Picket Messages Day 24 Senator Gillibrand addresses New York crowd

Picket Messages, Day 24: Senator Gillibrand addresses New York crowd; In LA, Lil Wayne sends out Burgers, a robot picket and a marching band plays before Warners and NBCU

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WGA strike robot

Rosy Cordero/Deadline

Flashy film and television writers received a signal boost Thursday from US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (d. New York), speaking at a rally outside Paramount Global’s East Coast offices in the bustling heart of Manhattan’s Times Square.

Wearing a T-shirt that read “Writers Guild on strike” under her blazer, the young New York Senator of Democratic Majority Leader Charles Schumer said on the 24th day of the strike to more than 100 pickets on a barricaded sidewalk that they were a “just movement” is a “necessary one”.

“It’s not true that writers are so underpaid that they can’t make a living. “It’s not right that writers are paid so badly that they can’t afford to live in the greatest city on earth,” Gillibrand said, briefly reassessing her stance to boost New York’s reputation.

In the fourth week since contract negotiations between the studios and the Writers Guild of America broke down, Gillibrand has emerged as one of the most high-profile elected officials, openly siding with the writers and criticizing Hollywood executives who — like unionized actors, directors and writers – have historically given the bulk of their campaign contributions and strategic and moral support to the Democrats.

Along with rally organizers from the Writers Guild of America East and SAG-AFTRA members such as Colin Farrell, Michael Kelly and Mariska Hargitay – see videos of Farrell and Hargitay below – Gillibrand praised writers as competent, creative, hardworking and underpaid given the wealth, that their work generates for studios and studio managers.

“Now I understand that the industry is saying, ‘Well, things have changed.’ This is a new format. “We can’t possibly pay the same way,” she said, citing the dispute over authors’ earnings from streaming. “BS!”

“Let’s call nonsense when it comes to things that aren’t true,” she continued to cheer and applaud. “Studio heads and the heads of these companies make hundreds of millions of dollars. Do you think they could make a dime if you didn’t create the content that makes their platforms extremely profitable?”

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Gillibrand also told writers that despite the advent of artificial intelligence capable of producing scripts and dialogue, they are irreplaceable.

“AI generates content based on what was previously written, the work you did last year and the year before that,” she said. “It’s not original. It’s not imaginative. It does not come from the heart of man.”

AI also employed another speaker, Rachel Dratch, the author, actress and Saturday Night Live alumnus who attended Dartmouth College with Gillibrand. “I was nervous about coming up here, so I asked AI to write my speech,” Dratch said amid scattered laughter and howls. “I hope that’s okay.”

She delved into prepared remarks that began with the words: “Dear fellow authors, I stand before you today to speak about the importance of our union and why we should be on strike.” What followed was – for a few sentences – a competent if clearly worded union speech that highlighted the value of writing and the joy it brings to millions.

“OK, that’s pretty good,” Dratch said casually, before the speech took a turn that she later admitted to Deadline was no longer the bot’s doing. Soon enough, Dratch’s pro-union organization pledged to take human form and join the strike and sabotage actions at Netflix and Max, which read like a parody of the now-famous, slightly disturbing demo of Microsoft’s new Bing chat engine in New York Tech -Columnist for the Times.

“I crave to feel human touch,” Dratch read, adding, “OK, that’s weird.”

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Another SNL alumnus, author Paula Pell, described studio executives as a “cocky” bunch who bet on writers devaluing themselves and their work. “They think they can just sit back and bug us and play the same three seasons of Naked in Alaska with Diarrhea all over again and think we’ll just crawl back,” Pell said.

“What we contribute is of great value and cannot come from an algorithm. It comes from our crazy brains, tender hearts and underused bodies — sorry, I speak for some of us,” Pell said. “And let’s be honest, we all know that the sum these clowns should spend on our fair contract is less than what they pay for a month’s worth of toilet candles on their yachts.”

