Striking writers plot major rally at Fox studio

By Carl DiOrio and Nellie Andreeva

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Friday could test the mettle of studio suits as the Writers Guild of America strike enters its fifth day with no resolution in sight.

TV executives are juggling schedules, chopping episodes from season plans and trying to continue with business as usual on those shows still going before the cameras. Throw in a mass rally outside your gates and rumors of a Teamsters' work stoppage, and it seems safe to say that there could be a run on the office aspirin supply.

"Please be advised that the Writers Guild of America will be conducting a large strike rally with between 2,000 and 4,000 participants outside the Fox studio on Friday," Fox employees were alerted in a corporate e-mail Thursday.

Lest Fox employees take any of this personally, the memo added, "We anticipate the WGA will continue hosting rallies such as this at other studio locations in the weeks to come."

Several TV shows, including the Fox-produced series "How I Met Your Mother," are slated to wrap production on the lot Friday as their supply of available scripts runs dry, and other series also continue in production on the lot, including "Journeyman," "Bones" and "Shark." Most series have later call times of noon or so on Fridays, so even heavier-than-normal picketing would be especially disruptive then.

Yet if the WGA rally seemed sure to cause some anxiety on the lot, there also appeared to be signs that its planning was taxing those trying to mount the event.

Many of the guild's media alerts have been rather last minute ever since negotiations with the studios began in July. Of course, coordinating press stunts involving celebrities on picket lines can be tougher than herding cats, but generally speaking an early and detailed media alert produces the broadest coverage.

By late Thursday, there was still no official media alert on the event. A guild spokesman would confirm only that a rally had been set for 10 a.m. Friday.