On the picket lines with Hollywood's actors and writers, from LA to New York
The sidewalks of Hollywood and midtown Manhattan teemed with actors joining Hollywood's writers in protest outside the corporate offices of studios, streamers, and production companies
LOS ANGELES (AP) — It's a “Strike Girl Summer.”
So read a picket sign as the sidewalks of Hollywood and midtown Manhattan teemed with actors on Day 1 of their strike, protesting alongside the writers who have been at it since May.
Together, the two guilds have ground the entertainment industry to a halt. On both coasts, though, there was a buoyant mood in the air as picket lines were reinvigorated by the support of some of the 65,000 actors who comprise SAG-AFTRA (98% of members voted to approve a strike back in June). This is Hollywood's biggest labor fight in six decades, and the first dual strike since 1960, reigniting the fervor against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers just as a historic heat wave hits Southern California.
Outside the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California, throngs of protesters chanted: “Fists up, curtains down, LA is a union town.” Food trucks flanking organizers' tents served churros, boba tea and cold lemonade to protesters baking in the midday heat that reached 98 degrees Fahrenheit (36.7 Celsius).
