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Economy

The best picket signs of the Hollywood writers strike

By Mandalit del Barco,  Becky Sullivan
Published May 4, 2023 at 12:35 PM PDT
This story was published more than 2 years ago.
A picketer at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles carries a sign with references to the television shows <em>Grey's Anatomy, Abbott Elementary</em> and <em>Succession</em>.
Valerie Macon
/
AFP via Getty Images
A picketer at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles carries a sign with references to the television shows Grey's Anatomy, Abbott Elementary and Succession.

As the Writers Guild of America strike continues into its third day, the jokes aren't on late night TV anymore — they're on the picket lines.

More than 11,000 movie and television writers have stopped working after contract negotiations stalled out between their union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the trade association that represents Hollywood's studios and production companies.

The standoff could last months and shut down Hollywood production. (The last writers strike lasted from November 2007 into February 2008.) Some of the sticking points include questions over staffing levels for new TV programs and income from episodes aired on streaming services.

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Since the strike kicked off Tuesday, hundreds of writers have picketed in the Los Angeles area and in New York, outside the studios and offices of Netflix, NBCUniversal, Disney, Sony, Paramount, Warner Bros. and others.

Among the signs were jokes about the artificial intelligence service ChatGPT, the wealth of studio executives and many, many references to the HBO hit Succession. Here are some of our favorites:

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

On left, a picket sign outside Netflix headquarters in Hollywood. On right, writer K.C. Scott pickets outside Amazon Studios in Culver City, Calif.
Mandalit del Barco
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NPR
On left, a picket sign outside Netflix headquarters in Hollywood. On right, writer K.C. Scott pickets outside Amazon Studios in Culver City, Calif.

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Outside Netflix headquarters in Hollywood on the first day of the writer's strike
Mandalit del Barco
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NPR News
Outside Netflix headquarters in Hollywood on the first day of the writer's strike

Writer Jono Matt holds a sign referring to the short-lived streaming service Quibi at the WGA picket line outside Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.
Chris Pizzello
/
AP
Writer Jono Matt holds a sign referring to the short-lived streaming service Quibi at the WGA picket line outside Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.

A WGA protest outside the Netflix headquarters in New York City.
Stefan Jeremiah
/
AP
A WGA protest outside the Netflix headquarters in New York City.

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Mandalit del Barco
As an arts correspondent based at NPR West, Mandalit del Barco reports and produces stories about film, television, music, visual arts, dance and other topics. Over the years, she has also covered everything from street gangs to Hollywood, police and prisons, marijuana, immigration, race relations, natural disasters, Latino arts and urban street culture (including hip hop dance, music, and art). Every year, she covers the Oscars and the Grammy awards for NPR, as well as the Sundance Film Festival and other events. Her news reports, feature stories and photos, filed from Los Angeles and abroad, can be heard on All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, Alt.latino, and npr.org.
Becky Sullivan
Becky Sullivan has reported and produced for NPR since 2011 with a focus on hard news and breaking stories. She has been on the ground to cover natural disasters, disease outbreaks, elections and protests, delivering stories to both broadcast and digital platforms.
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