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# Conan, return to your show
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/conan-return-to-your-show/
- Published: 2007-12-01T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-25T01:19:34.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Kenn Tarr Notes from the film scoundrel*

The Scoundrel was away last week, living off of his relatives for the Thanksgiving Holiday, as tradition dictates. It’s good to be back. I thought the striking writers would be back by now, too. They aren’t, obviously.

I would have liked to see a new “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” since I finally have a TV, but to no avail. I have an idea. Most of the writers walking the picket lines should just quit the business? Quit altogether. OK, the ones that actually have had something produced (by someone other than themselves) can stay picketing, but once every hack writer drops the poster boards, then maybe the producers will want to deal with them. I take the producers’ side here, and as I am an aspiring writer, I feel that all these hacks are just taking up space. I have read in articles that the average annual salary for a writer is like $10,000\. This is silly. My solution is to kick out everyone from the union that doesn’t actually sell anything and then cut a deal on online viewing rights and everything else. Really, for every Akiva Goldsmith there are 1,000 Joe Steins just sitting around calling themselves writers.

The last several weeks has been their day in the sun, getting attention as a “striking worker” when really every hack writer doesn’t really do much. Get a day job, perhaps, don’t force the writing so much and maybe, by actually working, your annual salary will go up. Yes, writers do get screwed and under-appreciated. The reason is that there are so many of them, and so many trying to be them. Producers know they can find material more so than writers know they can write material. To quote Tim Robbins’ character in Robert Altman’s “The Player,” “What an interesting idea to take the writer out of the filmmaking process. Now if we can only get rid of these actors, we’d be onto something.”

However it happens, just settle the strike. TV is getting stupid with no new Conan shows and good writers really do deserve to get paid. The ones that write for a living do at least. Hopefully, writers will improve their craft in general, so that in the future producers won’t dismiss their demands so easily. It all starts with a script, and it seems that TV and film frequently forgets this.

I was speaking to a contact in New York this weekend. It turns out writers had to send in copies of their scripts in progress to the guild, just so they wouldn’t actually write during the work stoppage. I figured they could still write during the strike, just not solicit or sell their scripts. Glad I am not in the guild and I can write anything I want. This piqued my interest. Writing is not something that should be structured and blocked off due to labor issues. So for any striking writers who wish to remain anonymous, I would like to know how this strike has affected your creativity and if you still do write. Don’t worry I am not a whistleblower or guild boss. Just a writer concerned for writers who are restricted from working. Oh yeah, and I mean actually produced writers that are in the guild. If I wanted to ask a hack, I would ask myself.

One good thing about the strike is that the Oscar ceremony might occur during the strike. That would mean the broadcast, usually five hours long, would be right down to business for once. For anyone who likes handicapping Oscars and picking the winners, Oscar night would become a fast-moving sports game. The show would be more like two hours. There would be no bad jokes. Hopefully no jokes at all. No multiple presenters, no corny shtick. Maybe they can settle the strike, unsettle it, and then settle it again right after they hand out the Oscars. My guess is this is a fantasy. The Oscars will always be a long, drawn-out affair. And they wonder why the ratings suck.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/120107-13_01.jpg)

NBC HEAD FOR HOME: The writers strike has columnist longing for Conan O’Brien to return to TV. (Photo: Photo courtesy)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 1, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/120107.pdf?ref=smdp.com)