Stars, John Edwards appear at NYC strike rally

Manhattan’s Washington Square Park is famous for a lot of things: chess, homeless people, NYU students, and demonstrations. So it goes without saying that hundreds of people turned out for Tuesday’s Writers Guild of America solidarity rally — especially with Presidential candidate John Edwards on hand. The crowd included big names like Edie Falco, Kristin Davis, Joe Pantoliano, David Cross, Julianna Margulies, David Chase, Danny Glover, Tim Robbins, Gilbert Gottfried, David Cross, B.J. Novak, and Tina Fey.

As the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers resumed talks back in L.A., the consensus at the rally was that the majority of the entertainment industry is at a standstill. “I was supposed to host Saturday Night Live and now I’m not,” Falco said. “Everything is on hold. [There were] a lot of meetings I was supposed to take that I can’t because the writers aren’t even allowed to take meetings.” Meanwhile, Davis, who had a day off from shooting Sex and the City: The Movie (which is still in production), said the film’s writer-director, Michael Patrick King, has had to adhere to a bevy of WGA guidelines to keep from crossing the picket line. “It’s a little hard for him only because we’re used to having a free flow. But of course, it’s much more important to us that we actually keep working. So he’s doing everything so carefully,” she said. “[The strike] is about the future. Everybody is going to be affected by this: what gets greenlit, what gets made if we’re not being compensated by all of the new media outlets. I don’t know anybody on our crew or anyone who isn’t supportive; they understand the big picture.”