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Strike Survival Guide

'Tis the season...for strikes, that is. With the Writers Guild of America strike already in its second week with no signs of stopping, the Broadway stagehands are now in the midst of their own strike that has shut out the lights of most Broadway theatres.

The New York Times explains, "This is the second strike on Broadway in less than five years. The four-day musicians’ walkout in 2003 was the first in almost three decades. But this is the first time Local One, a 121-year-old union, has called a strike on Broadway."

As a possible antidote, the Times offers its own "Broadway Strike Survival Guide," drawing attention to some of the best Off and Off-Off Broadway shows currently on stage; and Playbill.com explains how the strike could end up "making lemonade out of lemons" for the rest of the NYC theatre community.

Check out the New York Times website for their full coverage of both the Broadway labor strike and the WGA strike.

-- Daniel Lehman

Mixed Reviews for "Young Frankenstein"

Mel Brooks' Broadway musical adaptation of his 1974 movie comedy Young Frankenstein opened last week. Can it match the success of The Producers, Brooks' previous screen-to-stage adaptation?

A big budget ($16 million plus), big stars (including Roger Bart, Megan Mullally, and Shuler Hensley), and big ticket prices (record-setting $450 "premiere seating") seem to suggest so. But reviews of the show have been less grand.

Eric Grode writes in his review for the New York Sun:

Mr. Brooks, director Susan Stroman,  and the rest of the creative team behind The Producers — the Tony-winningest show in history, lest you forget — have conspired to bring us this shrill, misbegotten, deeply cynical enterprise.

It's hard to determine exactly where this latest attempt goes so grievously astray... But with the exception of about a dozen jokes (nearly all of which were pulled verbatim from the film) and an Act II showstopper, the final product has a shockingly lackadaisical, dashed-off quality that no amount of whiz-bang stagecraft can conceal. It's as if the fruits of an early, not terribly fruitful brainstorming session were lavished with literally millions of dollars.

From the New York Times review by Ben Brantley:

Even by the blaring standards of Broadway, Young Frankenstein... stands out for its loudness — in its ear-splitting amplification, eye-splitting visual effects and would-be side-splitting jokes. It’s as if the production had been built on the premise that its audiences would be slow on the uptake and hard of hearing, the sort of folks who would say: “That pun flew right by me. Could you repeat it a couple of times, louder?”

The show takes many of the elements that made The Producers such a delight and then saps them of their joy by overselling them.

Meanwhile, Charles McNulty's L.A. Times review is only slightly more forgiving:

Sure, the new musical -- replete with the kind of pastiche novelty songs that Brooks has made his specialty -- has deliciously diverting patches, but too often it leaves us noticeably shy of that laugh-induced state of delirium he has always been better at instigating than sustaining.

And Peter Marks writes for the Washington Post:

Robin Wagner's sets, especially the gewgaw- and tube-laden laboratory, imbue the production with the appealing veneer of a lavishly appointed Broadway show. But any of the polished accouterments are upstaged by casting miscues, wan choreography and the relentlessly second-rate score. Ensemble numbers such as "He's Loose" and "Join the Family Business" -- the latter a shambles of a dream sequence -- leave the impression of being poured onto the stage like this-and-that ingredients of a chopped salad.

Idolaters of the Brooks mystique might find the evening sufficiently silly. Many others, though, will be scratching their heads, wondering how the jokes could have come to be spread so thin. So if what matters to you is bang for your entertainment buck, don't be surprised if the musical-comedy ballistics of Young Frankenstein seem designed less for a cannon than for a BB gun.

Harsh words, indeed. But let us know what you think. If you've seen the show for yourself, leave a comment.

Note: In the wake of the ongoing stagehands strike on Broadway, negative reviews of the new show might be less damaging, since Young Frankenstein is reportedly one of only eight Broadway productions still running (those shows remained open because they are playing in theaters that have separate contracts with the union). Be sure to check out Back Stage for ongoing strike coverage.

-- Daniel Lehman

Letter from the Editor

It's fortuitous that Back Stage's first-ever Focus on New Media coincides with the first days of the Writers Guild of America strike; we planned our New Media coverage a year ago, but the timing could not be more appropriate. Payment for Internet-streamed content and new-media content is a key area of contention between WGA members and producers, and the outcome of this strike will likely have a significant impact on the Screen Actors Guild's future negotiations pertaining to new media. Another issue that actors should pay close attention to in this strike is DVD residuals. WGA members had been trying to double their stake in DVD sales. However, during pre-strike negotiations, WGA withdrew this request, so it's unclear whether a raise in DVD payments will be brought back to the table. Should writers advance in this area, guild actors will likely try to do the same.

