Striking out
Dennis Jacobs received a call from a confused friend last month.
‘I haven’t seen a new (episode of ‘The Office’) in a month,’ the friend told Jacobs, a 2007 Syracuse graduate who currently lives in Los Angeles. ‘What’s going on out there?’
Jacobs explained the short version of a complicated story:
A writer’s strike had halted production of all scripted television. Many popular programs would no longer appear on television until a deal had been worked out between the two feuding sides – the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
But for Jacobs, there’s a much longer answer to ‘What’s going on?’
Since the writers’ strike started in early November, Jacobs was laid off from his ideal entry-level job, spent Christmas and New Year’s unemployed and lost all his benefits such as dental insurance. Now he’s trying to subsist on a day-to-day job in reality television, a career he has no interest in pursuing, while he waits out the strike.
The fresh-out-of-college employees have endured some of the heaviest ramifications from the writers’ strike. For people like Jacobs attempting to survive in Tinseltown, the strike has been the ultimate career setback. The former SU television, radio and film major described that for students three or less years out of college, it’s been a mess.
‘It’s really rough for us,’ Jacobs said. ‘We haven’t had much time to establish ourselves at all.’
When Jacobs headed to Southern California after graduation, he quickly landed his first job. He found employment as a production assistant on CBS’s ‘Two and a Half Men,’ one of network television’s most-watched programs. It was not the most stimulating work, consisting of copying and delivering scripts among other basic tasks. Still, it was exactly the position any aspiring producer wanted to be in.
Once the writer’s strike started on Nov. 5, all those opportunities seemed to vanish. Not immediately – Jacobs kept his job for another couple weeks before being laid off – but it was only prolonging the inevitable. And as soon as he was out of work, he was also out of luck. Even veterans were in the same position as those new to the industry.
‘You’re constantly networking,’ Jacobs said. ‘You call up your friends, ‘Hey man, what’s going on?’ And their response is ‘I’m actually finding stuff for myself right now.”
Two weeks after he was let go from his second job in a month, Jacobs faced a hapless situation.
It was mid-December, and nobody wants to negotiate over the holiday season. Jacobs would spend his first Christmas after graduation unemployed. When not searching for a job, Jacobs stayed at home, catching up on old episodes of ‘The Wire’ and trying to find ways other than wasting money to assuage his boredom.
It was a matter of bad timing. Jacobs insists he empathizes with the writers’ circumstances, and the feeling is mutual.
‘There are huge, huge issues they’re working out here,’ Jacobs said. ‘(I hear people say) ‘I wonder if these writers realize how many people they’re affecting.’ From the writers I’ve spoken with, of course they know. They’re not dumb. They know. (The ‘Two and a Half Men’) writers sent us a Christmas present that said ‘I wish you were receiving a big check right now.”
The main issue at stake is compensation for Internet viewings of television shows. For example, viewers can watch 10-minute ‘Webisodes’ of ‘The Office’ on NBC.com and entire episodes of other shows like ‘Friday Night Lights’ and ‘Heroes.’
Television writers feel they are not being paid adequately for this online content. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers thought otherwise, claiming the material scripted for the Internet is part of advertising for the show you’re writing. After several failed negotiations, the strike was underway.
The strike took most of Hollywood to the reality television sector. Some, who swore they’d never work in reality, instead took jobs at restaurants and hotels – or simply sold out for a steady paycheck.
Jacobs earned a position at NBC’s ‘American Gladiators’ as an audience page. He worked at Sony Studios ushering in thousands of guests for each taping of the show. However, what he remembers most from this time was the drive to work every morning.
Outside every studio he passed – Disney, Warner Bros., NBC – hundreds of picketers crowded the area. Show creators would walk by with a picket sign in one hand and a Blackberry in the other. While pulling into Sony, Jacobs passed a picket line that included some of his friends from ‘Two and a Half Men.’
Jacobs said each time he drove by, he wanted to roll down his window and shout out, ‘I support you.’ Instead a sinking feeling forced him to crouch down in his driver’s seat and stay out of sight as he steered through the crowds.
The position at ‘American Gladiators’ only lasted 13 days. After weathering through the holidays and losing his benefits after the New Year, Jacobs finally had one of his connections come through for him.
Once again, it was back to ‘American Gladiators’ – but this time in the production office. Jacobs labors random hours and only comes in when his boss tells him he’s needed. The Syracuse alum insists he enjoys the work and the simple fact that he has a job. Still, it’s nothing like what he would be doing on a scripted show.
‘It was weird to go from something you’re really excited about, and (then) you did absolutely nothing wrong,’ Jacobs said. ‘And you can’t be there anymore.’
The strike has taken a toll on Los Angeles as well. Restaurants and hotels are closing down due to the lack of money being spent in the area. The cancellation of the Golden Globes show cost the city millions of dollars.
And next up is the granddaddy of all entertainment shows – the Oscars. If the show does not go on, it could devastate the area. Right now, the latest tentative deadline to end the strike seems to be anytime before Feb. 24 – the night of the Academy Awards.
Encouraging news has arisen in the past weeks. Several well-known movie firms have made deals with their writers. Furthermore, it was reported over the weekend that an agreement is in the works that could end the three-month long strike by the end of next week.
For now, it’s all speculation and rumors. But to those recent graduates hoping to break into the industry, it’s a sign of life they’ve been waiting to hear.
‘I’m optimistic,’ Jacobs said, while mentioning recent deals made by film studios like The Weinstein Company and Lions Gate. ‘Even though I have no say in anything…I’m still kind of optimistic.’
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Dennis Jacobs, a 2007 Syracuse grad and aspiring producer in Los Angeles, gives some insight on what’s going on in Tinseltown.
Daily Orange: How will the writers’ strike affect this year’s graduating class from Syracuse?
Dennis Jacobs: They’re kind of lucky actually. I say that right now assuming the strike ends by July. If it goes by July, I’m gonna move. It’ll be the longest strike in entertainment history. Nobody sees it going that long. A lot of people have found different jobs since the strike has started. There are a lot of things people have done. When the strike ends some people will go back to jobs they had before. But the bottom line is there will be a lot of work for people to get. Kids coming up next year and year after that…it’ll be a bottleneck effect. They’ll be a lot of work opportunity to get (for next year’s graduates).
DO: What’s your best celebrity encounter since moving to Los Angeles?
DJ: I had to deliver a script for Richard Kind. He was on ‘Spin City.’ He was guest starring on one of our episodes. When I got there, his house was really, really big. I knew Richard Kind has been around for awhile, but I wasn’t expecting this big house…I ring the doorbell nobody answers. There were a bunch of construction crews doing work on the house. Redoing everything – full bar, the backyard is huge, overlooking some gorgeous houses…(I call up my boss and ask) where does he want me to leave the script? He calls me back and he’s kind of laughing. It’s not Richard Kind’s house. It’s George Clooney’s. (Kind’s) house-sitting.
DO: What will happen to the scripted shows that have been affected by the strike?
Jacobs said from what he’s heard, a number of shows will see the effects of the strike long after it’s ended.
Published on February 4, 2008 at 12:00 pm
