Viva la Revolucion!

Comrades. Patriots. Fellow nobodies. Hollywood is broken.

I come to you with this truth not simply point out the obvious, but to galvanize your support to fix it.

For too long we have toiled in the mail rooms, on the loading docks and at the reception desks. We've lied for our boss. We've ignored obvious EEOC violations. We've endured the unnecessary wrath of Hollywood executives because we share a common goal -- to make movies and TV.

But it is time for a change. We've tried working within your system. We've played your games. But it has been all for naught. We're doing the same mind-numbing work -- rolling calls, making lunch reservations and printing scripts -- as when we started and haven't received so much as a whiff of the creative opportunities we'd been promised. And now you deliver the final insult. I speak of the impeding pay cuts for our brothers and sisters at William Morris Endeavor Entertainment.

That's right my fellow hourly cogs - Pay cuts!!

It has come to light that the many assistants at the newly formed WME2 will have their pay slashed in the coming days. At the same time gas hovers around $3/gallon, they are implementing pay cuts. While the Consumer Price Index jumps 2.7% in the first half of 2009, our colleagues in the Hollywood underclass face pay reductions ranging from 20%-35%. Some will face an hourly rate that's a paltry $10 (or perhaps $11, depending on if you believe Darling Nikki or Defamer) per hour. And on top of that, they're essentially mandating 50-hour work weeks.

I ask you, "Is this just?"

The answer is as obvious as the plastic surgery on Demi Moore's...err...everything. "No." This is wretched behavior exercised by the ogres who run this town.

Ari Emanuel and his cohorts at WME2 will say that this is just resolving the pay disparity between the Endeavor assistants and those from the newly-acquired William Morris. Or perhaps they'll say it's a cost cutting measure in these rough economic times. But I say "ca ca poo poo."

Do the math.

After layoffs, William Morris brought along only about 100 agents (and their assistants) as part of the merger/takeover. Whatever cost savings is achieved by slashing the pay of the lowest of the low is a pittance compared to the salaries of WME2's top management and certainly compared to the construction costs of the new WME castle...errr...headquarters. And I'm certain WME2 management never even considered leveling assistant pay through increases rather than decreases.

We cannot and will not stand for such blatant disrespect. I ask you all to join me in solidarity in a non-violent protest. Make "Che Equis" the background on your computer. Print up the logo and put it on your bulletin board. Or grow a wispy mustache. Send a message to "The Man" and let 'em know we are strong, united and can bring this town to a halt if we want to. So they better start respecting us now before it's too late.

Pacem in Terris