The newsroom has never looked so empty. After four days of Marley & Me, all the cameras, equipment, lights, wardrobes, extras and stars have moved elsewhere. And even those here who groaned about the intrusion must feel a little let down this morning.

It's not that the folks from Hollywood lent us some glamour. (Journalists haven't felt that since All the President's Men). Rather, they gave us a sense of productivity.

You can sometimes despair in this business, sitting at a blank computer screen for fifteen minutes trying to come up with a lead. But when you watch actors spend all morning saying the same four lines you don't feel so worthless. And they HAVE their words; we have to come up with ours.

The repeated tedium of film-making was a revelation, and seeing how actors spend their working lives made me understand why, very often, their private lives are out of control.

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