The Best Picket Signs of the Hollywood Writers’ Strike

Becky Sullivan

May 5, 2023

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Protesters on a picket line hold up signs that read: "Writers Guild on Strike," "Our therapists keep saying we have to stand up for ourselves, so here we are. Sorry." Another says "I like your offer as much as you like an angry female lead."

Writers picket in front of Netflix offices in Hollywood on Tuesday as the WGA strike began. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

As the Writers Guild of America strike continues into its third day, the jokes aren’t on late night TV anymore — they’re on the picket lines.

More than 11,000 movie and television writers have stopped working after contract negotiations stalled out between their union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the trade association that represents Hollywood’s studios and production companies.

The standoff could last months and shut down Hollywood production. (The last writers’ strike lasted from November 2007 into February 2008.) Some of the sticking points include questions over staffing levels for new TV programs and income from episodes aired on streaming services.

Since the strike kicked off Tuesday, hundreds of writers have picketed in the Los Angeles area and in New York, outside the studios and offices of Netflix, NBCUniversal, Disney, Sony, Paramount, Warner Bros. and others.

Among the signs were jokes about the artificial intelligence service ChatGPT, the wealth of studio executives and many, many references to the HBO hit Succession. Here are some of our favorites:

Protesters on a picket line. Signs read: "Writers Guild of America on Strike!" and "Without writers, Meredith Grey would not be a surgeon, no students could attend Abbot Elementary and Logan Roy would be alive!" — A picketer at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles carries a sign with references to the television shows ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ‘Abbott Elementary’ and ‘Succession.’ (VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

Protesters on picket lines carry signs that read: "Succession without writers is just The Apprentice — and look how well that turned out" and "Wrote ChatGPT This." — On left, a picket sign outside Netflix headquarters in Hollywood. On right, writer K.C. Scott pickets outside Amazon Studios in Culver City, California. (Mandalit del Barco/NPR)

A protester on a picket line holds up a sign that reads: "You're gonna be the villains in the limited series about this!" — Outside Netflix headquarters in Hollywood on the first day of the writer’s strike. (Mandalit del Barco/NPR News)

A Writers Guild of America striker holds up a sign that says: "You came up with Quibi." — Writer Jono Matt holds a sign referring to the short-lived streaming service Quibi at the WGA picket line outside Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Writers Guild of America picketers gather. One holds up a sign reading: "I told ChatGPT to write a picket sign and it sucked." — A WGA protest outside the Netflix headquarters in New York City. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

The Best Picket Signs of the Hollywood Writers’ Strike

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