The Tonight Show and "Job Fair"

I just finished taping my segement for the Tonight Show...airing tonight, Thursday!  It was my first time as the lead guest and I was very  nervous.  My biggest fear is that I talked too fast and come across like an exercise junkie.  I guess we'll see!  Jay Leno is so much fun.  He's great to interact with on camera.  Off-camera he is a very nice, very genuine guy.  I had fun getting dressed up today too.  I went with dark nailpolish.  I feel so "hip".

Tonight we have a new episode called "Job Fair".  Michael, Pam, Oscar and Darryl go to Pam's old high school to attend a job fair.  They hope to find a student intern for the summer.  We had a great time on location.  We all laughed about the grouping of Michael, Pam, Oscar and Darryl.  We decided our characters were the least likely to ever hang out and it made sitting together so funny.  We did a shot where we stand together in the job fair booth next to a sign for Dunder-Mifflin.  We couldn't keep a straight face.  Just standing together in that grouping was so funny to us. 

I'm not sure if you remember that movie "Quebec" I blogged about awhile back...it is now called "The Promotion" and it's coming out in June.  I LOVED making this movie.  It stars Seann Williams Scott (so cute and so nice), John C. Reilly (I would like to make every movie with this man), Fred Armisen (love this guy) and Lili Taylor (I tried hard not to totally geek out when I met her).  We shot the movie in Chicago and I seriously had the best time.  I'll post more about it with photos and such later.  There is a movie trailer up now:

www.movies.aol.com

Finally, the 88 calorie brownies were great.  VERY rich so it didn't matter that the portion size is small.  I recommend them highly!

5:39 PM - 287 Comments - 431 Kudos - Add Comment

"Did I Stutter", Creed Sings and My Newest TV Obsession

Yes, I stayed up until 2:30am watching episodes of the Discovery Channel 15-Week Body Challenge!  Yes, I went online at 2am and printed out the 88 calorie brownie recipe...only 1 gram of fat people!  I watched twins Fiona and Vanessa belly dance their way to slimmer bodies.  I was rooting for them all the way.  No!  Don't eat the chicken wings!  Vanessa, tell your boyfriend to stop bringing home pizza!  I'm seriously hooked.  I've decided to hike every day this week.  And, this morning I had green tea instead of coffee.  Thank you Discovery Channel! 

This week we have another brand new episode of The Office..."Did I Stutter".  This is the one where you learn a little secret about Pam.  It isn't anything major but she gets teased relentlessly at work because of it.  You also learn a little more about Jim and Pam's relationship outside of work.

I'm not sure if many of you know this but Creed is a famous musician in real life.  He was part of a group called The Grassroots and they played with Jimi Hendrix and Janice Joplin.  He has the best stories.  CRAZY stories.  Anyway, Creed just finished his new solo album and if you are interested you can get it through this website:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/bratton4

Creed is such a great guy...he plays guitar on set and even wrote a lullaby with Ed Helms for Angela's baby...I think you will see that pop up soon on the Adventures with Angela site at nbc.com.

I gotta run...literally.  Discovery Channel has me pumped!

I loved Baby Mama!  (Just had to throw that in.) 

2:06 PM - 238 Comments - 396 Kudos - Add Comment

A blog mostly for the Los Angeles actor...plus some other stuff

Hello Los Angeles MySpacers!

I've had a bunch of you write and ask me if I have any advice for the new actor in town…my advice is…take Robert D'Avanzo's On-Camera Acting Workshop.  (Hello Dan from Starbucks…this means you!)

I discovered Robert's class after I had been in Los Angeles for about 5 years.  I so wish I had found him sooner.  When I first came to town I would get a few auditions here and there but I couldn't seem to close the deal.  I thought, "What's wrong?  I have a degree in theater!  Why aren't I working!  Why can't I get a freaking job?!"  Then, I took Robert's On-Camera Audition class.

I learned that auditioning is a totally different art form from acting.  It is just like how interviewing is different from having the job.  I have a friend who is a great actor but he gets so nervous at auditions he blows it.  I think, for me, I had a hard time standing out.    Robert teaches you little tricks to calm your nerves and give a memorable audition while at the same time providing a very realistic look at the business.

After taking Robert's class, I got 12 callbacks in a row.  My agents started taking an interest in me, sending me out on more auditions, my confidence increased and I booked a guest spot on a show called "Off Centre".  A momentum was started that rolled all the way to The Office.  Anyway, I can't say enough good things about this class.  I've been meaning to post something for a long time.  I just found out he has a new session starting up.  Here are the details:

WHAT:  On-Camera Cold Reading Classes: 6 Week Session.