As for Back Stage's new-media articles in this issue, we hope you find them enlightening and inspiring. With the affordable filmmaking and computer tools available, anyone can create video content and share it with the world. Though there's no guarantee, the Internet is another path to actors getting a break. Please let us know if there are related stories that you think we should be covering in the area of new media or if you have a personal story to share with our readers in regards to the digital arena.

On a separate but related note, I encourage you to visit us online at BackStage.com to view the latest updates to our website, which include a newly designed homepage, easier navigation, and the inclusion of all our print advice columns. So if you ever miss a print issue, you can always connect to Back Stage online to catch up.

Like technology, Back Stage is continually evolving. So stay tuned for other digital advances to our brand. Again, we welcome your feedback and hope to better serve you along the way.

 Sincerely,

Jamie Painter Young
National Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]

Understudy's Buddy

Cartoon by Doug Davis and Warren Scherffius.

The Onion's "Year of Flops"

Movie lovers don't necessarily limit themselves to Oscar-worthy arthouse films, as The Onion A.V. Club knows all too well. So for anyone as likely to ironically enjoy the Bee-Gees and Peter Frampton in Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as they are to praise Brokeback Mountain, the A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin has taken it upon himself to spend an entire year writing in-depth analysis of more than 100 under-appreciated cult classics (and/or simply awful movies).

Recent entries include "case files" for the big-budget adaptation of Stephen King's Dreamcatcher (with a "seemingly unsustainable level of craziness it somehow manages to keep up for 134 delirious minutes"), The Apple ("the story of Adam and Eve reborn as an intergalactic Dionysian sex musical, only much, much weirder"), and Catwoman ("You know a movie is in trouble when the public says 'Halle Berry crawling around in revealing leather bondage gear? No thanks. I’m sure there are Golden Girls reruns on somewhere we could watch instead.'")

From My Year of Flops Case File #69: The Cat in the Hat:

Cat In The Hat isn’t all jokes about drunken clowns, tortured animals, or Hepatatis. It also finds time to explore the humor endemic in hairballs, castration, erections, flatulence, lactose intolerance, plumber’s butt, beer, belching, cross-dressing, Myers calling a filthy garden utensil a "dirty hoe," the acronym for the Super Hydraulic Instantaneous Transporter and, last but not least, a Cat in a hat getting hit in the nuts with a bat.

Rabin's "My Year of Flops" examines the merits of each of these films sincerely and lovingly, and evaluates each of them as either a Failure, a Fiasco, or a Secret Success. He hates some of these films, loathes them, yet keeps enough of an open mind to occasionally find hidden diamonds in the rough. His tone is not simply mocking, but also legitimately curious as to how these movies could even exist, let alone be screened in multiplexes. And of course, these movies should all be at the top of your Netflix queue by this time next week.

-- Daniel Lehman

More Writers Strike Blues

With the WGA strike now in its fifth day and no clear end in sight, no new contract talks were scheduled as of yesterday afternoon.

Dave McNary writes for Variety that "the WGA's caveat is substantial -- that the companies need to make the first move by responding to its last proposal from Sunday, when the talks fell apart amid a welter of blame and recriminations."

"The companies sought to get us to bargain against ourselves in that time," WGA West president Patrick Verrone said. "Thanks to the resolve and patience of our negotiation committee, we did not. The last move made on Sunday was our presentation of a comprehensive package. It is up to the companies to respond to that package. When they indicate that they are ready to do so, we will return to the bargaining table as soon as possible."

Verrone also said that at least 3,000 people have picketed during each day of the strike, according to Variety.

Meanwhile, Variety's Adam  Dawtrey suggests that  Hollywood might still be able to find talent, far from the WGA picket lines: in Great Britain. According to Dawtrey:

The subject is so delicate that no one will discuss it on the record. Indeed, some would prefer that the subject not be raised publicly at all for fear of drawing the WGA's attention to the gray area in which the U.K. biz operates...

The London grapevine is abuzz with gossip that marquee American producers have been scouting for non-WGA writers for film or TV projects they would funnel through British production companies. Hollywood's majors have lodged discreet inquiries with agents and lawyers about the availability of their clients.

"We are contacting the major U.K. broadcasters and producers, and the UK Film Council , asking them not to dump U.K. material into the U.S. market and not to dress up American projects to look as though they are British," said general secretary Bernie Corbett. "Strike-breaking would at best be a short-term payday but would have a devastating long-term effect on a writer's U.S. career."

But "it could be an extraordinary opportunity for British writers to get a shot at big studio projects that they otherwise would never get a shot at," confided one U.K.-based studio exec.

