Scriptland: Striking writers face publicity dilemna

IN their ongoing conflict with studio and network employers, Hollywood's screenwriters have been faced with plenty of tough decisions and juicy paradoxes. While the spectacle of the industry's most purely imaginative artists going to the mattresses with a set of economic proposals surely takes the top slot, the publicity conundrum has also taken on extra significance.

One of the hoariest maxims in the overstuffed pop culture manual is that there's no such thing as bad publicity. (I'd love to hear Roger Clemens comment on that one.) But lately, screenwriters -- under normal circumstances a low priority during any film's publicity push -- have been coping with the dilemma that promoting a film to further one's career will likely also help the offending studio's bottom line, at a time when all eyes are finally on writers because of the strike.

"I do feel conflicted about doing publicity at this time, but my trusty flack makes sure everything I do is cleared with the WGA," e-mails Diablo Cody, who has been on a whirlwind, multi-continent tour to promote "Juno," her much-lauded debut screenplay. "Ultimately, it's good for all writers when a writer gets ink. When I showed up at the 'Juno' premiere, I heard some random guy in the crowd shout 'No publicity!' And I felt like, 'Listen . . . if you want writers to receive respect and recognition, then maybe we ought to be visible.' "

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Jay A. Fernandez / Scriptland

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