OK, people. It's cute when Britney does it. She's a professional.

But an "Element"? Dude...

Thank god police reports are not covered by the Guild.

I don't think it was a writer who was hit. The shoes appear to be Nike, the official footwear of PAs. Don't all TV writers wear Chuck Taylor All Stars?

"The average writer makes about $200,000 per year."

@Double Banger: And still, most are unfuckable.

@gwendemarco: What would that first digit need to be, Gwen? Give me something to shoot for.

@gwendemarco: Which will luckily spare us from having to read about a post-strike baby boom.

@Little Mintz Sunshine: Come now. Agents will need to eat soon, even if it means knocking up their own wives to feast on their own.

Hopefully the strike will end soon so Mr. Lechowick can go back to writing episodes of "The Young & the Restless" before American culture completely collapses....

I drove past that lot this morning and what's sad is there were only eight writers picketing at that gate at 9:30.

I assume the writers for Heroes are still in hiding.

I hope Mr. Johnson sues the a*hole in the Element for all he's worth. That should help him ride out the strike fairly comfortably.

and i thought fox was "fair and balanced" - sheesh

This is totally being misreported...driver was a non-union editor just trying to get in to do his job who'd been forced to wait over twenty minutes while picketeers blocked-up the gates...he finally creeped forward at about 4 miles an hour, strikers refused to move, and someone's foot got run over...totally the picketeers fault.

First they came for Talkshow with Spike Feresten, and I did not speak out, because who the fuck is Spike Feresten? Then they came for the Heroes staff, and I did not speak out, because, seriously, the season sucks. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me - because everyone was busy catching up on Battlestar Galactica DVDs, and noone gave a damn anymore.

@WendyKroy: No other words for it -- you rock!

@illiniq: Where do you live where if a pedestrian refuses to move out of the way, a car driver is entitled to drive over him? Is there a provision in California traffic law that say running someone over is OK if you do it under 5 mph? I guess it's also OK to bulldoze over those pesky environmentalists who chain link themselves to a tree, as long as you do it S-L-O-W-L-Y.

If this idiot driver couldn't get into the lot because of interference - a point which eyewitnesses disagree - then the driver should have contacted on-site security or called the fuckin' police, NOT run over a guy.

@sebast: There are special "below the line" provisions in the CA law in which running over the appendage of someone who falls in that pitiful category is indeed appropriate and often welcomed.

That "non-union" editor will never be a "union" editor. Hope it was worth it for him.

@gwendemarco: Thanks for enlightening me. I knew that Britney was exempt from having to obey the entire traffic code but did not know pedestrians & picketeers were fair game for everyone. Will have to keep that in mind...

a writer's perpective The first day of the strike is in the books. I marched at the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank. I was one of the only people who didn’t have a red shirt, but someone gave me a solidarity rubber wristband that says “No Justice. No Scripts.”

"The average television writer makes $200,000 a year." WHEN he/she is lucky enough to be employed in a business where half the Guild is out of work at any given time. By "out of work" I mean desperately looking for work; writing specs, going to meetings. A WGA writer can make a good living but that 200K you hear about often has to last people through years of unemployment (and by "unemployment" I mean working for free). Additionally the monies we're asking for go to pay dues which cover our health and pension funds. Writers are high achieving, college educated people. Do they not at least deserve some health coverage and a basic pension for their often 14-18 hour a day contributions to an industry that earns the studios BILLIONS every year?

Put Raleigh boy in jail. Next time he should pick on somebody his own size like a kid in a school crosswalk on his way home to trick up his myspace page.

@illiniq: You're the one who is misinformed. The guy deliberately gunned his car and ran over Tom's leg. He would have kept going and run over Tom's leg with the back tires too except some writers surrounded the car and I guess he figured running over four more people would look a little suspicious.

Um, I wish television writers made on average $200,000 a year. The average is closer to $30,000.