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WGA Strike: International Day of Solidarity
The strike called by The Writers Guild of America to secure a structure for future revenues from digital media continues. Today sees demonstrations of support in London, Toronto, Montreal, Paris, Dublin, Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth. My favourite story so far is of the homeless person on Hollywood Boulevard holding a handmade sign that read, Bums…
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Memories of Water
One of the bonuses of BAFTA membership is that you get sent copies of trade publications during the runup to the awards season. Oscar (R) follows BAFTA, which means that the studios can cover both sets of voters with the same ad campaigns. Imagine the upward direction of my eyebrows when I opened The Hollywood…
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The Boat House
Here’s the publisher’s original flap copy for the novel: a longer piece on the story is coming right up. When Alina first appears in Three Oaks Bay it’s clear that her frail, luminous beauty is going to cause some ripples on the quiet surface of the peaceful resort town. For Pete McCarthy, the local boat-repairer…
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Two Make a Pair
Ira Levin died on November 12th. His obituary in The Times refers to Polanski’s film of Rosemary’s Baby and suggests that “the atmosphere of evil that pervaded the screen had its origins in Levin’s fictional skills.“ Indeed – one of the most seamless book-to-film transitions around, and an adaptation that honours its source material to…
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The WGA Strike and the UK Writer
Thursday’s Variety carries this article suggesting that American producers have been scouting the UK media scene with a view to using the services of British screenwriters to supply them with material during the WGA strike. Some people have interpreted this as a unique opportunity for a British writer to ‘break in’. Others – like, people…
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The Nature of the Beast
Given that I’m a zillion miles from the action and not even an American writer, this isn’t the place to come for front-line news on the WGA strike. But what’s going on out there is an important and necessary step in evolution that’s going to affect us all, and we’ll be feeling its effects sooner…
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What’s Entertainment?
I have to admit that, for entirely positive reasons, I was hoping that NBC’s new zen cop show Life would tank and that its leading man, redheaded Brit Damian Lewis, would have to come home to the UK. Well, I call them positive reasons. But only if you’re prepared to view it in a selfish,…
Hauling Like A Brooligan
Stephen Gallagher
