“Nice Tesla (You’re Welcome)”: A Roundup of Writers Strike Protest Signs
As picket lines popped up in Los Angeles and New York amid the Writers Guild of America strike, writers are leaning on their skills to get their messages out.
The Writers Guild of America called a strike after midnight on May 2, and a little more than 12 hours later, picket lines popped up in L.A. and New York outside studios, networks and streamers’ headquarters. A quick survey of the scenes revealed clear (and sometimes hilarious) messages from the front lines thanks to a segment of the population not found at most protests: writers. The signage on display ranged from sarcastic and witty to timely and urgent as writers used the opportunity to promote their demands by relying on their specific set of skills. It didn’t take long for other writers to take note of the words on the oversized pages, either. (Writer, actor and stand-up Jenny Yang even took to Twitter to create a thread of “some of my fave picket signs,” featured below.)
• “I’d like to see AI gain 15 pounds on a first-season show”
• “Without writers, Jenna Ortega would have nothing to punch up”
• “Without writers, Tanya’s death will never be avenged”
• “I’m just a girl standing in front of a studio asking them to pay her”
Vinnie Wilhelm, left, and Chris Duffy, right. Wilhelm is hoisting a sign that reads, “Thanks to the studios, my bank account looks like it’s on Ozempic.” Duffy’s reads, “I want 2 yearly meetings about technology!!!”
THR’s Gary Baum, Lesley Goldberg
A woman, left, is photographed outside Disney in Burbank with a sign that reads, “I would rather be using this paper to print out a script. Careers not gigs.” On the right, a woman is holding a sign that reads, “Would love a 2-day delivery on this, Amazon.”
THR’s Lesley Goldberg, Mia Galuppo
Melissa Hunter, left, holds up a sign that reads, “Ew, David! (Zaslav).” Right, a man holds up a sign in front of Walt Disney Studios that reads, “Even Scrooge learned to share.”
THR’s Lesley Goldberg
Writers and supporters walk the picket line on the second day of the television and movie writers’ strike outside Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank on May 3, 2023. A woman holds a sign that spells out AMPTP as an acronym that stands for “AI means producing terrible pages.”
ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images
Writers and supporters walk the picket line on the second day of the television and movie writers’ strike outside Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank on May 3, 2023. One man his holding a sign that reads, “Somehow striking feels good in a place like this,” in reference to AMC’s viral ad featuring Nicole Kidman.
ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images
Writers walk the picket line on the second day of the television and movie writers’ strike outside of Paramount Studios in Los Angeles on May 3, 2023. A man his holding a sign that reads, “You want it on spec? We want it on a check.”
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
Writers picket in front of Netflix on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood on May 2, 2023. A man is holding a sign that reads, “Our therapists keep saying we have to stand up for ourselves, so here we are, sorry.” A woman is holding a sign that reads, “I like your offer as much as you like an angry female lead.”
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
Demonstrators hold signs in front of Paramount Studios on May 2, 2023. A woman is seen holding a sign that reads, “Without writers Meredith Grey would not be a surgeon, no students could attend Abbott Elementary, and Logan Roy would still be alive!”
VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images
WGA protestors and other union members picket Netflix’s office in Manhattan on May 3, 2023. One man is seen holding a sign that reads, “Pay your writers or we’ll spoil Succession.”
THR’s Caitlin Huston
WGA strike protestors are pictured in New York. One man, left, is holding a sign that reads, “I told ChatGPT to write a picket sign and it sucked.” A man on the right is seen holding a sign that reads, “What would Larry David do?”
THR Staff
On the left, a protestor is seen holding a sign that reads, “‘Here’s looking at you, kid,’ was not written by a producer.” On the right, Damon Lindelof is among the protestors spotted outside Amazon’s headquarters and the TV creator is holding a sign that reads, “Alexa will not replace us.”
THR’s Mia Galuppo