One last tidbit of Variety strike news: Variety's "Season Pass" TV blog noted yesterday with 20/20 hindsight that NBC's decision to start the 2007-08 season of The Office with four hour-long episodes  in effect "robs The Office of a month's worth of first-run content pending a writers' strike that, of course, is no longer pending. With this week's shutdown of the show's production, instead of six weeks of The Office remaining, there are only two."

I haven't been a huge fan of NBC's version of The Office, much preferring Ricky Gervais' more subtle and nuanced original BBC series, and I thought those hour-long episodes this season felt bloated and unnecessary to begin with. But  maybe reruns of the show in a couple of weeks will win me over somehow.

See yesterday's Blog Stage post for a video of The Office writers on the picket lines.

-- Daniel Lehman

An Evening With 'There Will Be Blood" Director and Cast

Paramount Vantage, Back Stage West, and The Hollywood Reporter invite you to join There Will Be Blood writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson and Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis for a screening Thursday, Nov. 15, in Los Angeles.

Loosely adapted from Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil!, There Will Be Blood follows turn-of-the-century Texas miner Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis), whose search for silver leads to an oil fortune. Written and directed by Anderson (Magnolia), the film also stars Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine), Kevin J. O'Connor (Seraphim Falls), and Ciarán Hinds (Munich).

Recipient of an Academy Award, two BAFTA awards, and four Golden Globe nominations, Day-Lewis has starred in films such as My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown, The Gangs of New York, The Last of the Mohicans, and In the Name of the Father.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Anderson and Day-Lewis.

The event will be held Thursday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theater, 5220 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, Calif.

Admission is free. To RSVP, call (323) 956-1006. Seating is limited. Please arrive early.

For more info on the film, visit www.paramountvantage.com/films2007/blood.

One Writer's Strike

Steve Bodow, head writer for The Daily Show with John Stewart and card-carrying WGA member, writes about the ongoing writers strike today for the NY Daily News and describes why he "went from punch lines to the picket line."

Bodow writes:

We've stopped working because our contract with the big studios ended last week, and though we've been negotiating in good faith with them, we're having a pretty fundamental disagreement about how we should make our livings in the years ahead.

Now, we writer types are notoriously bad with numbers. Our skills lie more in the deft crafting of well-turned phrases - "neat-o word-packet makery," we call it.

But even we can tell that, for the right to rebroadcast our work online, "zilch" is a crummy offer.

Bodow goes on to reveal some useful life lessons from the picket line (some highlights: donuts are not a food group, and Hollywood execs can be greedy).

"We create something people value," Bodow writes. "It is our livelihood. We take it seriously. It's being threatened. And we're going to fight until we get what we need. Normally I'd end with a joke, but sorry - I'm on strike."

For more info about the WGA strike, visit Variety's new strike-centric Scribe Vibe blog.

-- Daniel Lehman

Free LA Screening: Home, Home on the Rez

Back Stage and the Fine Arts Theatre invite you to a free screening of Red Nation Television Channel's drama series Home, Home on the Rez, the first American Indian-produced dramatic show in the country. Starring Joanelle Romero (Powwow Highway) as an American Indian attorney who travels to tribal locations assisting with social and criminal issues, the series also includes Larry Sellers, Elaine Miles, Elizabeth Sage, and Conroy Chino.

The screening will be held Friday, Nov. 16, 7:30 p.m., at the Fine Arts Theatre, 8556 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills.

For more info, visit www.rednation.com/media/channel.

Admission is free. RSVP to [email protected]. Note the number of guests in your party and your Back Stage affiliation. $2 validated parking available at 8484 Wilshire (S.E. corner of Wilshire and La Cienega).

Free LA Screening: What Would Jesus Buy?

Back Stage and the Fine Arts Theatre invite you to a free screening of What Would Jesus Buy?, a feature documentary about America's consumer culture. The docu-comedy, from producer Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) follows Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir as they attempt to save souls from crass commercialism during the Christmas season. Whether exorcising demons at the Wal-Mart headquarters or scouring the Mall of America, Reverend Billy and his crew aim to put an end to overspending.

A Q&A with producer Spurlock and star Reverend Billy will be held following the screening. The event will take place Sunday, Nov. 11, 2:30 p.m., at the Fine Arts Theatre, 8556 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills.

For more info, visit www.wwjbmovie.com.

Admission is free. RSVP to [email protected]. Note the number of guests in your party and your Back Stage affiliation. $2 validated parking available at 8484 Wilshire (S.E. corner of Wilshire and La Cienega).