Over 5,000 writers and supporters descended on the mid-Wilshire neighborhood of Los Angeles on Wednesday to rally support during the eighth week of the Writers Guild of America labor stoppage.
The “WGA Strong” rally featured spirited and sometimes expletive-filled speeches from the likes of I’m a Virgo writer-director Boots Riley, WGA negotiating committee member Adam Conover and Teamsters Local 399 leader Lindsay Dougherty, as well as a musical performance from singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc (who pointedly sang, at one point, “I Need a Dollar”). The overall message to writers, who are now 51 days into their first strike in 15 years? Hollywood labor is behind you.
The event also served as something of a flex to the industry. “We are out here today to tell the companies how strong we are,” said WGA negotiating committee member Adam Conover (The G Word), who acted as the rally’s emcee. He added, “Carol [Lombardini, the president of the AMPTP] didn’t plan for how strong we are. She did not plan for the fact that eight weeks in, we are bringing the same energy as on day one. She didn’t plan that our picket lines are being joined by workers from every union in town.” Added Riley, “They’re scared of what’s going on. They’re scared of how militant, how ready to fight we’ve become.”
The event began with a march from Pan Pacific Park to the La Brea Tar Pits, snaking around the Grove and down Third St., past the WGA West’s headquarters and the Academy Museum. Wearing bright blue WGA shirts, the writers held signs bearing phrases like “We break the stories. We can break you,” “Wrote ChatGPT this” and “Say NO to unprotected sets.” They were joined by fellow union members in entertainment from SAG-AFTRA, the Directors Guild of America, Laborers’ International Union of North America, the American Federation of Musicians and the Teamsters.
Once the group reached the Tar Pits, a host of leaders from fellow labor organizations addressed the crowd and pledged total solidarity with the WGA, even as several pointed to the sacrifices of their own members during the labor stoppage. Recently arrived from a bargaining session at the AMPTP headquarters in Sherman Oaks, SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland told writers that “this fight is a fight for everyone in this industry to make sure that we can all continue making a living, doing what we love to do.” Former DGA president Thomas Schlamme said entertainment companies should “get off their asses and get back in the room with the WGA.”
IATSE vp and director of the motion picture and television department Mike Miller addressed the fact that work has slowed down significantly for many in the industry during the strike: “It’s time for them [the AMPTP] to realize that the pain they’re inflicting is not going to be what drives this back to the bargaining table. What’s gonna drive back to the bargaining table is the likelihood of a fair contract that addresses the value everyone in the industry brings to these studios.”
The event ended with some sharp words from Lindsay Dougherty, the Teamsters Local 399 leader whose profile has skyrocketed during the strike due to her unwavering support of the writers and the fact that many of her members have refused to cross their picket lines. “The studios and the tech companies wanted to push you guys down and try and break you. But guess what? We’re not gonna let that happen. None of us. No fucking way.” Pointing to the La Brea Tar Pits museum, she called the setting for the rally “fitting,” as it showcases some extinct species and, “I think what we need to do with the AMPTP is make them fucking extinct.”
Some 11,500 WGA members have been on strike since May 2 in a battle with studios and streamers over the size and duration of writers’ rooms, streaming residuals, overall compensation and regulation of artificial intelligence, among other issues. In the L.A. area, scribes have participated in daily pickets in front of production centers like the Paramount studio lot, the Warner Bros. lot, CBS Radford and Television City. In addition to these daily marches, some writers have participated in targeted pickets aimed at shutting down individual productions, given that many crew members are respecting writers’ picket lines. The WGA and the AMPTP have not yet set a date to return to the negotiating table.
The dozens of days on strike have taken their toll, some union members acknowledged during the event. “Hey, I’m not eating as well as I used to. I’m like, yeah, I have to deal with that. But c’est la vie,” said writer Joy Kecken (Kindred). Overall, she felt, “the proposals are sound and we’re so close. That’s the sad part, it’s just a matter of coming back to the table and finding leadership [on the management side].”
DGA unit production manager Robin Winter-Young (The Back-Up Plan), who marched with writers during the event, said that she is currently facing a threat of eviction. Still, she said, the industry model needs to change and the WGA is leading the charge on transforming it: “We have to support our sister unions. If we don’t support our sister unions, the whole industry is going to go down.”
DGA and SAG-AFTRA member Richard Gonzales (The Rookie) echoed the sentiment that the strike was an important turning point for the businesses, saying that while the stoppage was “hurting all the crafts, hurting all the PA’s, all the businesses that deal with different shows,” it’s still “a big change that has to happen because it hasn’t happened.”
Alex McNally (Long Bright River) argued that the event appeared to be occurring at a “hinge moment” during the strike, given that the WGA’s last strike, in 2007-2008, lasted 100 days and this one has just crossed the 50-day mark. She hoped the event would catch companies’ attention. “It’s a visual medium that most of us work in, like seeing it helps land it,” she said as a news helicopter circled overhead. “I hope that they can see how united and strong we are, how important the issues that we’re fighting for are and how much we want to get back to the table and work this out.”
Observed SAG-AFTRA member James Tripp (Hollywood Radio Players), who was looking out on the multitude of bright blue shirts at the La Brea Tar Pits, the moment “signals the resurgence of the union movement in this country.” He added, “Enough is enough.”
