Writer's Voices--Who's Listening?

In these dangerous, polarizing, and sometimes too politically correct times, writers who bravely tackle issues of international or homeland security, or U.S. involvement in you-know-where, and who are not sufficiently cautious to keep at least one creative foot firmly planted in God-Bless-America territory, are quick to grow bullseyes on key body parts. Just ask George Larkin, a Los Angeles writer, developer, and producer of award winning film, theater, and television.

For the past five (or more) years, Larkin has been trying to get his play, Baghdad Prom, produced and the reception of the project has been other than embracing; even in liberal-land L.A. The play is a weaving of an American writer’s life and family, with five Iraqi writers and their lives and families; people who have lived through the invasion and occupation, and who are doing the only thing they can to deal with the horrors of that life—write about it. In the play, the main character “talks” with the Iraqi writers through e-mail and these e-mails act as the source material of vignettes from the writers' lives, which are acted out.

At one point, Larkin tried to gather help for the production and contacted the main Yahoo bulletin board for Los Angeles-based actors, some 1,200 members strong. Here’s what Larkin wrote on the bulletin board:

"For the past three years, I've been getting in touch with writers and artists in Baghdad and getting their stories about what's going on now. We've heard from our media, government, pundits and even soldiers, but we've heard almost nothing from the Iraqis themselves. I've gotten amazing stories of life there, both fiction and nonfiction, of kidnapping, robbery, murder and forbidden love. They've also written to me what it was and what it is now like to be an artist there, and how dangerous that was and still is. I think we have a real chance to have our artists working with theirs. If you're interested in helping, or think your theater group would be, let me know."

“Smart boy,” you say. “Artists helping artists,” you say. “This is a no-brainer. He’ll have to turn actors away!” Well, the result? "I got nothing," he says. "Not a peep."

I read this and my jaw fell open. For the past three months I’ve been reading how militant, and activist, and committed actors are (and have been) to union activism supporting the writer’s strike, and I have a hard time reconciling this image with the deafening silence Larkin received in his appeal for help. When it comes to Iraq and the war, people get weird, and it becomes easy to slough off the indifference to, “L.A. isn’t a political town.” Well, tell that to the Democratic front-runners! They’re banking on just the opposite come Super Tuesday.

But, it’s not just L.A. that sees the world through narrow, self-interest-colored lenses. I suspect Larkin has had similar responses in other parts of the country, and not just from actors, from everyone. How does someone create a sense of urgency about something like this? How do you shake people awake or distract them from their mortgage worries, or their daycare problems, or general life-stuff that in the moment seems (and is) so important, and get them to care about five pissed off writers from a country we’re all sick and tired of hearing about? Sadly, I don’t have the answer to that question. If I did, Baghdad Prom would be at the Geffen Playhouse.

Now, granted, I haven't seen the play and don't know if it's good or bad as art, but I'd sure like the opportunity to see it, and make up my mind. What Larkin is doing is heroic, important, and uncomfortable. You don’t have to even like what all these Iraqi writers have to say—because these guys (yes, they’re all men) don’t sugar coat anything. But, as one of them (Safa Saad) stated so eloquently, “If they [his stories] can reach the American reader, I will write all these stories and I will never be tired. All the people in the world are brothers."

Baghdad Prom recently had a reading at a theater in Massachusetts, and they were overjoyed 45 enthusiastic people attended. What’s next? They don’t know. No one has stepped up to take this project under his or her wing. This play has no home. It is one more Iraqi refugee.

So, the next time you're browsing through Yahoo bulletin boards looking for a job, just remember: writers helping writers, artists helping artists, and like the man said, “All the people in the world are brothers."

Writers Helping Writers

I am posting here a blog entry from a wonderful writer, novelist, teacher, and all around fantastic person, Caroline Leavitt. She posted this on her own blog and I'm reprinting it here with her permission. It is important and inspiring because it shows how the community of writers can lift everyone up and make a difference in this crazy world. Here it is:

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In Praise of Patry: Liar's Diary Blog

Writers are a solitary bunch. We live in our heads and in our work, and come out to do readings. But when one of our own is in trouble, we all band together as a community and help out. Case in point: Patry Francis.

