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Ladd: Writers ‘are being very selfish’

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Veteran producer Alan Ladd Jr.:

‘Everybody is going to be hurt by [the ongoing strike]. I go to a restaurant [Orso] every Friday with Mel Brooks, and there is nobody there anymore....’ ‘I wish [the writers] would get back to work. Fortunately, I have a couple of scripts of my own that are already done and ready to go. But I do worry for the below-the-line people being so hurt, particularly at Christmas time. [The WGA] picked a lousy time to go on strike. They should have gone on strike after the first of the year when people have gotten their Christmas presents. It’s a pretty selfish time to take it.’ ‘I think the writers are being a little bit foolish. The film business is not the film business anymore. Warner Bros. is in the cable business, Disney is in the theme park business. Sumner [Redstone of Viacom] has CBS and what else I don’t know. The majors [studios] don’t care if there is a strike or not. The writers are very frustrated with what is going on.’

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On how long he thinks the strike will last:

‘I think a very long time. I just think that they are too far apart and they are arguing at this point over nothing. ... The writers, in my opinion, are being very selfish in terms of hurting a lot of people. ... They don’t seem to care about working stiffs. It’s going to be a very black Christmas for everybody and they don’t give a damn.’

More news on the strike

-- Robert Welkos

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