Celebrities Support WGA Strike

(CBS)  A producer says filming has stopped on the popular NBC sitcom "The Office" because star Steve Carell refuses to cross the picket lines of striking writers.

Executive producer Greg Daniels says the last new episode of the show will air next week. It is among at least eight prime-time shows to stop shooting as of Wednesday because of the strike.

Daniels is among 60 people protesting outside Disney studios in Burbank as the strike enters its third day.

2Sally Field, who won the best actress Oscar in 1979 for the pro-union film "Norma Rae," left the set of her show, "Brothers & Sisters," to visit strikers and show her support.

Meanwhile, at a celebration of the Sundance Institute, celebrities in New York City's Upper East Side on Monday night spoke to The ShowBuzz about the Hollywood Writer's strike that has swept the nation.

Earlier on Monday, Hollywood writers went on strike for the first time since 1988.

Members of the WGA are dropping their pens and picking up their picket signs in hopes of getting a new contract. They took to the streets protesting for more money, insisting they get a cut from the profits that TV and movie downloads are bringing in.

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Photos: Writers Strike

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Field told CBS News' The ShowBuzz that she worries what will happen to crew on her ABC-TV drama "Brothers and Sisters."

"I hate it when it comes to this because to stop work ... I worry about on our show all of the crews, they're all worried about the mortgages and their families."

To prepare for the strike, Field said "Brothers and Sisters" has a couple more shows already taped, and there are a couple of scripts "in the can," but if the strike lasts longer than expected, she says the show will be "garbage."

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Celebrity Support For Striking Hollywood Writers

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"It'll be all the actors just going -- 'That doesn't work. You say that and then I'll say this' -- and lord knows what's going to turn out," Field said.

Glenn Close expressed her support for the writers.

"I've made my profession by having wonderful words by wonderful writers coming out of my mouth, so I am very much in support of the writers, " Close said. "The world is changing very fast with television and Internet and all the complicated things, and I think it's inevitable that this would have happened."

Redford said he supports the artist, who often gets the short end of the stick.

"I think the writers have a point and I hope it doesn't go on too long but the fact is it all begins with a story, and the story is the writer, so I'm a big supporter of writers," Redford said.

Redford's latest movie, "Lions for Lambs," opens nationwide on Friday. He directed and co-starred with Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep.

CBS New's Michele Jarchin contributed to this report.

[johnny343sc]

"Too many prima donnas being paid way to much for what you produce and studio owner etc getting richer and richer - guess what life without TV shows will be just fine."

EXACTLY... no pitty here!

Enjoy your latte- spoiled rotten writers. LOL

;)

[brianbwb-2009]

The issue is royalties from DVD and digital media sales. The writers want a paltry2.5% and the companies won''t agree, claiming "it is new tech, and profits are slim".

The companies'' argument is pure BS, DVD and digital media sales are the leading source of income, even DVDs are almost obsolete now, with HD and Blu-ray replacing them. If the income is so small, then what do they lose by sharing 2.5%?

Just like record companies, who used to pay royalties only on vinyl record sales long after the CD had replaced them as the main media for distribution, they have the gall to label file sharing children as "pirates", and sue far in excess of the value of the goods.

They, more so than the "pirates" deprive creators of the rightful income from their creation, so I say "long live file sharing"...