Double Strike: Actors Join Writers on First Day of Historic Hollywood Labor Stoppage
While ‘90s or musical-themed pickets may have helped maintain WGA morale during the first 73 days of their strike, the writers got a much bigger lift on Friday as actors joined them on lines across Los Angeles.
The first official day of the historic SAG-AFTRA strike brings with it the promise of A-listers from the 160,000-member group — or, at the very least, union leader and ascendant folk hero Fran Drescher — as two of Hollywood’s most significant labor groups picket alongside one another for the first time since 1960. Demonstrations were again held at 10 sites around L.A., on a day with temperatures set to climb to 95 degrees in some parts, though Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery were among the bigger targets for crowds. (In New York, where members of WGA East have been picketing for nearly three months, actors joined writers at robust lines in front of Netflix HQ and the Paramount offices in Times Square.)
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Netflix is where Drescher and union leadership landed first, arriving via bus from the SAG-AFTRA plaza shortly after 9 a.m. They were greeted by throngs of TV press, who followed her and her conga line of negotiating committee members down Sunset Boulevard. Drescher echoed her comments from an impassioned speech on Thursday. “We want to send a loud message to consumers of this industry, because then we’ll have a fighting chance” said Drescher, stressing that the exposure of actors on the picket lines will ultimately have an impact on the studios’ bottom line. “What they spend their hard-earned dollars on and what they support matters.”
Drescher was not the first to hit the lines as they opened at 9 a.m. The massive crowd outside Netflix shouted chants of “Hey hey, ho ho, corporate greed has got to go,” while one writer carried a sign that read “Where the fuck is Ben Affleck?” and actor (and DJ) Evan Shafran played a strike-friendly mix — including his take on Hall & Oates’ “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” remixed with a news report on SAG-AFTRA talks breaking down.
Schitt’s Creek actor Dustin Milligan was among the more recognizable Netflix picketers, though he was quick to note that the economic chasm between celebrities and the majority of actors in the union was a unifying concern in the stalled contract negotiations. “When we got here, there were a bunch of photographers looking around and saying to each other ‘Who’s famous?’” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “That’s exactly why we’re out here. It’s not just about these names, the 1 percent of the actors getting amazing deals and franchise movies. It’s about the 159,999 other actors who are just trying to make a living wage and are unable to do that under the current contract … There’s a perception that being an actor means that you have millions of dollars and live in a mansion, when the reality is not the case.”
Several familiar faces, however, were out early. One mile south of Netflix, outside the Paramount Studios lot, Patton Oswalt and Michelle Hurd arrived on a SAG-AFTRA bus. At the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, where union leadership had sunscreen and water for those hitting what’s likely to be the hottest site of the day, Jake McDormand (Mrs. Davis), Ben Schwartz (Sonic the Hedgehog), Katie Lowes (Inventing Anna) and Kevin McKidd (Grey’s Anatomy) walked the line while another striker played Drescher’s Thursday speech through a bullhorn and someone had planted a picket sign depicting Disney CEO Bob Iger as Marie Antoinette. Iger’s Thursday appearance on CNBC, during which he called the actors’ demands “not realistic,” has not gone over well with much of striking Hollywood — especially as it came one day after he signed a contract extension that may see his net worth approach $1 billion by the time his tenure comes to an end in 2026.
Also noticeable outside of Disney was the police presence. For the first time since the WGA strike started May 1, multiple uniformed Burbank PD members and police motorcycles were noticeably staged around the block — many where side streets were closed to traffic to accommodate the anticipated turnout.
A few blocks away, at Warner Bros. Discovery, SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee member Sean Astin (Rudy!) espoused the strength of Drescher’s leadership. He also stressed that the decision to strike was not an easy one — or one the union arrived to quickly. “I’ve spent the last month, every day, 14 hours a day in negotiations trying to come to an agreement with the studios and the networks and the big streamers,” said Astin.
Whether it’s a continuation of the WGA’s points, a response to Drescher’s speech or just the obvious result of any labor dispute, the CEOs were the subject of ire and the butts of jokes at multiple picket lines. Iger’s “Let them eat cake” rendering was one of many mocking the Disney boss outside of his corporate headquarters. WBD CEO David Zaslav remains persona non-grata for those at his gates. And, back at Netflix, co-CEO Ted Sarandos and executive chair Reed Hastings were both called out by actor Sean Gunn.
The Guardians of the Galaxy actor, brother to DC boss James Gunn, told THR that it was important for him to be on the picket lines because of lack of profits he’s seen from his seven-season run on The Gilmore Girls. The old WB dramedy has been one of the more popular streaming library titles for the past decade — though, the way current deals are structured, a strong streaming performance does not equate to bigger residual checks for actors.
“It really is a travesty,” said Gunn. “And if the answer is, ‘Oh this is just how business is done,’ that sucks. … You really need to rethink how you do business and share the wealth with people. Otherwise, this is all going to come crashing down.”
Residuals and performance-based incentives were always going to be a sticking point for both SAG-AFTRA and the WGA during the 2023 contract negotiations, but the issue of artificial intelligence has proved to be even more of an existential hurdle. The subject of AI proved a non-starter when the WGA was negotiating with the AMPTP. On Thursday, the studios released what they said were their offers to the actors. Among them was what the AMPTP described as a “groundbreaking AI proposal.” The word “groundbreaking” raised proverbial brows for the actors, with SAG-AFTRA COO and general counsel Duncan Crabtree-Ireland rebutting that studios were suggesting background actors have their likeness scanned and used in perpetuity for one day’s pay.
Crabtree-Ireland, who made the rounds with Drescher throughout the day, addressed the issue of AI outside of Disney. “I’d say we’re pretty far apart on AI, mainly because the companies refuse to recognize that you can’t expect people to sign over their name, image, likeness and voice — their persona — to some corporate conglomerate with no right to ever say what they’re going to do with it in the future,” he said. “We will never agree to terms like that. So the companies are going to have to move in our direction and come up with some reasonable agreement. We didn’t come into this negotiation saying, “Let’s ban AI.” We came in saying that AI has to be done in a way that respects actors and their human rights.”
Seth Abramovitch, Gary Baum, Mia Galuppo, Lesley Goldberg, Borys Kit and Tiffany Taylor contributed to this report.
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