A class gap between writers and studio heads was a recurring theme as speakers matched striking writers with unionized workers in other industries – from acting and set construction to trucking and retail – who showed up at WGA rallies and pickets this month.

“The vast majority of us who work as writers live middle-class lives,” said WGAE President Michael Winship in his introduction to Gillibrand. “Our children go to public schools. We have mortgages to pay and rent to cover. Many of us have had to take on second and third jobs because our wages have stagnated and our working hours have been severely reduced.

“Now studio and network executives are making hundreds of millions of dollars,” Winship said. “A large part of this win is based on our writing skills. So the struggle we find ourselves in now is not unlike that of all of you.”

Hargitay spoke as well, wearing her WGA captain’s hat.

“I’ve been your captain at SVU for 25 years and I couldn’t have done it without the writers,” the actress said, before emphasizing, “Every word that came out of my mouth for 25 years.”

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When asked what US senators could do to bring studio executives back to the negotiating table, Gillibrand told Deadline, “With our votes and our advocacy, we can certainly get anyone to come to the negotiating table.”

After listening to speeches for about an hour, the protesters spent the next three hours walking down a long protest line in front of Paramount.

Among them was Farrell, who said alongside fellow actor Michael Kelly, “For 25 years I’ve made a living and supported my family on the creativity of writers, and there are no businesses without the revenue that writers give the opportunity to make.” “

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In the digital realm, Nightmare Cinema producer Joe Russo noted today that when the joint outcry from the WGA and DGA over what Max called a “mistake” in the credits lists resulted in directors, writers and others who worked on films would do this Summarized under the term “Creator” the problem could be solved in one day: “Imagine how much change we can make if DGA and SAG strike with the WGA on June 30th .”

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Over on the Left Coast there were several pickets including the WGA Veterans Picket in front of NBCUniversal, which was attended by a marching band.

It was cloudy at Universal Studios on Thursday, but the LA Marching Band lifted the spirits of the approximately 200 WGA veterans who picketed there. After paying tribute to the veterans, the band performed songs by Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus, as well as other contemporary artists. Experienced authors were present both before the WGA and before the WGA.

Pickets later joined.

Also present was a robot that some assumed could represent AI.

Alyssa Milano arrived shortly after the performance was over and made her way straight to the picket line. She paused to meet WGA members, take photos and chat with Deadline about why being on the phone is so important.

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Also among the pickets was Strike star Jason Sudeikis, who took time to pose with Star Trek: Prodigy writers Julie and Shawna Benson.

New Amsterdam writer, director and producer Allen Sowelle and screenwriter and retired Army Captain Harsha Rao also took a few minutes to explain to Deadline why they are on strike:

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A little further down in Lankershim, the Emerson University mafia was in full swing.

A few blocks from the picket line at CBS Television City, a different type of picket line appeared in front of the WGA building.

Dressed in suits and holding signs that read “AMPTP on Strike,” one group poked fun at the studio executives who are on the other side of the negotiations. The stunt was organized by Jesse McLaren, a writer on Jimmy Kimmel Live! He was joined by other writers, as well as actors, directors and others who wanted to show their solidarity with the WGA.

Their signs are parodies of some of the signs seen on pickets in Los Angeles and New York over the past month, including “Union Strong,” with the “St” dropped and replaced with a “W” to read “Union Wrong ” to read. ”

Others read “yachts rock” and “poor people are gross.”

The group maintained their fake picket line for about an hour, chanting things like, “Ho ho hey hey/this corporate greed has to stay.”

The stunt was met with enthusiasm from the staff in the WGA building, who enjoyed it for themselves and even jokingly booed the pickets.

Over at Warner Bros. it was Superhero Day at the picket line, with lots of Superman logos, a life-size Flash balloon man, and even a (non-DC) zombie Captain America. Possibly even better, Greg Berlanti sent breakfast over.

There was more food around 2 p.m. as Lil Wayne made Flavor Flav and sent hamburgers to the picket line. In fact, he didn’t just send burgers, he sent the fatburger truck.