Teresa Huang is a member of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA. She organized a particular Okay-Pop day on the picketline outdoors Universal Studios this week.

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Teresa Huang is a member of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA. She organized a particular Okay-Pop day on the picketline outdoors Universal Studios this week.

Mandalit del Barco/NPR News

It’s been a month since movie and TV writers started their strike in opposition to Hollywood studios, hoping for a brand new contract providing greater wages, extra residuals, regulations on AI, assured staffing minimums, amongst different calls for. On the picket traces, morale stays excessive.

“One month in, we’re still going strong. Our passion is not decreased,” mentioned Teresa Huang, a author and actor who stopped engaged on a Netflix present when the strike began. “We’re gearing up to head into the summer to keep striking until we get a fair deal.”

Huang, who’s additionally a member of SAG-AFTRA, organized a particular Okay-POP themed picket outdoors Universal Studios. There have been different picket line theme days, together with singles occasions, Greta Gerwig appreciation day, Pride and drag queen day, and reunions for writers of exhibits akin to E.R. and the varied Star Trek collection. The WGA has a running calendar of all of the particular days.

Cheech Manohar is a WGA strike captain and a member of SAG-AFTRA. “We know that we’re fighting the good fight. And a month in, with the amount of money that the studios have lost, we know that this is not just about pay. It’s also about protection and power.”

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Cheech Manohar is a WGA strike captain and a member of SAG-AFTRA. “We know that we’re fighting the good fight. And a month in, with the amount of money that the studios have lost, we know that this is not just about pay. It’s also about protection and power.”

Mandalit del Barco/NPR News

These sorts of occasions have saved up the writers’ spirits, mentioned Cheech Manohar, a WGA strike captain who’s additionally a member of SAG -AFTRA. “We know that we’re fighting the good fight. And a month in, with the amount of money that the studios have lost, we know that this is not just about pay. It’s also about protection and power,” he mentioned. “We realized that the studios could have ended this any time they wanted to if it were just about the money. But in fact, it’s about keeping a system that can continually undervalue writers. There’s a certain amount of power and a certain amount of greed that they’re not willing to let go of.”

In the preliminary wake of the strike, the AMPTP mentioned it had introduced the WGA with a proposal, together with “generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals.” According to that assertion, the studio’s alliance informed the WGA it was ready to enhance that provide “but was unwilling to do so because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the Guild continues to insist upon.”

Actors, Teamsters, Hollywood manufacturing employees, and others have joined hanging writers on the picket traces, with their union leaders vowing solidarity. Teamster drivers have circled from studio entrances in order to not cross picket traces, and a few productions have reportedly been interrupted due to the strike.

In May, the president of the Writer’s Guild of America West, Meredith Stiehm, despatched letters to Netflix and Comcast traders, asking them to vote in opposition to pay packages for high executives. On Thursday, Netflix shareholders did simply that, in a non-binding vote in opposition to the compensation construction for executives akin to co-CEO Ted Sarandos.

Meanwhile, the Directors Guild of America continues negotiating for a brand new contract with the AMPTP. And actors in SAG-AFTRA are set to start their contract talks subsequent week. Contracts for each the DGA and SAG-AFTRA will expire on the finish of June.