WHEN:  Wednesday nights, @ 7:00 pm.

WHERE:  The Actors Group, 4378 Lankershim Blvd., Universal City (Corner of Moorpark and Lankershim).

WHY:  Getting the part. Don't miss this chance to study with Robert.

COST: $350.00 Six week session.

Seating is limited. To reserve a seat please call (818) 508-0723.

In other news…we had our Premiere last week!  I hope you guys liked it.  I LOVE that episode.  I think it is filled with a lot of fun details.  The Andy Warhol painting of Jan's face, the plasma TV, Michael sleeps on a bench at the end of the bed!  I love how Jim almost ditches Pam at the party.  I always imagined she'd be a little pissed if he actually left, but in the end she'd say, "I get it.  It's every man for himself." 

We had a Premiere party and got a sneak peak at the next episode, "Parking" (now titled "The Chair Model"...thanks Sara the Dork!)  Okay…I know I say this every time…it's the best.  The cast was blown away.  We laughed.  We gasped.  I even got a little choked up.  I think these 6 post-strike episodes are some of our strongest yet. 

Anyway…I gotta run and visit with some folks on set.  Take care!

From the desk of Pam Beesly.    

3:25 PM - 272 Comments - 405 Kudos - Add Comment

A Quick Little Blog
Current mood: content

Hello Myspacers!

I’m on set in the deep background of a scene.  Dwight, Andy and Angela are in the kitchen and I’m at my desk pretending to work.  I was sitting here, answering emails and reading gossip sites and I thought, "Hey, why not blog a bit!"  So, here I am.  Not too different from when I was a real receptionist.  Funny how life works sometimes huh? 

A lot of you have asked me about the recent announcement that they are producing an Office spin-off.  I wish I could offer you some inside information on the subject.  As far as I know, no one is leaving our show for a spin-off version.  But I seriously have no idea.  You would be surprised how little they tell actors.  I read about the spin-off on Officetally.com.  Tanster knew before I did.  I get a lot of news about my show from Tanster.  She helps me remember my cast member’s birthdays too :)

Another frequently asked question is how we are handling Angela’s pregnancy on the show.  The Angela character is not pregnant on the show.  We have been hiding her belly with files, purses, copy machines and even people.  Yesterday we did a scene and it was my job to block her belly.  So cute! 

If you want a peek at her belly, look for me and Angela on your local morning news on Monday.  We are getting up early and doing interviews via satellite all over the country from the set on Monday.  I’m not sure what cities and stations.

Also, look for me, Rainn and John on the cover of TV Guide next week!  And, check Officetally.com because I’m trying to set up a time for a live chat.  Maybe even this Sunday.

Gotta run!  The kitchen scene is over and we are moving on!

1:49 PM - 248 Comments - 421 Kudos - Add Comment

It finally happened!

I was stalked by the paparazzi!!!  Okay, here is what happened…

My sister Emily came in town for Presidents Weekend.  We like to do a "Sisters Only" weekend once a year.  We had a great time.  We got tea with Angela.  We got manicures and pedicures.  We made dinner with my friend Jennifer (writer of the famous Project Runway blog) and played "I Love the 80s"...which is a great game.

ANYWAY, my sister and I were at Bristol Farms grocery store in Beverly Hills.  (This is not my usual store.  It just happened to be on our way.)  The store was really crowded and I was getting grouchy.  Lots of congestion and carts and people stopping in the middle of the aisle…you know how it goes.

After we check out, I load up my arms with bags so we don't have to deal with the cart.  I'm dying to get out of the store because I'm starting to get a cold and I'm getting crabbier by the minute.  I walk outside and a photographer pops up from behind some cars and points this HUGE camera in my direction. 

My first thought was "Whoa!  There must be a famous person shopping here!"  I turned around to see who it was.  That's when I realized the famous person was me.  I freaked out.  My instinct was to duck and run.  I look over my shoulder and my sister is stuck behind 4 people.  She's decided to put the cart away…so I give her a look like, "Ditch the cart!  Hurry up!"  She's all confused thinking, "Why is my sister running and why does she hate this cart so much?" 

