It was a busy day on the L.A.-area WGA picket lines, with a visit from some Abbott Elementary folks, support from unionized teachers and nurses, and dancers getting their hula on for Pacific Islander Day.
The day began with striking writers and their supporters having a nosh of breakfast burritos and coffee as picketers marched to Beyoncé tunes cranked on a loudspeaker outside Netflix headquarters on Sunset Boulevard:
This particular sign stood out from the crowd like Spandex at a knitters convention:
From there, the picketing picked up at Warner Bros in Burbank with an Abbott Elementary/teachers union vibe. Lisa Ann Walter, who stars as second-grade teacher Melissa Schemmenti on the Emmy-winning ABC comedy, told the crowd: “We at Abbott Elementary are on the side of the teachers. … I am proud every single day to portray the profession.”
Walter later stuck around to greet every WGA striker and supporter who’d formed a long line to meet her:
Lisa Ann Walter giving a lesson in class outside Warner Bros today (Rosy Cordero/Deadline)
Bruno Amato — who plays the Gary the vending machine guy, and the boyfriend of Walter’s character — on the show, told the picketers why he was on hand today:
And Emmy-winning Abbott Elementary writer-creator-star Quinta Brunson supplied some flaky pastelitos to help feed the throng:
Deadline’s Rosy Cordero confirmed the deliciousness of the pastelitos supplied by Abbott Elementary principal Quinta Brunson.
United Teachers Los Angeles is no stranger to strikes, having walked out in 1970, 1989 and 2019, when Hollywood unions turned out in support of the educators’ battle with the Los Angeles Unified School District. The teachers and their union leaders gave a lesson in solidarity themselves today, as did members of the California Nurses Association. Here are some highlights and testimonials:
There even was support from the other side of the 2019 negotiating table as LAUSD Board President Jackie Goldberg and board member Dr. Rocío Rivas spoke their piece:
The nurses also were on duty outside Warner Bros Studio, and CNA member Holly Conn, co-chief nurse rep at City of Hope, told the marchers: “We know firsthand what it means to confront greedy executives that want to undermine our profession for profits. … We know there is no substitute for your minds and voices.”
It was another strong turnout at Warners, as evidenced here:
One day after unionized strippers and Broadway performers entertained picketers in Burbank and Manhattan, respectively, yet another manner of dance was represented in Burbank. It was Pacific Islander Day outside Disney headquarters. WGA member and theme-day organizer Dana Ledoux Miller — whose writing credits include Thai Cave Rescue, Narcos and The Newsroom — talked with Deadline about why such cultural days are important on the picket lines.
“We’re such a small part of the WGA,” she said. “I mean, I want to say there’s like a dozen of us of Pacific Islander descent. So I’m like, ‘Yeah, we got to show up and show out and bringing the community in.’ This was a great example of that. There’s a lot of Pacific Islanders out here, but also friends and family and people who just like Spam musubi, and that’s great. We were really happy to have people come together. This is a really important cause.”
American Born Chinese director-EP and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings writer-director Destin Daniel Cretton also was among those on hand:
And they hardly were alone:
But some other representatives of Pacific Islander culture kinda stole the spotlight Friday. To wit, this group doing a Na Mele hula:
There’s much more to come as the WGA strike hits Day 50 next week, and Deadline will be covering. As Steve McGarrett used to tell viewers after showing scenes from the following week’s episode of the original Hawaii Five-O: Be here, aloha.