STRIKE COVERAGE: WGA East Picket Line a Star-Studded Affair

Celebrity Sightings Turn Strike Into Red-Carpet Event

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/8/2007 11:39:00 AM

The Writers Guild of America East’s updates on the ongoing strike against producers are sounding more and more like releases outlining the expected celebrity sightings at a red-carpet event.

In this case, it was not carpet but the pavement outside Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle in New York, where Thursday's picket line is scheduled, with News Corp. headquarters lined up for Friday.

According to WGAE, union backers Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins are expected in the morning, with Meg Ryan and David Hyde Pierce at noon, plus cast members from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Saturday Night Live, "and many more," plus, "DON'T MISS A SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE BETWEEN 12:00-1:00 P.M."

WGA West is set to picket Paramount Studios, with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton and cast members from Ugly Betty and General Hospital scheduled to join the line.

In Hollywood Wednesday, John Stamos of ER said some of the stars of that show were getting together to help staffers pay car or house payments.

The strike began Monday, primarily over how to compensate writers for the multiple platforms their work is now playing on.

For a gallery of photos from the picket line, click here.

For full coverage of the strike, click here.