Strike Panel @ The Skirball this Sunday

What are the connections between the 50s Blacklist and today's strikes? Find out (irl).

Strikes got you down? Join the club—it’s Day 101 of the writers’ walkout and about four weeks into SAG-AFTRA’s, with no end in sight, albeit with WGA-AMPTP talks scheduled for tomorrow. Will there be real progress? Let’s hope.

But meanwhile, if you want to rise above it all (literally), and take in some history as well, check out a panel I’m on this Sunday, Aug. 13, 2pm, at The Skirball Center in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Moderated by film critic Ben Mankiewicz, the in-person panel—called “Solidarity in a Divided Hollywood: From the Blacklist to Today's Hollywood Strikes”—also includes guild scholar Prof. Miranda Banks, SAG-AFTRA national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and WGA negotiating committee member writer-director Eric Haywood.

Admission is free for SAG-AFTRA and WGA members, Skirball members, and those few I’m able to comp (email me, first-come first-served). Otherwise it’s $20 / $10 seniors & students. Register here. Admission includes museum admission; the current exhibition is on the 1950s Blacklist.

For those who like reading in addition to irl events, check out my latest at Puck (paywall), where I explain last Friday’s star-crossed meeting between the AMPTP and WGA, and dissect why the unions and studios can’t just sit down and make a deal. It’s not quite that easy. Collective bargaining isn’t the same as one-on-one dealmaking.

And if watching TV is more your thing, here’s my latest appearance on Fox LA ch. 11:

I’m on Fox every week and have also recently appeared on KCBS/KCAL, KNBC, KABC, KNX, Sirius XM, BBC and others. Click here for a list of all my appearances, with links.