Ray Richmond
reports
that he has it from a highly-placed source that former President Bill Clinton is interested as acting as an impartial negotiator between the WGA and the studios.
I am hearing it on good authority from a highly reputable source that none other than former President Bill Clinton -- long a friend of the entertainment industry -- has let it be known to intimates that he would make himself available to help break the Writers Guild of America strike impasse with the studios that at the moment has no new talks planned.
"He could absolutely serve as a modern-day Lew Wasserman," the source confirmed. "Bill Clinton is uniquely positioned because he doesn't need anything from this. It would strictly be about bringing the sides together. I'd say the only possible deal-breaker could be if his wife's team somehow feels that it may be perceived as a negative for her Presidential campaign, but I don't really see how it could."
*****
It leads to another question that's already being asked with increasing volume -- namely, where is California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in all of this? He has obviously made a decision to stay out of the picture -- but why? He's in the rare position of being both a high-level politician and a Hollywood superstar. And this strike quite clearly stands to have a major negative economic impact on his state. Weird that he should be so resolutely committed to staying on the sidelines.
It is quite odd that Governor Schwarzenegger is keeping mum on the writers' strike. No doubt he has his reasons for staying out of it -- at least for now. And we haven't heard any rumors that he is secretly talking to either of the parties. As for former President Clinton getting involved, we think it's a great idea. Anything to get the parties back to the table is a good thing. He has enough status to get the parties -- especially the AMPTP -- to put aside their differences and hammer out a deal before the economic impact becomes devastating.
The AMPTP has steadfastly refused to allow the Los Angeles mayor to step in as a mediator, but he's only a mayor of one of the country's largest cities. This is an
ex-President. If this rumor is true and the AMPTP turns down this amazing offer, it will make them look really, really unreasonable.
