Doc finds relevance almost a decade later
The show: Pencils Down! The moment: The present-day echo
Screenwriters and other members of the Hollywood community address the camera in this doc about the 2007 writers’ strike. In a show of solidarity, members of the Writers Guild of America — the screenwriters’ union — and the people who supported them walked picket lines for 100 days, fighting for residuals for work that ran online (streaming was then brand new).
It wasn’t exactly a triumph, but it was a triumph for unionism. This doc contends that the idea of unions has been tarnished and that’s a shame.
“The larger problem is a loss of community in the U.S.,” says writer John Bowman. “The libertarian philosophy — every man for himself — has grabbed hold. We all admire a successful CEO. That’s a great dream. But the practical reality is, there’s only one of them and there are 200,000 people working for him, who are most likely going to stay one of 200,000.”
“If you are not taking care of the average worker, you create an unstable environment,” agrees writer Peter Hankoff.
Every historical film, non-fiction or fiction, has to have relevance in the time it’s released. This one’s relevance to the just-concluded U.S. election could not be clearer if the doc makers had scripted it.
Though it may be difficult to think of screenwriting as hard labour, the liberal media here points out a perplexing truth: people’s dreams of being the boss lead them to forgo their rights as workers. Call it ignorance or naive hope, but as Trump supporters so soundly demonstrated, it’s powerful. Pencils Down! The 100 Days of the Writers Guild Strike is available on iTunes and vimeo.com. Johanna Schneller is a media connoisseur who zeroes in on popculture moments. She usually appears Monday through Thursday.