Good line! Picketing has its bright side
December 16, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
Television writers usually sit on their butts all day under fluorescent lights -- at a cubicle, or in a tiny office if they're lucky. So picketing during a strike is a huge break in routine.
"We have to be outside, which is like our Kryptonite," says Seth Meyers, one of the head writers of "Saturday Night Live."
"People have said, 'This is gonna be a disaster: We're gonna have writers with well-toned legs. Color on their faces,' " says Eileen Heisler of "How I Met Your Mother."
Comedy writers are especially used to the gallows humor that comes with the strike's career interruptus. "Even when things are going really well, we think things are going badly," Meyers says. "So a strike appeals to our natural state."
Meyers -- a Northwestern grad who rose up through ImprovOlympic -- says writers are in a good mood, though, because they finally get to hang out en masse at picket lines.
"It's just kind of nice, because it can be very solitary, writing," says Meyers, who's picketing in New York. "You sort of feel like you're part of something bigger" on the picket line.
This is Thania St. John's first big taste as a striker, although the writer of Sci-Fi's "Eureka" grew up seeing picketers here. "It was normal," St, Johns says. "Somebody was always on strike in Chicago and you knew the little guy had to fight the big guy to make their lives better."
Striking in Hollywood is sweatier.
"It's 80 degrees," she says. "We're all in our strike T-shirts."
And even if writers aren't working, they can make up stuff at home. They can't do it for an employer, but no matter. During downtime, a writer will always pick up a pen.
"I've been signing checks and e-mails," Meyers jokes. "I haven't cut it off cold."
Doug Elfman
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television Critic
Television writers usually sit on their butts all day under fluorescent lights -- at a cubicle, or in a tiny office if they're lucky. So picketing during a strike is a huge break in routine.
"We have to be outside, which is like our Kryptonite," says Seth Meyers, one of the head writers of "Saturday Night Live."
"People have said, 'This is gonna be a disaster: We're gonna have writers with well-toned legs. Color on their faces,' " says Eileen Heisler of "How I Met Your Mother."
Comedy writers are especially used to the gallows humor that comes with the strike's career interruptus. "Even when things are going really well, we think things are going badly," Meyers says. "So a strike appeals to our natural state."
Meyers -- a Northwestern grad who rose up through ImprovOlympic -- says writers are in a good mood, though, because they finally get to hang out en masse at picket lines.
"It's just kind of nice, because it can be very solitary, writing," says Meyers, who's picketing in New York. "You sort of feel like you're part of something bigger" on the picket line.
This is Thania St. John's first big taste as a striker, although the writer of Sci-Fi's "Eureka" grew up seeing picketers here. "It was normal," St, Johns says. "Somebody was always on strike in Chicago and you knew the little guy had to fight the big guy to make their lives better."
Striking in Hollywood is sweatier.
"It's 80 degrees," she says. "We're all in our strike T-shirts."
And even if writers aren't working, they can make up stuff at home. They can't do it for an employer, but no matter. During downtime, a writer will always pick up a pen.
"I've been signing checks and e-mails," Meyers jokes. "I haven't cut it off cold."
Doug Elfman
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