Network executives were finishing bagels and fruit at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel when Susan Baronoff and her colleagues abruptly rewrote the script.
As Cable News Network anchor Anderson Cooper was moderating a panel of breakfast speakers, Baronoff and a dozen other members of the Writers Guild of America fanned out across the ballroom to hand out blue fliers criticizing the pay and benefits of scribes working in reality TV. A writer for NBC's "Starting Over," Baronoff then jumped to the stage.
"Will you please today think about it," Baronoff said, "and do what you know is the right thing to do?"
The incident last month at what was supposed to be a polite discussion of broadcasting left the network executives and Waldorf audience startled. Which is precisely what David Young had in mind when he planned it. A 47-year-old veteran union organizer and former Teamsters official, Young aims to shake up the writer-studio relationship in Hollywood through similar public confrontations.
"You have to start moving people out of their comfort zone," Young said.
In the three months since he was named interim executive director of the Writers Guild, West, Young has adopted the kind of disruptive tactics traditionally used by blue-collar unions. In September, writers staged a protest outside Advertising Age's "Madison and Vine" conference in New York that included protesters dressed as reality TV stars Donald Trump and Martha Stewart.
Twenty guild members later crashed a panel of reality TV producers at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, handing out leaflets and briefly engaging panelists in discussions about poor working conditions and pay in the reality genre. Writers also leafleted the Museum of Television & Radio in New York to protest what they believe is excessive product placement in TV.
Although Young's tactics have succeeded in getting publicity, they garner mixed reviews within the 9,500-member union. Supporters believe they draw attention to the guild's gripes and help galvanize members. But critics see them as pointless gimmicks inappropriate for writers.
"We're not Teamsters, we're not textile workers," said former board member Larry Gelbart, a veteran writer whose credits include the TV series "MASH" and such movies as "Tootsie" and "Neighbors." "The last thing we want is to be turned away at the door because someone is afraid we're going to make a scene."
