I'M READY FOR ANARCHY

This article hit the trades today. I'm sure it will bring me some grief from hardline WGA members. Guess what? I don't give a shit.

FX ready for 'Anarchy'

By Nellie Andreeva

Jan 11, 2008

Charlie Hunnam, Scott Glenn and Katey Sagal are set to star in and Allen Coulter has signed on to direct the FX pilot "Sons of Anarchy." "Anarchy," previously known as "Forever Sam Crow," is a drama from "The Shield" writer/executive producer Kurt Sutter set in the world of motorcycle clubs. Fox 21 has come on board to co-produce the project with FX Prods. "Anarchy," executive produced by Sutter, veteran feature producer Art LinsonLinson, is a multigenerational family drama that centers on Jack (Hunnam), a man in his 20s who is faced with his own responsibilities as a new father and is unsure how he's going to balance that life with his involvement in the Sons of Anarchy motorcycle club founded by his late father. Glenn will play Jack's stepfather, the president and patriarch of the club. Sagal will play Jack's mother and the matriarch of the club. The role was written for Sagal, who is married to Sutter. Along with Sagal, who has appeared on FX's gritty cop drama "Shield," British actor Hunnam and Glenn, who himself rides and repairs motorcycles, were the top choices and the only actors the producers saw for the roles. "I feel incredibly lucky to get the people I had in mind at the jump who are all incredibly talented," Sutter said. Sutter said he felt particularly fortunate to land Coulter, best known for his work on "The Sopranos," as he anticipates "Anarchy" to get a lot of comparisons to the HBO drama. "They tackle two very different worlds, but they also are similar in tone as well as thematically, dealing with guys who have chosen an outlaw lifestyle," Sutter said. "Anarchy" reunites Coulter with FX, for whom he directed the pilot for the critically praised drama "Damages." Sutter has been involved in casting the pilot and was in a casting session for the supporting roles Thursday. He said that at the beginning of the strike, he was conflicted about what he can and cannot do, but, after consulting with other showrunners, he said he feels "very clean" about performing nonwriting duties. and his son and producing partner, John

"I feel that my role on the show is very specific as a producer, and I'm not doing any writing," he said. "I would love to take anther pass at the script before it shoots, but I may not get that opportunity if the strike doesn't end before we go into production." "Anarchy" is slated to begin filming Feb. 14.

FX topper John Landgraf also said he would've liked to have the 57-page script trimmed by Sutter before that, but "we're going to shoot the whole thing as it is," he said. "It's in a pretty good shape." "Anarchy" has been a relatively quick turnaround for FX, having been pitched to the cable network a year ago. "We've been really aggressive, and we worked hard to get the script in a produceable shape before the strike," Landgraf said. For the Linsons, "Anarchy" marks the first TV project. Even with the strike, "it's been a smooth ride along," John Linson said.

------------------

The reporter seemed surprised by my candid response and the fact that I wasn't trying to shroud my involvement in the pilot. I stand by what I said. I am very clear about what is writing and what is producing. I've been doing it for six years. I support my union, pay a shitload of dues, I'm spending time on the picket line and I've not written a single word since 10/31.

Two months ago, I had several conversations with showrunners to understand why they were not fulfilling their producing duties. The unanimous response was about "immediate pain". The showrunners stepping away from their shows created an instant shortage of material for the networks. It was powerful leverage at a critical time. My pilot, if it goes to series, will not air for over a year. Not being involved in that process would have little or or no impact on the negotiations at hand.

I'm not David Kelley or Bochco or Shawn Ryan. I don't have the clout to say "No Sutter, no Sons of Anarchy." The truth is, this pilot would be produced with or without me. Do I say fuck you John Landgraf, I'm not helping. And let other people usurp my control and produce this pilot without me? The outcome of that only hurts the writer. Six months from now, when I'm able to write, they'd hand me a show that I had no say in. My cast, my crew, my pilot would all be someone else's work. Or do I say yes, I've busted my ass for over six years to get my own show and I'm gonna make damn sure that a bunch of suits and non-writing producers don't fuck it up? I opted for the later. If that makes me a scab, then fuck it, I'm a scab. I dare any writer in my position to do anything different.

I'll be honest, I'm so pissed off by the whole situation that a part of me just wants the fight. I'm itching for some asshole in an SUV to "nudge" me or some self-righteous hack who hasn't earned a cent in nine years to come up to me on the line and call me out. I'll gouge their fucking eyes out with my picket and crush their fucking tracheae.

How's that for the voice of discontent? Motherfucker.

---------------------------

Or maybe I can just go to UNION SOLIDARITY FILM FESTIVAL. I'm sure watching Norma Rae will make it all better.

WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?

