Thursday, November 8, 2007

Exclusive interview with Ken Levine

Ken Levine is an Emmy-winning writer, director and producer who has worked on M*A*S*H, Cheers, Frasier, The Simpsons, Wings, Everybody Loves Raymond, Becker, Dharma & Greg, and has co-created his own series including Almost Perfect. You can also find him blogging the strike at By Ken Levine.

He's agreed to an interview with Writers Strike:

WS: What are your feelings on how the media has covered the strike?

KL: Considering the people the writers are striking against control the media I don't feel we're getting a fair shake. We're often portrayed as a union of millionaires and it just isn't so.

WS: What's the best strike chant you've heard?

KL: "We're the writers. The mighty mighty writers." Somehow that hasn't instilled the fear into the producers that we would have liked.

WS: A couple days of striking is fun. When does it start to hurt?

KL: The picketing? Mile eight. Seriously, I worry that being asked to do too much picketing is going to burn the membership out. We need to be judicious after the first week in just how often and for what length of time we plan these demonstrations.

WS: Which show stoppage has you the most upset?

KL: The shows that haven't stopped have me the most upset.

WS: Actors have shown overwhelming support for writers. Were you expecting that?

KL: Not to this extent. But let's wait. Let's see how many of the actors are still joining us on the line in a month when the novelty wears off and the camera crews have moved on to some bus plunge.

4 comments:

VDOVault said...

Hey we're the fans...the AMPTP had better not f- with us because we're massing in the tens of thousands and are so going to get even with them for messing with our shows and movies

If you're modestly Internet savvy you'll understand this:

"All their ratings are belong to us".

Check out:

http://community.livejournal.com/wga_supporters/

http://www.fans4writers.com/

http://fansforwga.ipbfree.com/

Anonymous said...

I hope they ALL lose their jobs. They are all Ingrates

Anonymous said...

These guys are whining about not getting what they deserve?! Firstly, the majority of what is produced is CRAP. Secondly, they assume none of the monetary risk. I hope they all lose thier jobs and are replaced by new writers perspective and writing ability.

Anonymous said...

Hey Funky Winkerbean,

I agree with you... Many of the shows are poorly written anyways; however, I can now see where the writers are coming from - sort of. The only thing I think they should've been compensated for is "Internet" viewing, considering that the networks make a lot of $ off Internet advertising now. On the other hand - you're right - the writers aren't inheriting any risk and really shouldn't have so much say. It's a job and they can either take it or leave it. If they don't like it, maybe they could've gone to work in another industry...