Leno writer states his union’s case
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Joe Medeiros, head writer for “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” is the strike captain in charge of the WGA members picketing outside NBC’s West Coast headquarters on Bob Hope Drive in Burbank. On most days, there is a line of women waiting here, giddy fans hoping to become part of the studio audience for “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” But not today.
DeGeneres didn’t tape her show, nor will Leno tape his.
Medeiros, a bespectacled 56-year-old Philadelphia native with salt-and-pepper hair, patrolled the line, wearing a black canvas baseball cap with one word: ‘Writer.” As a steady stream of NBC workers entered the lot, some driving black Mercedes, Lexus and Priuses, Medeiros reflected on the strike and his career.
“I started with Jay in ‘89, Jan. 1, 1989, when he was the guest host. Moved out here in ’92 when he got ‘The Tonight Show.’ Been with him ever since. Before that I was an advertising copy writer; I wrote jokes on the side. I’d get up at 5 a.m., before I went to work. I would sell the jokes for $2 to $5 each. Jay was buying material for his act, and that’s when I started working for him.
“I wish I was doing that right now, instead of standing here. None of us want to be out here,” Medeiros said. “We’re out here to get a fair contract. None of us wants to be out here, none of us wants a strike. Striking was the only way for us to make the point that we want a fair and equitable and just contract.”
Soon, Leno happened by, and he and Medeiros walked away for a private conversation. (Leno repeatedly voiced his support for the writers. He also brought doughnuts to feed those on the picket line.)
“Television is changing,” Medeiros said later. “A laptop computer used to be used to write jokes. But now, the corporations see the computer as a portable TV, a portable movie theater. And they are making money on that. People are watching their laptops, that’s how they watch television. And the corporations are making money on that. Follow the money, see where it’s going.”
As for claims that the corporations aren’t making much money on the Internet, Medeiros said: “That’s what they said about the DVDs, and now it’s a multi-billion-dollar-a-year business. We’re not asking for a flat fee, we’re just asking for a percentage, for our fair share. It seems pretty simple to me.
“They are putting commercials on the programs that they are putting on the Internet, but yet the corporations say they are just ‘promotional’ uses. But they are selling commercials; it’s a business and they are making money. We just want our fair share.”
-- Meg James