Jesus O'Malley is home. Jesus was this tough Irish/Puerto Rican kid I grew up with in Rahway, NJ. He was twelve, but had the swagger and life-savviness of someone three times his age. He wasn't particularly big, strong or intimidating, but he could disarm any situation by doing something extraordinarily harmful to his person. Once while being threatened by three older Latino boys (one of whom was his cousin), he took a skateboard and smashed it over his right knee, shattering the board and taking himself out of Pop Warner football for the remainder of the season. Another time, while trying to impress Maria Rugerio, Jesus drove a Phillip's head screwdriver into his left ass cheek, causing the permanent disability to sit correctly on a toilet seat. These odd, self-inflicted acts were so outrageous and disturbing they always pulled focus from the conflict at hand. Not sure what triggered his impulse -- anxiety, a desperate need for attention, mutilation complex? Whatever the cause, Jesus was a peacemaker. And each painful escapade earned him respect and street cred. Not bad-ass, tough-guy credit, but fearful, unpredictable credit. Jesus had no impulse control. Everyone knew that sooner or later, the acts of terror would find their way off-self onto others. By the time he was nineteen, Jesus O'Malley was serving a 25 year sentence for three counts of second degree manslaughter. I was recently informed by a mutual childhood friend that Jesus was released from prison last May. He has changed his name to Joe and is an assistant manager at the TGI Fridays in Watchung, NJ. Good on you, Joe, good on you. As horrific, blood-filled memories of my childhood experiences with Mr. O'Malley came rushing back, I got to thinking about my own, immediate pain. I pondered -- faced with the conflict and impasse between the WGA and AMPTP, what would Jesus do? A wooden picket shoved up his ass? Pulled out slowly to ensure maximum splintering as it passed through the soft tissue of his anus? Perhaps a well swung bullhorn to his mouth, shattering four or five front teeth? Maybe diving under a Teamster van or impaling himself on the finial spears of Paramount's majestic gate? So many body parts, so many options. All of which, I fear, will be a bit less painful then the ones we are going to be faced with in the upcoming months.

3 REASONS WE SHOULDN'T PICKET THE GOLDEN GLOBES.

This from Yahoo News:

STRIKING WRITERS THREATEN TO DISRUPT GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Striking members of the Writers Guild of America plan to picket the Golden Globes awards ceremony scheduled for January 13, the guild announced Wednesday.

The west coast division of the WGA issued a statement announcing that the organizer of the awards ceremony, Dick Clark Productions, was one of the companies from which writers went on strike and therefore members would picket the awards ceremony.

"Dick Clark Productions is a struck company. As previously announced, the Writers Guild will be picketing the Golden Globe Awards," it said in a statement.

This from Deadline Hollywood Daily: WGA Still Saying NOPE To Golden Globes

Both officially and unofficially, the WGA and its board don't want anything to do with this year's Golden Globes Awards still being televised on NBC despite the inevitable writers strike pickets. This afternoon I was told by a WGA board member that "there's no way" the guild will OK an interim agreement for the dick clark company that produces the show. One reason is that the Golden Globes is little more than a marketing tool for the networks and studios and their TV and movie fare. Certainly, the awards themselves are a sham and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association behind them bogus. So why should self-respecting showbiz talents stick their necks out to cross picket lines for that?

This from the WGA:

Dick Clark Productions is a struck company. As previously announced, the Writers Guild will be picketing the Golden Globe Awards. The WGA has great respect and admiration for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, but we are engaged in a crucial struggle that will protect our income and intellectual property rights for generations to come. We will continue to do everything in our power to bring industry negotiations to a fair conclusion. In the meantime, we are grateful for the ongoing support of the talent community.

---

Yes, Nikki, the Globes are a great marketing tool for Big Media, but calling them a sham is too fucking easy. We all know there is a sham component to every entertainment award -- Emmys, Oscars, Grammys -- beyond talent there are always politics and greed at play. But at the end of the day, it's a celebration of the work. All the work -- writing, directing, acting, sound, costumes, makeup -- the collaboration of the arts. Yes it's self indulgent and a masturbatory, but it's fucking fun and we need it.

Being a writer on The Shield for seven seasons, we saw countless "best writing" awards go to other shows not nearly as good as ours (in our humble opinion). We cursed the Emmys and the WGA awards, called them bogus. But of course we wanted to win. Of course we continued to submit scripts to the academy. We wanted acknowledgment from our community. That feeling of recognition is not a sham. It's very real. Just ask the people who are nominated for Golden Globes this year.

Yes, not giving Dick Clark Prods a waver makes sense, there should be no writing by guild members for a struck company. This sends a clear, consistent message. But picketing the Golden Globe Awards is wrong.

Here's why:

1) It's fucking selfish. To taint the the night for others who aren't part of our struggle is wrong. People have worked hard on both sides of the line to get nominated. They're not showing up to scab, they're not crossing a picket line to work for Big Media, they're showing up to support the artistic endeavors of their peers. For many it's a once in a life time shot. Why shit on that ?

2) It's egomaniacal. It's making a night that's about the entertainment community at large all about the writers. Let's focus our energy.

3) It's just a pussy fucking move. C'mon Pat, show some class. Make be proud to be on your side.