On May 2, the Writers Guild of America called for a strike after negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers fell through. The first week was robust with picketing in New York City, Los Angeles and Atlanta, with the striking shutting down productions. As the strike enters a second week, Variety is still reporting from the picket lines.
DAY 7 (May 8)
Netflix
*Mother and Kid Day at the Netflix picket drew a huge crowd, seemingly showing that Week 2 crowds would be as robust as Week 1.
*Variety spoke with Michele Mulroney, vice president of the WGA West who brought her son Mateo to Mother and Kid Day, about what AMPTP needs to do to resume talks.
“I’m feeling strong, because our members are feeling strong,” she said. “Our members are very educated on the reasons that we’re out and the reasons we are walking. Every day, leadership is very mindful of the impact of the strike and the sacrifices that are required. But it’s a testament to how bad things are, unfortunately. You’re seeing today a lot of parents are saying, ‘I need to be able to pay my rent, to take care of my kids.’ That’s really fundamental to what we’re doing. If you’re working writer who’s creating content that makes billions of dollars for the studios, you really should be able to feed your kids, pay your rent, support your family. That’s pretty basic stuff.
“The DGA is negotiating starting on Wednesday, and we want them to get a really strong and fair contract. SAG is going to be negotiating in a few weeks for their contract. We all share a lot of the same issues and concerns. So I’ve said it before: All of leadership is echoing this. We stand ready. I’ll go back in this afternoon if they want us in there, if they’re serious about addressing some of the issues that so far they haven’t taken seriously enough.”
Reporting by Cynthia Littleton and Jazz Tangcay.