I'm half hiding behind a pillar and feeling pretty stupid at this point.  The bags are heavy and I'm annoyed that I don't have the cart.  I'm thinking two things, "Hurry up Emily we have to get out of here before they photograph us!" and "Hurry up Emily!  You have to stand next to me because it would be so cool if you are in my first paparazzi moment!"  My sister finds me and says, "Why are you slouching behind a pillar and why didn't you want me to put the cart away?"  I tell her what happened.  But now I can't see the photographer and I look like a total idiot.  I'm embarrassed and fairly certain he WAS waiting for someone else. 

We walk to the car and sure enough he comes running up out of nowhere, sprints ahead of us and takes a bunch of photos as we load the car.  It was crazy.  We didn't know what to do.  So I started smiling.  And then my sister started smiling.  Like, big stupid smiles.  Because that's what you do when you load groceries in your trunk right?  You smile!  Because loading groceries is SO FUN!  YAY!  Look at how much we LOVE to load groceries everyone!

We get in the car and she immediately tries to call her husband.  He's not there.  We try calling my parents…no answer.  Emily says we should have told the photographer she was my sister because now if she is in a magazine it will say "Jenna Fischer and Friend".  I tell her I'm not sure how that works. 

When we got home we did a reenactment of the smiley car loading moment:

And here is one of my sister being disappointed that we can't find anyone to call:

There you have it!  Now I hope it never happens again. 

We start back to work on The Office the week of March 3rd.  We are doing 6 episodes.  The sixth will be an hour long finale.  Our first episode back is The Dinner Party.  Michael and Jan throw a dinner party for a few of the Dunder-Mifflin couples.  It's HILARIOUS.  We had just started filming when we got shut down.  I don't know anything else from there.  I'll be curious to see how the writers condense the stories with only 6 episodes left this season.

Oh...also...check out NBC.com.  They have a new video of my trip to New York with Angela.  For the record, we really were afraid we might miss our flight! 

http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/angela/

Later!

Jenna

12:10 PM - 637 Comments - 995 Kudos - Add Comment

Adventures with Angela!

Hey guys!

I'm rushing off for a day of errands but I wanted to let you know that NBC.com just posted some video diaries of me and Angela!  I'll write a longer blog later...I've got photos!...but the short version is that Angela and I went to New York together for Fashion Week!!!  It was a total girl-fest.  We made a video diary and they will be posted at NBC.com one at a time over the next few weeks.  The first two are up now.  Enjoy! 

In one of them Angela tells the story of when she told me she was pregnant!  It was 6am on the set of The Office!

http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/angela/

Jenna

P.S.  I know you were all wondering how my birdfeeder turned out...I mean, come on it's what everyone is talking about.  (I'm pretty sure TMZ will be covering it.)  For the first week it was a squirrel feeder.  Which was pretty awesome.  Because the squirrels would do some major gymnastics to get the seed.  But a couple of days ago the birds found it and now it is bird city in my backyard!  Andy LOVES it!  It's like HDTV for cats.

Currently listening : Last Days of Wonder By The Handsome Family Release date: 13 June, 2006

11:58 AM - 204 Comments - 313 Kudos - Add Comment

Me and David Spade

Happy New Year!

First off I want to thank everyone who saw my movie Walk Hard.  It didn't do great at the box office but I'm really proud of it.  All of your encouraging messages meant a lot.  Hopefully people will find it on DVD since I really do think it's a funny, funny movie.

Over Christmas, I saw a report in Star Magazine that I'm dating David Spade.  Imagine my surprise as… I'VE NEVER MET David Spade!  What a milestone!  My first TOTALLY 100% UNTRUE tabloid report!  I've always been very cynical when I hear celebrities say that a story is fake.  I figure SOME part of every story must be true right?  NO WAY!  I have no idea how they are allowed to get away with stuff like that!  My publicist said that no one ever called to check the facts of the David Spade story.  Which seems strange to me.  I have a minor in journalism and I was told to never run a story without 2 reliable sources to back it up.  But, while we are on the subject, some other people I've never met are: Orlando Bloom, Colin Farrell, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Brad Pitt.  Maybe I can fictionally date some of those guys too?

There is so much more to being an actress than just the acting part.  It's taken some getting used to.  I love the acting...creating characters, playing around on set.  The other stuff, like the marketing stuff, is a little crazy.

When you promote a movie or television show you talk to COUNTLESS reporters.  For example, for Walk Hard I was interviewed, and this is not an exaggeration, for 10 hours a day, 3 days in a row by various reporters.  Then I flew to New York and did it all over again.  Most of the time you repeat yourself…because they all ask the same 5 questions.  Each reporter only gets about 15 minutes of your time.  It's a lot like speed dating.  You sit in a hotel room, reporters line up outside and they come in one after the other to interview you about the movie.

