TV Hot Spot: STRIKE!

Stars Come Out for WGA Rally!

Post by: Sal


Hollywood's Walk of Fame took on a new meaning Nov. 20 as Writers Guild of America members marched down Hollywood Boulevard holding signs of solidarity and shouting, "Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Who's gonna write your TV show?!" Before the march commenced, Alicia Keys revved up the crowd by performing her songs "Go Ahead" and "No One" from atop a flatbed truck. "Without words, there are no songs," she said. "Without words, there are no stories. I'm here for your cause."

Holding a banner at the front of the 4,000-plus picket line was Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes, with cast member Sandra Oh by her side. "We just want to get back to work," she told TV Guide. "I'm hopeful that they'll let us get back to work." Oh also took a turn at the microphone, announcing, "I'm here today, proudly, to lend my support to the WGA and to echo the message to the six media conglomerates who make up the AMPTP that this strike affects us all." Minutes later, she led the crowd in a war cry of "Share!" Her impassioned speech concluded with, "I wish the WGA negotiating team superpowers as they walk into the Nov. 26 talks. May the force be with you. A writer wrote that, and I wish to see you guys all at work soon." Among the masses was also Fox's Back to You cocreator Steve Levitan. "Their refusal to negotiate early on galvanized everybody," he said of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). "And now this is an incredible show of force that they're clearly feeling they finally have to deal with."

Representatives of numerous unions attended the rally as a show of support for the WGA, including SAG members Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Leland Orser and Frances Fisher. Actor and SAG president Alan Rosenberg championed the WGA's cause. "The writers' fight is our fight, too," he told TV Guide. "We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them as long as it takes." — Reporting by Bekah Wright

Take Care,

Sal