Just last week, things were throbbing at the Office, the Santa Monica work space that provides writers with a desk, free coffee and bottled water, and more peace and quiet than could ever exist in any real office. Writers scrambled to finish pilots and screenplays before the strike began Monday at 12:01 a.m.
By Monday afternoon, however, the place was dead. Only half of the Office's 26 ergonomically correct Herman Miller chairs were occupied. By Tuesday, things were worse: after lunch, only five seats were taken.
Presumably, many of the Office's members were out picketing. It's also plausible that writers were staying away out of fear of being seen writing, seeing as many are confused as to what kind of writing constitutes violating the rules of the strike. Suddenly, one of the most commonly asked questions in Hollywood -- "What are you working on?" -- elicits paranoia and vague answers.
Whatever practical or psychological reasons have kept writers out of public work spaces this week, it does not bode well for places like the Office, as well as less official scribe sanctuaries like Santa Monica's 18th Street Coffee House and Silver Lake's the Coffee Table.
For the Office, whose income is generated solely by people who need a place to write, the stakes are particularly high. "If the strike keeps up, I could lose my business," said Office owner Aleks Horvat, over the telephone. "After all, I am a luxury, not a necessity."
Of the Office's 80 members, about 60% write for film or TV; 50% of those are Writers Guild of America members. Many are well-known, such as Darren Star ("Sex and the City") and W. Blake Herron ("The Bourne Identity"). Horvat's fear is that if writers are unemployed for too long, they may cancel their memberships, which run from $350 to $500 a month, plus a one-time joining fee of between $140 and $200. (Memberships vary from weekdays-only to nights-only to 24/7 access; day passes are also available.)
A reversal of fortune would be dramatic for Horvat, considering that since the summer, there has been a waiting list for weekday-only passes. Membership has become such a commodity that Horvat joked, "It's like a New York apartment. Someone would have to die for you to get in."
Over at the 18th Street Coffee House, a favorite of screenwriters (including some Oscar winners), a barista said the strike was a "very real concern."
