JaneEspenson.com

Strike Update: Tomorrow (Monday), I will be picketing at the Universal Barham gate from 9 to noon instead of from 6 to 9, due to a reconfiguring of the picketing patterns. As always, anyone who wants to come out and join the line with us will be welcome. That will be my final day of line-walking before the holidays, although I’m sure I’ll stop in at other strike-related events and will continue to put in shifts at Guild headquarters. If more picketing is required in the new year, I will let you all know where I plan to be.

And a small writing thought: here’s another reason to rely on scripts, as opposed to produced episodes, when analyzing television shows. Sometimes when a show is rebroadcast with different time requirements (on cable, for example, or in daytime slots), the show has to be cut down to allow for extra ad time. Sometimes, even, a commercial break will be added where there was none in the original broadcast (and obviously, in the original script). Don’t be misled by this. Act breaks are essential to creating a strong spec script. Make sure they’re involving and suspenseful.

Lunch: poached eggs, rye toast

Last night was the “Write Aid” comedy event at UCLA. So funny! Patton Oswalt had the place gasping for air, he was so good. He even had screenwriting-themed material suited for the crowd. Brilliant.

Everyone was very sharp, and Eddie Izzard was great, as usual. Eddie has a certain trick that’s also used by Steve Martin and which is described nicely in Steve’s new book (get the audio version, it’s unabridged and you get to hear him deliver the material). I’m referring to the sudden change of subject which gets a laugh in itself as the audience realizes that the previous joke or joke run is over. Listen to a classic Steve Martin routine or to some Eddie Izzard and you’ll hear it. It’s like a bonus laugh on the transition between two topics. Interestingly, this is analogous to something that can be done in a script by ending a scene a few beats before the audience expects the cut. And it’s just as effective in a script as it is on the stand-up stage.

Sometimes the effect isn’t humorous, as when a character asks another character a question, and instead of the expected answer we cut to a new shot that answers the question. (i.e. “But where do you suppose he dropped the gun?” CUT TO: a gun almost buried in a golf course sand trap.) That might not be funny, but instead dramatic. But often the effect is humorous. In what appears to be the middle of a scene, for example, an affronted Character One might turn to Character Two and say, “Wait– did you just call me fat?” Character Two blanches and opens their mouth, clearly formulating a long stammering excuse. But before they produce it, we cut away to another scene, and the joke is an implicit, “We all know how this is gonna go, so let’s just take it as written.” The Office does this sort of thing a lot. It’s like giving your script a point of view on the events that doesn’t belong to any of the characters, but rather to you, to the storyteller.

If you’ve got a script that has a tone breezy enough that it can take a bit of cheeky imposition of this type, you might want to give it a try. Eddie Izzard and Steve Martin get a lot of mileage out of cutting out of a bit early; see how it works for you.

Lunch: In ‘N’ Out burger, animal style. Fries. Dr. Pepper

Oh, Gentle Readers, I am weary. I’m also footsore and frustrated. There is a corrosive new message oozing across the cyberlandscape. Is it true that we’re fiddling while jobs burn? Well, in an effort to make the issues clear, and out of a compulsion to do what we know how to do, we’ve made the strike entertaining. Is that cavalier? I’m sure it can look that way.

But know that we’re not dancing as lightly as we seem to be. We’re cold. We’re tired. Our feet hurt. We’re concerned about the future — the future of our shows, the future of our careers, the future of the business, the future of the whole darn American middle-class, and the future of any personal sense of security we might have built up. We’re concerned about our relationship with executives whom we like, who aren’t really part of the mogularchy. And we’re greatly concerned about those people who find themselves affected by the strike although they never even got a vote in this action. We may look like we’re laughing, but we’re serious.

So, yeah, we’re tired. But that doesn’t mean we’re weak. And that doesn’t mean we’re divided. And you know what’s keeping us strong and united? You. Fans and aspiring writers. Fans appreciate what we provide, and would like television writing to remain a viable career so that we can keep providing it. And aspiring writers know that we’re doing this so that there is a career here for them to step into. Thank you so much for understanding that. You’re entertaining us too, you know — those masses of pencils made me smile heartily. And I know that doesn’t mean you’re taking this lightly either.

If I were a “bless you” sort of person, I’d say that. But I’m not. So… gesundheit. Gesundheit to you.

Lunch: leftover Persian food. Crispy rice with lamb stew. And Faloodeh for dessert. Do you know this stuff? Frozen noodles with lime juice and rosewater. It’s the childhood favorite your childhood was missing.

P.S. If you’re that guy I almost punched today, the one who claimed that we writers weren’t sacrificing anything, I direct you to, get this, the actual AMPTP website. Even they agree that we’re sacrificing a lot. They think that number will scare us? Take it as a measure of our resolve, and I think it should scare them.

Strike Update: Oh, we had a good pencil harvest this year! I got to the park by NBC in time to see the half-million pencils still in their boxes — impressive, but packed so tightly that you didn’t get a real idea of the sheer crazy volume of them. When they were dumped out into rolling bins, they seemed to expand enormously, like the late Winston Churchill being too quickly removed from a snug waistcoat. It was really wild — a huge frakkin’ cascade of pencils. It was a real, physical reminder of your support that we won’t ever forget. Thank you, television fans!

Tomorrow, I’m back to my normal 6-9 a.m. shift at Universal’s Barham gate, although it’s hard to call it normal when I almost never get there anymore. I’ve done a lot of guest-picketing lately, but home is home. Then, Thursday, we’re opting for a slightly later schedule. You’ll find me and the rest of the Battlestar writers at Universal’s Barham gate from 9 to 12. I will also be at the Guild later that day, making signs. Not working is hard work!

And there are two recoveries to note… I send “get well soon” wishes to our own Michael Trucco (Sam Anders on Battlestar) and to Alex Trebek. I’ve seen Jeopardy writers out picketing, and I hope for a speedy recovery for the sake of that whole family.

Lunch: Cup O’ Noodles with added shot of lemon juice — it really is the only way.

Clarification: I recently related an anecdote about a Buffy spec being submitted to Buffy. It was actually submitted to Angel. Observant readers correctly noted that a spec script for a specific show is rarely, if ever, submitted to that show.

It’s TODAY!!! From UnitedHollywood:

PENCILS2MEDIAMOGULS: It’s here! The first delivery of pencils will take place today. Over 500,000 pencils have been shipped. Please join us as we deliver the pencils to NBC CEO Jeff Zucker, Robert Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and to Universal Studios for GE’s CEO Jeffrey Immelt. Writers slated to appear include: Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica), Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly), Carol Barbee (Jericho), Alfred Gough (Smallville), Miles Millar (Smallville).

We will meet at 11:30 am at Johnny Carson Park, 400 Bob Hope Drive in Burbank.

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