Lemon aides

A mix of about 400 writers and writers assistants united in front of 20th Century Fox Studios today for "Assistants Day" on the picket lines.

After losing their jobs as assistants on CBS' "Shark," Debbie Ezer and Kate Burns wanted a creative way to show their support for the writers. Today the friends -- who received their official termination letters from 20th Century Fox about a week ago -- set up a lemonade stand in front of the studio's main gate on Pico Boulevard.

"Fox gave us lemons," Ezer said, "so we made lemonade."

Although the drinks were free, Ezer and Burns, both aspiring writers, taped a sign to their stand that asked for donations of "8 cents (non-negotiable)." After one hour in business, the donation jar was full of money -- including a hefty contribution from one customer.

"Someone put a $100 bill in," Ezer said. "Writers are a very generous bunch."

Mehar Sethi, who lost his job as a writers assistant on ABC's "Cavemen" because of the strike, said the decision to side with the writers was "pretty cut and dried."

"These writers are making a sacrifice not only for themselves but for the future of the industry," he said.

Still, he'd like to get back to work soon.

"For assistants in particular, it's hard," he said. "I think assistants in Hollywood tend to be hand-to-mouth, paycheck-to-paycheck."

In the meantime, Sethi plans to find a temp job doing legal work. There may even be an upside.

"Non-industry jobs tend to pay more than low-level industry jobs," he said. "So I think I'll actually make more as a temp."

The picket also brought out a few actors. Ali Larter of NBC's "Heroes" appeared shortly after noon and joined the picket, carrying a Writers Guild sign with "SAG" written in blue marker.

More news on the strike

-- Andrea Chang

Comments

[Sure Fire]

This must be a hard time for assistants as they don't have a Union backing them during this rough time. It's great that some of the writers felt compassion and generously donated for lemonade. It'll be interesting to see how this effects the industry long-term. My concern is that although the writers think they're doing a favor to the industry, advertisers may go elsewhere to spend ad revenue and find a better return on their money (something they wouldn't have discovered if this strike hadn't happened). In the long-run, budgets would ultimately be made smaller and the writers' wages would be cut. Just a thought...

[Future WGA Member]

There will always be plenty of advertising revenue. Yes, the strike is a risk, but you don't make gains without risks.

Bottom line is the writers get shafted by the studios. If you haven't seen it yet, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a37uqd5vTw and watch the WGA/UnitedHollywood video that shows how certain the studios are of profits from the internet, until it's time to negotiate.

You hear the figures from the bigshots own mouths. 1.2 BILLION in digital revenue is one figure given.