As the articles come out there are always little things printed here and there that are inaccurate or misleading.  There was a Parade Magazine article that quoted me completely out of context and I'm none to happy about it.

During one interview, that was sort of like a press conference style with many reporters, they asked me how I was handling my newfound fame.  I said that I really fly under the radar and I told a story about being in a car crash with the paparazzi.  I thought it was hilarious.  I was on my way to my doctor's office and they hit my car while chasing another actress into a restaurant nearby.  I got out of the car to exchange insurance information and they never recognized me or took a single photo.  Ha!  A friend forwarded me a link to the article…the headline said something like "Fischer Humiliated".  What!?  It said I was "humiliated" when the paparazzi didn't recognize me!  I never used that word!  And, I'm anything by humiliated.  Try one of these words…amused, delighted, tickled…it's one of my favorite stories! 

Another reporter started an interview by saying that she saw me at the Dan in Real Life Premiere.  And I said, "Oh, yeah, I was there!"  And then she said, "Well, feel free to light up if you want."  And I said, "What?"  She said, "Have a cigarette, I won't tell."  And I said, "I don't smoke."  She smiled and said, "I saw you smoking at the Dan in Real Life Premiere."  I got really defensive and said, "I was there, but you didn't see me smoking.  Sorry, I don't smoke.  And please don't start that rumor."  Because THAT is how rumors get started you know!  Like, what if she just printed what she thought she saw?  It's crazy.  Sometimes Hollywood is like Jr. High School all over again! 

It is impossible to refute everything because it just becomes a slippery slope.  That's why I prefer talk shows.  You get to see and hear the whole story.  No mistakes.  No filters.  No interpretations.       

Thankfully I don't do too much of anything interesting so the only time I deal with this stuff is when a movie is coming out or I'm promoting The Office.  No one wants to read this story… "Fischer Cuddles Cat While Watching Real Housewives of Orange County Marathon".  Speaking of…I'm seriously so sad that next week is the season finale!  It is my guilty pleasure.  Thank God for American Idol.

Oh!  I heard that we might see an end to the strike sooner rather than later.  The Director's Guild struck a deal with the studios even though their union contracts aren't up until June.  The hope is that this deal can serve as a starting ground between the writers and studios as many of the same issues are at hand.  I don't really know what will happen.  There aren't any new talks in the works but everyone seems hopeful for the first time in awhile. 

I want to get back to work.  I hope we can make at least another few episodes before the season is over.  It's going to be a little crazy because as many of you know Angela Kinsey is pregnant!  And boy is she showing!  She has the cutest baby bump on the planet.  I'm not sure how they will handle this on the show.  It's hard to hide.  Angela is so tiny she's all bump.  Seriously, her arms and legs are still regular size but her belly is huge.  Last month, she stepped on my scale in the bathroom and she said, "Oh my God!  Jenna!  I'm at 101 pounds!  I've never weighed over 100 pounds!"  I said, "Get out of my house."  Ha!  The whole thing has been such a blast.  

In fact, I have to run, we're off to Target and Michaels.  I need a birdfeeder hanger.  My Grandma gave me a birdfeeder for Christmas but the tree in my backyard is kind of funky and there aren't any good branches for it to hang onto. 

Take care and Happy New Year! 

P.S.  My boobs are real.

1:28 PM - 659 Comments - 990 Kudos - Add Comment

My Hard Walkin’ Blog - With Photos!

Happy Holidays!  I've been on the road pimping my new movie Walk Hard which opens tomorrow, December 21^st.  I just returned to Los Angeles and I'm knee deep in holiday preparations.  I'm doing all the regular stuff…decorating my house with countless snowmen and Santas, multi-step homemade Christmas cards and baking.  (The baking is really just an excuse to wear the cute Christmas apron I bought at Williams Sonoma.) 

I noticed today that I've started a bit of a trend.  While decorating my tree I watched the Christian Slater movie "Pump Up the Volume".  While doing my Christmas cards I watched "Cruel Intentions".  While wrapping presents I watched "Terminator 2".  Weird huh?  It's a 90s Christmas over here.

If you haven't heard about my movie Walk Hard it is AWESOME!  I've seen it 3 times and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  I'm seriously so proud to be in it.  I'm not in the first 30 minutes of the movie and the first time I watched it I was laughing so hard and thinking, "I can't believe I'm going to be in this movie!  This is the funniest movie I've seen in a long time.  And, I'm in it!  God, I hope I don't suck because so far this movie is awesome!"  It reminded me of seeing Airplane or This is Spinal Tap for the first time.  The humor is played really straight.  We all take ourselves very seriously while the world around is ridiculous. 

