Gawker: defamer, hollywood chantwatch

Hollywood ChantWatch, When There's No One...

Mark — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 17:07:31 EST

Hollywood ChantWatch, When There's No One Left To Kick Around Edition: According to a tipster, "I just rolled into NBC Burbank and the picketers are chanting 'Ellen ain't no friend o' mine/ She danced across our picket line!' as her PA's are ferrying audience members through the line. Pretty catchy, especially considering they're largely her writers out there." That chant is definitely cute enough, but given the accusations about DeGeneres's relationship with a previous writing staff that surfaced earlier today, we'd hoped that there would be at least one member of her current team disgruntled enough to really stir things up by taunting, "Ellen ain't no friend o' mine/We rewrote the fucking dog speech nineteen times!"

As noted by a number of commenters on today's...

Mark — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:46:12 EST

As noted by a number of commenters on today's previous ChantWatch posts on the reportedly lackluster performance of WGA strikers at Paramount and CBS Television City, the act of shouting slogans at passing cars to elicit honks of approval is inherently silly, and one that runs counter to many writers' introverted, self-conscious natures. Still, we received a couple of subsequent reports of picket teams who did their best to break up the inevitable boredom of endlessly pacing the same stretch of sidewalk with some more enthusiastic or creative chants: "Lots of chanting at gates 2/3 [at Warner Bros] this morning, a mix of the traditional (ON STRIKE! SHUT 'EM DOWN! HOLLYWOOD'S A UNION TOWN!) and the erm, [modern] (singing the chorus to Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It").Best one (if a little precious) 'EXTERIOR. STREET. WRITERS ARE STRIKING.'" And from a picketer at Prospect Studios: "Our chanting was so loud and nonstop, we think Grey's Anatomy had to stop filming this afternoon."

Hollywood Chantwatch, Serenading Les Moonves...

Mark — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:37:16 EST

Hollywood Chantwatch, Serenading Les Moonves Edition: The chanting-related issues at Paramount we noted earlier, it seems, might be a more widespread problem than we'd previously believed, as lackluster efforts have been reported elsewhere: "Picketers in front of CBS Television City weren't chanting this morning, much to the chagrin of one of the organizers. 'Getting a bunch of writers to chant is impossible!" a guild member said to an unidentified party on a cell phone. The scribe later refused to identify himself, citing the WGA's orders to members to not speak with the media.'" If this keeps up, the WGA may need to start appointing cheer captains for each studio to improve upon these discouraging first-day results. (Incidentally, we welcome reports about picket lines that are meeting or exceeding chanting expectations. We're sure many sets of lungs are being pushed to the breaking point elsewhere. ) [Var Strike Blog]

Report: Paramount Picketers' Strike Chants Could Use Improvement

Mark — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:54:50 EST

At least one hard-to-please critic at Paramount feels let down by the WGA picketers' early attempts at creating some megaphone-enhanced excitement within the non-striking population at the Melrose lot: "The chanting has begun. It's already getting old. I love a good strike as much as the next person but you would think writers could come up with better chants than the standard "What do we want?... When do we want it?.." Lame."

We'd urge others to give the Guild members some more time before negatively evaluating their efforts, as it could take a day or two for the writers to cohere creatively—or for studio emperor Brad Grey to embrace the vigilante tactics of the Sunset-Gower strike-breaker by plowing into a crowd of red-shirted protestors with his car, providing the kind of outrage-inducing incident that will inspire them to do their best work.

Previously: 'Talkshow With Spike Feresten' Writer First Casualty of Labor War [Defamer]