More than 3,500 writers, actors and supporters closed in on 20th Century Fox studios Friday in LA to support the WGA Strike in a 45-minute rally. Stars including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, James L. Brooks and Paul Haggis of "Crash." Speakers included the Rev. Jesse Jackson, producer Norman Lear and "Family Guy" creator Seth McFarland. Writers’ negotiating committee leader John Bowman, chief negotiator David Young and SAG President Alan Rosenberg, also spoke, according to The LA Times.
"You’re going to get everything you need and [they] are going to get everything they deserve," Zack de la Rocha, front man for hard rock band Rage Against the Machine, told the crowd as he pointed up to the offices behind him. Backed by the band’s guitarist Tom Morello, he belted out the militant anthem "Bulls on Parade" while a demonstrator behind him waved a sign that featured a picture of Peter Chernin, News Corp., President/COO. The sign said "Write This!" and "Chernin made 34 million last year."
The last writers walkout in 1988 lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry 500 million. The entertainment industry contributes an estimated 30 billion a year to the LA economy, or about 80 million a day.
And more bad news: The AP reports that according to a source, The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers won’t consider returning to the bargaining table until writers go back to work.
