Day One on the Picket: Battle of the Clever Signs!

From Netflix to WB to NBC — no one was spared as big names marched

Elaine Low

and

Peter Kiefer

May 3, 2023

*Avatar: The Way of the Water* screenwriter **Josh Friedman** outside Paramount. (credit: Richard Rushfield)

“Hey hey, ho ho, corporate greed has got to go!” chanted film and TV writers outside Netflix’s Sunset Bronson studio lot on Tuesday, as hundreds of WGA members marched up and down the streets on the first day of the first writers’ strike in over 15 years.

“We made a deal on residuals back when we didn't quite understand streaming, and now that we have a better understanding of the business, we want to revise it to be more fair and transparent,” said How I Met Your Mother scribe Brenda Hsueh, who currently works on Apple TV+’s The Afterparty and was just getting her start in the business during the 2007-2008 strike.

Worrying technological advancements are still on writers’ minds in 2023, and The Ankler staffers spotted several AI-related picket signs, including one at Netflix that read “Replace executives with AI.” (The AMPTP rejected the WGA’s proposal to regulate use of AI on TV and film projects.)

WGA strike captain Billy Wise told The Ankler on the Sony lot that it “seems like every negotiation there's a new technology and a revenue stream that we have to fight for all over again.”

Still, the mood among writers on Day One was buoyant across town, from Warner Bros. in Burbank to Sony in Culver City. Here’s how the first official day of the WGA strike played out:

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WGA picketers in front of Netflix HQ on Sunset Blvd. (credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

Spotted in the streets of NYC. (courtesy of @pk_kenzie/Twitter)

More from the scene outside Netflix. (credit: Elaine Low)

WGA picketers outside Paramount. (credit: courtesy of @WGAWest/Twitter)

**Rob Lowe** and son **John Owen Lowe**, stars of Netflix comedy *Unstable*, outside Paramount. (credit: Richard Rushfield)

*Welcome to Chippendales* showrunner and writer **Jenni Konner** outside Paramount. (credit: Richard Rushfield)

Seen outside Paramount. (credit: Richard Rushfield)

Comedian **Louis Virtel** outside Paramount. (credit: Richard Rushfield)

*White House Plumbers*’ **Ike Barinholtz** (far right) outside Paramount. (credit: Richard Rushfield)

WGA members on strike outside Paramount. (credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Seen in front of the Sony lot. (credit: Peter Kiefer)

The growing picket line in front of Fox Studios in Los Angeles.

A nod to AI outside Fox. (David McNew/Getty Images)

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Picketers in front of Netflix in Hollywood. (credit: Elaine Low)

En route to the Warner Bros. picket line. (credit: Elaine Low)

Picketers outside Paramount. (credit: Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)

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