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IGN visited with Zachary Levi, Sarah Lancaster, and Joshua Gomez as they stood alongside Josh Schwartz on the WGA picket line:
Down the street a bit, Joshua Gomez was standing with his Chuck co-creator Josh Schwartz and co-stars Zachary Levi and Sarah Lancaster. I hadn’t met Lancaster before and Gomez, an avid gamer and loyal IGN reader, earned my thanks by introducing me to her as someone who works for “a really cool website.”
Gomez explained the situation with Chuck during the strike, noting “We’re actually fortunate enough that we’re a little bit ahead of the curve – a little bit ahead of the game, so we actually have our full 13 [scripts] finished and done. So we’re in the middle of shooting [the 12th episode] right now, and then we actually have a 13th script, so we will finish shooting our original contracted 12 episodes past the pilot. But after that, that’s when it becomes really real, at least for our cast and crew.”
Describing how he saw the situation with actors joining the writers on the picket lines, Gomez said “Basically, for us, it’s David and Goliath. The actors are there because in about six months, we’re going to be in basically the same situation, which is ‘What’s fair?’ We need something for Internet and even DVD. DVD might go the way of VHS, but still, they’re not even getting the right cut from that. And we don’t want that to happen for the Internet, because that’s clearly the future and that’s clearly going to be for our kids. That needs to be established now rather than later. And they’re not asking for much!” Gomez summed up the situation, saying “it blows.”
Gomez said that Schwartz and Chuck co-creator Chris Fedak spoke to the cast about the potential strike as it became an increasing possibility. “They basically just expressed the fact that most of the people you see here don’t want to on this picket line. No one wants to be striking. Everyone wants to work. That’s pretty much what they expressed – ‘We’re sorry guys.'”
Gomez said that the creators “Were crushed. This is Schwartz. He’s got two shows [Chuck and Gossip Girl] and it’s like ‘My babies!’ It’s like not being able to be around his kids. He can’t even come on to set or do whatever. It’s tough, man.”
Meanwhile, going to work as an actor on the show while the strike is underway “is strange” said Gomez. “We support the strike fully, but I still have to drive through, and as I drive through a picket line, they understand. They know who we are — at least on our lot, on the Warner Bros. lot — when me and Zach drive in.” Gomez noted that continuing to work while another union, the writers, are on strike “is in our contract. There’s a ‘no strike’ clause. We have to do this, but otherwise, if I’m not there, I’m out here with these guys [on the picket line].”
Gomez said that to resolve the situation “All I would hope for now, is just for everybody to start sitting down again. They’re not even doing that. That’s what’s really so frustrating. People need to take a deep breath, sit down, and let’s figure this out. I don’t think it’s so hard. I don’t think it’s going to take that much to make both sides happy. Everybody’s thinking ‘Hollywood writers! What do they want?’ But most of these people out here are low to middle class, and haven’t worked in a year. Everyone’s struggling. And the people who are saying that they’re broke, they’re not so broke.”
