Writers’ Unexpected Solace During the Strike: Themed Pickets

It’s one of the things writers do best: Use their imagination. The themed pickets are a great example.

Via The Hollywood Reporter:

“Anyone who’s walked in circles for four hours every day, day after day after day, [knows] it can get tedious,” explains The Boys executive producer Judalina Neira, who is an NBCU lot coordinator during the strike. “And so the fun, the novelty of new music or performances, just keeps the energy up, which is what we want to do.”

The process for getting these themed events off the ground has been streamlined over the course of the strike. Members or non-members generate the ideas and can bring them to the lot coordinators (WGA member volunteers who steward picketing at specific lots) at the studio or streamer strike location where they would like to set the event. Once the organizer fills out the WGA’s “special picket notification form,” and once the lot coordinator approves the event — considerations include whether neighboring lots have recently had a similar themed event, to avoid competition — then an event can be added to the union’s special pickets calendar.

Unlike during the 2007–2008 strike, WGA members are not assigned to particular lots during the strike, and so are able to move about from lot to lot — and themed event to themed event — as they choose. Social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter help spread the word quickly about events. “We started just putting basic information on flyers [shared on social] and the fact that it was getting re-amplified by celebrities, by people who stood with us, by outside organizations, drove us to do more and more social media outreach to keep our members engaged,” says Netflix lot coordinator Danny Tolli (Roswell, New Mexico). “It catches like wildfire.”

The imagination and organization of Guild leaders and membership is way more evident in this strike compared to 2007–2008 … and light years ahead of the one in 1988. As noted in the Hollywood Reporter article:

“TV is a communal creative force, and so these events are just an extension of that,” says [Judalina] Neira. “We’re already always talking with each other and bouncing ideas. It’s what we do in the writer’s room every day. So we’re just bringing that same energy to the picket line.”

Fingers and toes crossed SAG-AFTRA joins the strike. With writers and actors joined together on the picket line, the mind boggles at what theme protests will emerge from that creative partnership. That energy will increase the pressure on the AMPTP to get serious and negotiate in good faith.

For the rest of The Hollywood Reporter article, go here.

For the latest updates on the strike and news resources, go here.

Writers’ Unexpected Solace During the Strike: Themed Pickets was originally published in Go Into The Story on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.