Yes you know that I am a huge "The Office" freakazoid. The Lovely Bride and I were kicking the subject around last night.

"How would the writer's strike in Hollywood affect the funniest show to hit American airwaves in a very long time?"

Pam Beasley (played by Jenna Fischer) speaks on the issue today. Long story short - only two episodes left, she's cleaned out her office, and she supports the writers. (Which given the little bit of public info we have about the issue seems more than reasonable to me too...)

And don't call her Pammy:

By now you may have heard that The Office has shut down production.  This is true.  They cleaned out my trailer and just delivered me 3 boxes of my stuff.  It is pretty surreal.  We cannot produce new episodes of The Office until the Writer's Guild strike is over.   

You might be confused about the issues of the strike and I'm hoping that this blog can make it a bit clearer.  (I should probably tell you that I support my head writer/producer Greg Daniels and the writing staff of The Office in their decision to strike.)

The big issue in this negotiation involves the internet.   If you go to NBC.com right now, you can watch an episode The Office for free.  The network runs advertisements while you're watching it, which gives them an extra source of revenue.  The actors, writers, producers and director, the people who created the content you are watching, are not compensated in any way for this.  

The Writer's Guild has taken the position that the writers should receive residuals if the show re-airs on the internet just like they receive residuals if it re-airs on television since in both cases the studios are making money.  The issue is a huge deal, because the internet is clearly where the future of entertainment lies. 

Right now, a number of successful shows (like Lost for one) have stopped showing repeat episodes on TV at all, and have replaced them with ad-supported streaming video on their websites.  If you're a Lost writer, or actor, or director, or a teamster that's no residuals at all for that show, and that's a big pay cut.  We all count on the extra income that residuals provide as it can help us through a slump in our career when we aren't working as regularly.  It is our safety net.  In 10 years I may need those residual checks to cover my electric bill.  You never know.  Hollywood is a fickle town.  If in 10 years, everything is rerun on the internet, the current union contracts say the studios don't have to pay us a dime.  And, I'll be sitting in the dark.

And now this little breaking news update:

Bubba wants to settle the issue, his terms for his involvement have not been publicly revealed, but if I were Teri Hatcher, I'd just let my calls go to voicemail for the coming few weeks.

Steve Hiller is a good guy and doing a great job! Has me on today to discuss the debates and Thompson's big "IN." Get the podcast here.

And oh yes...BUY MY BOOK!

Just for fun - I thought I'd pull out some of my old music days footage. In 2000 my band and I did a little time in Eastern Europe. In this video our lead guitar player stepped up on the last stop on the tour and ripped a Delirious tune off the wall:

Ladies and Gentlemen with no rehearsal of any sort, and improving the song start to finish: ZERO BC w/ Doug Bardolph on lead...