For those of you who don't know: I'm a member of the Writers Guild of America and I'M ON STRIKE. Meaning, I should be on the picket lines protesting the greed of our country's entertainment industry. It also means I had to stop discussions and/or rewrites of my screenplay which is due to go into production sometime in early 2008.

However...

I'm in Cincinnati. I've been here for three weeks doing a writing residency at the Taft Museum. There's no where to picket. And of course everyone keeps asking, Are you able to do your playwriting residency with the strike going on? Well... my answer is always simple: Writing theater is not under the uber-umbrella of the Writers Guild. [Although maybe it should].

So... although I plan to hit the pavement upon my return to New York City and/or Los Angeles, I have been doing the best I can here in Cincinnati in support of my fellow writers. At every public library reading, at every high school workshop, even at the highlight reading of my play, [not to mention random phone calls with local relatives and friends], I bombard my listeners with the truth about our fight for New Media respect and compensation.

It may not be picketing in three to four hour intervals on the streets of L.A. or NYC, but it's the best I can do from the Ohio/Kentucky border.

By the way, the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Pictiure and Television Producers resume talks on Monday, November 26. Wish us the best!

Until next time,

Keith