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 leaderand 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 planned at 10 sites across Los Angeles, on a day with temperatures set to climb to 95 degrees in some parts, though Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery are expected to be 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.)

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 Blvd. 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 the 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 Marg Helgenberger 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, Mrs. Davis star Jake McDormand walked the line while another striker recited 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.

More to come…