Walk Hard is the story of a fictional music legend named Dewey Cox played by John C. Reilly.  This is the story of his life.  I play his second wife Darlene Madison.  We meet when I audition to be his new backup singer.  And…well, we fall in love.  But of course our love story isn't easy.  It has many ups and downs and fights and reunions.  It is sort of a parody of Walk The Line but it is much more than that.  We poke fun at every music legend you can think of.  Dewey goes through a Bob Dylan phase, a Brian Wilson phase…he even has a 70s variety show like Sonny and Cher. 

There is a point where Dewey Cox meets The Beatles played by Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Justin Long and Jason Schwartzman.  AMAZING!  I can't even begin to say how awesome that day of shooting was.  I was a total groupie.  At one point Jack Black and John C. Reilly picked up guitars and started a jam session.  Justin Long is a hilarious storyteller and he had us in hysterics telling us stories from his early acting career.  It was all very surreal.

I should warn you…this movie is rated R and it is a hard R.  It is very raunchy and sexy and the humor is hard core.  Think 40-Year Old Virgin but with full-frontal male nudity too.  That's right ladies, we have penis.  There is a ton of nudity in this movie actually.  I mean, it's the story of a rock-n-roll star!  I don't get naked in the film.  I should probably say that.  But I do showcase the ladies quite a bit.  I had to be sewn into most of my costumes to make sure they were as tight as possible.  My wardrobe assistant's main job was making sure my boobs didn't fall out.  It was hilarious.  I would see her across the room starring at my chest all day.

Getting to work on this film was a dream come true.  I got to access a whole other side of my personality.  I'm normally pretty shy when it comes to skimpy outfits and all that.  I am certainly more Pam Beesly than I am Darlene Madison but it was cool to channel my inner Darlene for a change.  I may not run around in raunchy outfits ( I think you know my uniform of hoodie and baseball cap) but I do have a dirty/dark sense of humor.  I loved that I didn't have to censor myself in any way on the set.  We were pretty crazy.  We basically just made COX jokes all day.  I was in heaven.  

I had the hardest time not laughing during the scene where John Reilly and I stare and one another while we...um...how do I say this...provocatively eat ice cream?  I literally could not walk more than 3 steps without losing it.   

Here is a gvery funny video with a bunch of music stars like Sheryl Crow, John Legend and John Mayer talking about their love of COX:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_IUp8GDVxQ

The movie is getting great reviews.  John C. Reilly was nominated for a Golden Globe award and everything.  I'm so proud of him and sort of in awe.  I've never worked with anyone like him before.  He is classically trained and he approached this like any other movie.  I look up to him a lot.  He learned over 30 original songs for the movie.  He sings and plays the guitar.  I didn't do my own singing by the way.  You can hear my voice during some of our rehearsal tapes in the DVD.  I'm not bad, but I'm no recording artist.  It was still cool to perform in front of a live audience...even though they were paid to cheer.  I understand why rock stars love performing live.  The soundtrack for this movie is amazing too. 

I should also say that John Reilly is a great kisser.  He sure knows his way around a lady.  His wife is a VERY VERY lucky woman.  Wow!  And, he has a really nice ass.  That is his real ass in the movie.  Not a double.  You'll see what I mean.

So please go see my boobs, John C. Reilly's ass and a man's penis starting tomorrow night…Walk Hard!           

In Office news, the strike is getting really scary.  Talks have broken down and they aren't planning to resume until after the New Year.  It looks like this is going to last longer than we thought.  There is a chance we will be shut down for the entire rest of our season.  Jim and Pam finally get together and I don't get to find out what happens!  ARGH!

Okay…I should sign off.  I ran out of Christmas cards and I have to go to Target.  I hope they still have the ones I bought in the first place.  I dunno, I suppose it doesn't matter but I like to keep it consistent.  Happy Holidays everyone! 

Currently listening : Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story By Original Soundtrack Release date: 04 December, 2007

9:12 AM - 467 Comments - 760 Kudos - Add Comment

Happy Thanksgiving and Project Runway!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I have some good news...the studios and writers have agreed to sit down and negotiate this coming Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday.  Hopefully they will reach an agreement and we will all be going back to work very soon. 