Patry’s Francis’s debut THE LIAR’S DIARY came out in hardcover from Dutton last spring. The trade paper release is set for January 29th, but a few weeks ago, Patry was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. She’s had several surgeries, and her prognosis is good, but given that she won’t have much energy for promoting, ITW Debut Author members Laura Benedict and Karen Dionne, along with Susan Henderson and Jessica Keener, have banded together to do it for her with THE LIAR'S DIARY BLOG DAY.Brilliance Audio has also put together a special audio clip with excerpts from Patry’s novel, and Circle of Seven Productions is producing a promotional video.This is no ordinary blog day. Rallied by ITW members Laura Benedict and Karen Dionne, along with Susan Henderson and Jessica Keener, over 300 people from the publishing community have agreed to mention her book online on release day.

Liar's Diary has an irresistible premise. Suburban school secretary Jeanne Cross has a loveless marriage with a slickly creepy husband, and a secretive son. But when new teacher Ali Mather comes to the school, the two women begin to bond. But what are the secrets in Ali's diary and who is breaking into her house? and stalking her? And what secrets of her own is Jeanne harboring that could shatter them both?

Patry's book makes me want to use all the best adjectives: seductive, dark, thorny, mesmerizing. What I also loved was the way the novel twists, turns and comes to a razor sharp finale. Patry's psychological portraits of these two women are tense, acute and unforgettable. Nothing is what it seems (oh, how I love that) and the last chapter is truly shattering. So Patry, you wrote a gorgeous book that gets under your skin and stays there and I urge everyone to go on out and snap it up. Read Patry's blog. And when you're up at three in the morning because you can't stop reading the book, feel free to email me because I know the feeling.

Now get well fast, Patry, because we need you to write more books. And more importantly, because we need you.

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Now, do what Caroline says. If this life isn't about giving something back, then what's the point?

Someone Please Hit the WGA Upside the Head!

I promise, I won’t turn this blog into a running commentary on the Hollywood writers strike. There are many more articulate people running off at the keyboard on this already (Robert Elisberg, Michael Zeitzman, Nikki Finke), and there are so many other interesting things to write about concerning writers. But—what are they thinking at the WGA?

This from the heads of the WGA branches (East & West) in a joint Letter From the Presidents – State of the Negotiations, dated 1/22/08:

“In order to make absolutely clear our commitment to bringing a speedy conclusion to negotiations, we have decided to withdraw our proposals on reality and animation.”

Meaning, the union is going to buckle on its former commitment to unionize reality TV and animation writers. Originally, on day six of the initial negotiations with the AMPTP the WGA had “played hardball” by demanding that network and studio CEOs make no deals with Reality TV producers unless these producers signed up as signatories of the WGA; the idea being to bring the writers of these shows under the wing of the union and to cover them with the same salary and benefit protections of other guild members (these folks can work 90 hour weeks!).

This backtrack by the WGA is a little like the UAW going into heated negotiations with Ford and saying, "Okay, we'll come back to the table, and to show good faith we'll agree not to unionize any other auto workers in the country for the length of our new agreement." Can you imagine the leadership of the UAW doing that? Not unless they wanted to end up like Jimmy Hoffa (okay, he was in a different union—but still)!

Pulling back on this demand may be good politics, especially considering all the pressure coming to bear on both sides of the negotiations to settle, but is it really in the interests of writers (and the Guild) to cut loose reality and animation writers? I imagine the thought process of the Guild leadership is that in three years (the length of any new contract), when they return to the table with the AMPTP to start this dance all over again, the Guild will put this issue back on the table and everything will be hunky-dory. The problem is, that probably won’t happen. Many years ago video residuals were withdrawn from the negotiations, to be revisited later, and guess what—25 years later—it never happened. That’s how it works. It will be very hard to “revisit” the reality/animation issue in three years, and even if that happens, I’ll bet Gil Cate’s paycheck for producing the Oscars that the deal won’t be anywhere as sweet as the one the Guild could get if they just pushed through now to make it happen this round.

