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HOLLYWOOD, California—Before the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America are even an hour into their Friday picket shift, the sidewalk in front of Paramount Studios’ lot is at capacity. It’s just 9:45 a.m. on the first day SAG is joining forces with the ongoing WGA strike, and already, the entire picket line space on Melrose Avenue in front of Paramount is overflowing with clever signs and booming voices demanding fair pay.
One of the WGA strike captains—whose job is usually to start chants and break the picket line for traffic to come through the studio’s front gates—redirects picketers to some of Paramount’s other gates. She shouts out the other entrances and points picketers down the street, “so that we are not overcrowded here and we are not giving Paramount any excuse to kick us out!”
Today marks day 75 of the WGA strike. The writers have been picketing studios like Netflix, Sony, and Warner Bros since May 1. Dozens of signs are stacked up against the walls of the Paramount lot, providing plenty of options for WGA picketers to rifle through as their rally call of the day. (“Student loan payment starts soon. Quit playin,” one reads. Another: “Keep writing a CAREER. Not a gig!”) Across Melrose, a SAG tent was erected to welcome the actors to the front lines.