Voices
“I don’t want a strike. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. But if it’s the only way, then it has to be.”
SIMON MIRREN --a writer and co-executive producer on CBS’ “Criminal Minds” as he headed into the WGA strike meeting at the L.A. Convention Center
‘It’s just getting to crunch time. So you’re like, oh my God, this thing I worked so hard on, I just wish it could keep going. It’s had this weird effect of making us appreciate what’s there.”
CHIP JOHANNESSEN -- veteran writer and executive producer of CBS’ new show “Moonlight”
“My kids don’t understand why I write something, they can download it on the Internet, and I don’t get paid for it. A child can understand it’s not fair.”
CYRUS VORIS -- executive producer of Showtime’s “Sleeper Cell”
“Writers will always write, whether they’re writing for themselves or writing for a corporation. I think there’s guys that’ll write specs, there’s guys that’ll write books, there’s guys that’ll write magazine articles, and guys that’ll write poetry and short stories and everything else. I just don’t think you can turn that off.”
JEFF NATHANSON -- screenwriter for “Rush Hour 3,” “The Terminal” and “Catch Me If You Can”
“I think that if the Writers Guild wants to get serious, they have to hire a team of lawyers to take the studios into court and sue them for collusion, restraint of trade [and] unfair competition. How they get anything done is really more a matter of the studios creating the illusion of throwing the writers a bone, and that’s the way it’s been going for 30 years.”
DALE LAUNER -- whose writing credits include “My Cousin Vinny,” “Blind Date” and “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”
“It’s a bummer here because we’re trying our darnedest so that our younger writers, who aren’t that highly paid, get their script assignments so they can get paid before it happens.”
BILL LAWRENCE --creator and executive producer of “Scrubs”
“I’m going to wait until the new year to start getting nervous. It’s just like [presidential] politics. Four months is a very long time.”
GILBERT CATES -- producer of the Academy Awards show on Feb. 24
“Make no mistake, we are prepared.”
LESLIE MOONVES -- CBS’ chief executive, in a conference call with industry analysts
Times staff writers Maria Elena Fernandez, Greg Braxton, Lynn Smith, Scott Collins, Andrea Chang, Jay Fernandez, Lorenza Munoz, Robert Welkos and Meg James compiled this report.