Now, I’m not some red diaper baby from the 1920s singing the Internationale (though I have sung the Internationale—many times) calling for world revolution (though I have called for world revolution—many times, but that’s another blog), screw the bosses, and up with the proletarian revolution (yes, you guessed it—been there done that too). I actually do understand that the function of negotiation implies give-and-take, concessions, etc., but the opportunities here for making historic gains for writers, strengthening the union movement in the U.S. (which is in wretched shape), and setting the tone for future negotiations are huge. Let’s not blow it!

Don’t abandon the reality writers, don’t cut loose the animators; find a common ground where common ground can be found, and where the ground opens up into an chasm and, rather than talk, both sides just want to throw each other into the abyss, step back, take a deep breath, make a concession to throw all the lawyers into the abyss instead of each other, and then get back to the table and figure it out. After all, we’re all in this together.

Brave New World

The biggest thing to come out of the Hollywood writer’s strike isn’t going to be a settlement. Not that a settlement is chopped liver, it is a necessity and needs to happen as quickly as possible. But, something “bigger” and more profound is emerging from the clash of the multi-millionaire vs. the millionaire titans (let’s face it, that’s who’s really dukeing it out) of the WGA and the AMPTP: new media-mania. Yes, everyone has gone Internet crazy and a revolution that was slouching toward Hollywood has finally broken into a full gallop, foaming at the mouth.

The move to Internet TV has been evolving for a number of years. IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) the video equivalent to voiceover IP (Skype) is still slowly emerging, though not quite there. Numerous standalone companies are offering network streamed shows (Joost, Live-TV-Net.com, all the networks themselves). And streaming movies are an actual profit center for some companies (Amazon, Netflix, and soon iTunes), and old news in the “new media world.” But, the promise of Internet streamed, original, broadcast-quality programming developed by writers and distributed through social networking sites like MySpace and YouTube was a distant dream for writers and producers, prior to the strike. People knew the potential was there, but while the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak, and few had the courage to go it alone and break new ground. It was easier to just let somebody else do it, and keep working that housekeeping deal at the studio or network. Better the devil you know, etc.

Until November 17th, 2007, that is. With much ballyhoo and anticipation (and some consternation) the Internet’s first broadcast quality TV series, Quarterlife, debuted on MySpace.com. The show went up right at the beginning of the writer’s strike and if you don’t think lots of people started seeing Internet stars in their eyes, think again. Writers, producers, show runners (writer/producers who get TV shows setup at the networks) started chomping at the bit wondering, “How can I do that?” And, “Can I make any money doing that?” Well, the jury is kind of out on the profitability of Quarterlife—not looking good—but it’s only the first try, and a successful business model is only a matter of time. Profitable or not, the toothpaste was out of the tube, the genie was out of the bottle, the fat lady had sung—pick your metaphor, it was a brave new world.

But, those conservative Nellie’s too skittish to jump into the deep end, willing only to wait and see, are finding themselves choking on the dust of the mad dash by more courageous hearts who are now (as I write) storming the doors of Silicon Valley’s venture capital community, business plans in hand, beating the bushes for startup money for Internet TV development companies. And—they’re getting those deals. At least eight deals were inked to form new companies before mid-January 2008, and it seems more are announced every day.

It reminds me of the beginning of the dot com boom; investors willing to throw money at any Tom, Dick, or Jane who could demonstrate some capacity of jumping through their financial hoops and who had “the next big thing.” Well, now, lots of very talented and savvy entertainment folks are wading into the deep end, and while many will drown, because they don’t know how to avoid the rip tides of Silicon Valley, many will succeed and forge a new model for creative success on the World Wide Web.

So, why am I giving this little history lesson and diatribe, because it is a brave new world, and there ‘aint nothin’ Orwellian about it. If you are a writer you should be excited as hell about where this is going. If you are a producer, you should be excited as hell about where this is going, And if you are a studio or network (which I’m sure all of you are—not) you too should be excited as hell, because I think this can be win-win for everybody; especially us writers.