s away, would you mind taking me home?”
Nothing in Davey’s life had prepared him for this. He'd never, ever, expected to hear those words uttered in that sequence from a hot-looking girl. Of course he’d heard each word individually, and in various combinations, but in that order, and spoken to him, never. They went through his head like melodious gibberish. When her silence advised him it was his turn to speak, all he could do was point at the envelope in her hand.
“What's in there?”
“Nothing. Just some money from the bank. They won’t miss it. The insurance auditors will assume the robbers took it.”
You just can’t beat a practical New England girl when it comes to turning personal catastrophe into a financial windfall.

"The Value of Nothing"

does not refer to story notes from animation executives. It's the title of a hard-boiled crime novel written by my friend, the Dutchman. He's rewriting like mad and just sent me some pages. I've copied his email below:

John,

Attached find one chapter of "The Value of Nothing."
Below are pre-publication reviews:

"Like Huck Finn except without the river, Jim or that annoying kid..."
— NY Review of Books

"Like all great literature, nearly incomprehensible..."
— Joyce James, White Pages

"I read it. I shot myself."
— E. Hemingway

Cross Training

Almost two weeks since my last crazed animation deadline. I'm using the time to swim and gym while my calf heals. Also doing prose "cross training" on a short story. I've been dragging this one along for months. I would've dropped it completely but for my Thursday writer's group. I blast out three double-spaced pages every two weeks. Now I'm in the home stretch.

My story deals with a nihilistic LA dude who discovers a fantastic drug allowing him to transform into an animal. He learns not all truths are unfounded and that you surrender humanity at great peril.

Which begs the question: What seperates Man from beast? Honor and reputaion, obligation, a soul, internet porn? I think I'll finish this draft.

Then I can start clearing shelf space for my Nobel Prize.

51 and Counting

In eight days I've written 51 pages of animated television. One half-hour and one short for different shows. I still have a five-page outline due by Wednesday morning.

I'm a bit tired.

But fat with invoices.