The stars of 'Grey's Anatomy' joined striking Hollywood writers on the picket line yesterday.
The Associated Press reports that Patrick Dempsey, Ellen Pompeo, Katherine Heigl, Sandra Oh, TR Knight and others spent their lunch break with strikers outside Prospect Studios where the hit show is filmed.
The stars revealed that, due to the strike, they are currently shooting scenes for their last scripted episode.
"It's really a big tragedy to be out here striking at all," said Dempsey.
He continued: "I think there are going to be a lot of people affected by this, that have families, that live pay cheque to pay cheque, that upsets me profoundly. But at the same time, I do feel that the writers deserve a better break on the deals they have been getting."
Knight said: "We're supposed to be going until the end of May and right now our last shooting day will be [next] Tuesday or Wednesday. As actors, we're paid a different way than the writers, but there's also the crew to keep in mind. They are out of work as of next Wednesday."
"You've got to have a story in order to perform anything, to have any ideas on where to go and what to do," said Heigl. "They're everything. We can't do it without them."
Commenting on the strike, Oh said: "This matter is way too important, not only for our writers, but ultimately everyone who makes movies, everyone who makes entertainment here in this town and again for the rest of the world."
The strike began on Monday when talks between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke down over how much writers should receive when their shows are available on the Internet.
