I'll Be Back...

There will be no Sunday post this week, since my own strike-survival strategy involves having some long-delayed shoulder surgery taken care of tomorrow morning, Friday the 18th. At least it’s not Friday the 13th... but with the strike dragging on into its eleventh week, I’m rolling the dice that now is the time. Not that there's ever a really good time for surgery, mind you, but such is life. This will take some time, too – the doc says I won't be ready to start slinging cable again for a good four months, if all goes well. Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Axium Payroll implosion didn't take my disability benefits with it.

This whole thing seemed like a pretty good bet six weeks ago when I loaded the dice into the cup – a bet that looks rather less promising with today’s announcement that the DGA reached a settlement with the AMPTP in their contract negotiations. If the deal they struck satisfies the WGA and SAG, this strike could be over in a matter of days. In that case, the loud, flesh-on-flesh sound you’ll hear will be me doing a one-handed dope slap worthy of Homer Simpson.
“Doh!” indeed...

You pays your money, and you takes your chances -- and you sleep in the bed you made. That’s okay. Even if it ends up that I’ve hung myself out to dry, I really do hope they settle this damned strike next week. Too many good people are suffering; too much of real value teeters on the edge of the abyss. Get the wheels of Hollywood rolling again, put those tens of thousands of below-the-line and above-the-line people back to work. Do it before it’s too late, before more people get hurt. Just fucking do it...

At any rate, trying to type with one arm in a sling and a head full of Vicodin would be a waste of time for you and me both. A week of recovery should enable me to put something up by next Sunday – if not by me, then perhaps the debut of a guest-poster I’ve been pestering to contribute to Blood, Sweat, and Tedium.

And on that note: I’ve said it before, and will say it again -- if any of you have a good Industry story you'd like to tell, send it along to hollywoodjuicer@gmail.com under your real name or nom de plume. Anonymity will be respected. Share and share alike, my fellow work-bots. We’re all in this together.

And in the words of our only-in-California state Governator: “I’ll be back...”