And...I don't know about you but I love Project Runway!  I've been waiting patiently for the new season to begin.  One of my favorite things about Project Runway is my friend Jennifer's "Runway Roundup" blog.  She's hilarious and it is a great place for Runway fans to discuss the show.  She posts pictures of each outfit and disects each episode.  Here is her MySpace page if you want to subscribe.  You'll see me there each week commenting away! 

(Spit mark!?  WTF!?)

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=82230642

Now...go eat some turkey and stuffing and watch football and have a great Thanksgiving!

8:44 AM - 295 Comments - 460 Kudos - Add Comment

More about The Strike

Hey everyone!  Thank you for all of your support with the strike.  Trust me, all of us want to get back to work.  We are hoping for a speedy resolution.  We love making the show.  We love being together and working together.  But more importantly, we need to get back to work so we can get this town up and running again.  It is already starting to get ugly. 

Who does this strike effect? 

This strike effects so many people.  I read a comment from a girl in Chicago who said that her internship in California was cancelled because of the strike.  I guess the production she was going to work on was shut down.  Now, she doesn't have time to set up a new internship in time to graduate and that means her student loans will be due.  She'll have to get a job to cover the bills and that means, no time for an internship and no graduation.  Like a vicous circle. 

Every week that we don't produce our show is a week we don't get paid.  We are weekly workers not salaried employees.  No show, no paycheck.  The actors and writers on the show can hold out.  We have savings.  We can afford to be out of work while we fight the good fight.  But there are a lot of crew members who are going to be struggling through the holidays this year because of the shut down of production.  This is true every time a production shuts down around town.  And this breaks my heart.  A lot of these folks live paycheck to paycheck.  

Our crew is amazing.  They have been dedicated to our show from the beginning often working long difficult hours without all the spoils of having your face on TV.  AND, they continued to show their support even as the show was being shut down.  Check out our PA Dan's blog about his last day at work...

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=127662845&blogID=326150799

Who benefits from the strike?  Who are we fighting for?

Some people have asked if everyone will benefit from the strike or if only the writers benefit. The Writers Guild only negotiates for writers. However, they are the first union contract to be up with the studios. The Actor's Guild contract is up in June 2008 and you can bet we will be fighting for the same residuals.  It is important to support the writer's strike because the results of this strike will trickle down to the other union contracts...just like how a court ruling effects future rulings.  We are a union show and hire union crew members.

And, as James put it in his blog:  "This is for middle-class writers – your regular TV staff writers and people who may have done one or two small feature films.  Residuals are a way they can make perhaps a few thousand dollars a year between gigs.  This is a way they can put food on the table and pay the rent during downtime – and downtime is something almost all writers (and actors and directors) have." 

Let's say you write a movie script and you sell it for $100,000...that's GREAT money!  Your movie gets made and yada yada.  You start churning away writing more scripts.  But it takes you 4 years before you sell your next script.  That $100,000 windfall is now stretched to $25,000 a year for 4 years.  (And, I'm not even counting the 30% that goes to taxes and 25% to your agent/manager.)   If during that 4 years they sell your movie on DVD or run it on Pay-per-view you get little residual checks for $1,000 here or $2,500 there.  That money is essential for getting by.  This scenerio is what the majority of writers, actors and directors in Hollywood face.  You have a few flush years and then a big drought. 

The future of media is the internet.  In a few years it is more likely that you will download a movie or television show than buy it on DVD.  But as it currently stands, those downloads produce no residuals for the creative types that made them.  All the profit goes to the studio.

This is a great video with snazzy graphics that helps explain the strike.  The studios stand to earn a projected $2 billion over the next few years from internet downloads.  But they dont' want to share. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ55Ir2jCxk    

James writes more about how you can help in his latest blog...

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=58119776&MyToken=a0ea7409-d767-46f7-9d22-7cf39e321119

Angela, Creed and Oscar were on the picket lines today.  Tonight I'm picking up Dr. Wesley Von Spears, my beloved mutt.  He's going to spend the weekend with me and you might just see us out on the picket lines tomorrow.  He's very passionate about the strike.  Andy on the other hand plans to picket our front door.  He is striking on behalf of his right to live in a house without a crazy muppet dog smelling his butt all day.  While I appreciate Andy's passion, I think he's gonna lose this one. 

Finally...I LOVE FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS!  I'm not sure I can say it enough.  And boy...Riggins.  Riggins!  The tortured soul!  The bedroom eyes!  Jesus!  Let's end the strike for Riggins!

11:29 AM - 471 Comments - 717 Kudos - Add Comment