“Nice Tesla (You’re Welcome)”: A Roundup of Writers Strike Protest Signs

Chris Gardner
·5-min read

The Writers Guild of America called a strike after midnight on May 2, and a little more than 12 hours later, picket lines popped up in L.A. and New York outside studios, networks and streamers’ headquarters. A quick survey of the scenes revealed clear (and sometimes hilarious) messages from the front lines thanks to a segment of the population not found at most protests: writers. The signage on display ranged from sarcastic and witty to timely and urgent as writers used the opportunity to promote their demands by relying on their specific set of skills. It didn’t take long for other writers to take note of the words on the oversized pages, either. (Writer, actor and stand-up Jenny Yang even took to Twitter to create a thread of “some of my fave picket signs,” featured below.)

The Hollywood Reporter has also rounded up a sampling of some of the most eye-catching sign slogans (with select images) below.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

• “Hey, David Zaslav, writers make you stupid rich (this was a haiku)”

• “I stream, you stream, we all stream so pay us!”

• “Are you not entertained? Pay writers”

• “Wrote ChatGPT This”

• “Pay your writers or we’ll spoil Succession”

• “Studios, we have notes”

• “AI came up with 10 suggestions for this sign: THEY ALL SUCKED”

• “The note behind the note is: PAY US!”

• “Here’s a pitch: Pay us bitch”

• “You want it on a spec? We want it on a check”

• “Let’s hope it’s the final season of this shit show”

• “Residual anger.”

• “Thanks to the studios my bank account looks like it’s on Ozempic” — Castle Rock scribe Vinnie Wilhelm

• “AI couldn’t write Tariq’s raps” — Abbott Elementary creator Quinta Brunson

• “Don’t let M3GAN write M3GAN“

• “I’d like to see AI gain 15 pounds on a first-season show”

• “Without writers, Jenna Ortega would have nothing to punch up”

• “Without writers, Tanya’s death will never be avenged”

• “I’m just a girl standing in front of a studio asking them to pay her”

WGA Strike Signage
Vinnie Wilhelm, left, and Chris Duffy, right. Wilhelm is hoisting a sign that reads, “Thanks to the studios, my bank account looks like it’s on Ozempic.” Duffy’s reads, “I want 2 yearly meetings about technology!!!”
WGA Strike Signage
A woman, left, is photographed outside Disney in Burbank with a sign that reads, “I would rather be using this paper to print out a script. Careers not gigs.” On the right, a woman is holding a sign that reads, “Would love a 2-day delivery on this, Amazon.”
WGA Strike Signage
Melissa Hunter, left, holds up a sign that reads, “Ew, David! (Zaslav).” Right, a man holds up a sign in front of Walt Disney Studios that reads, “Even Scrooge learned to share.”
WGA Strike Signage
Writers and supporters walk the picket line on the second day of the television and movie writers’ strike outside Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank on May 3, 2023. A woman holds a sign that spells out AMPTP as an acronym that stands for “AI means producing terrible pages.”
WGA Strike Signage
Writers and supporters walk the picket line on the second day of the television and movie writers’ strike outside Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank on May 3, 2023. One man his holding a sign that reads, “Somehow striking feels good in a place like this,” in reference to AMC’s viral ad featuring Nicole Kidman.
WGA Strike Signage
Writers walk the picket line on the second day of the television and movie writers’ strike outside of Paramount Studios in Los Angeles on May 3, 2023. A man his holding a sign that reads, “You want it on spec? We want it on a check.”
WGA Strike Signage
Writers picket in front of Netflix on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood on May 2, 2023. A man is holding a sign that reads, “Our therapists keep saying we have to stand up for ourselves, so here we are, sorry.” A woman is holding a sign that reads, “I like your offer as much as you like an angry female lead.”
WGA Strike Signage
Demonstrators hold signs in front of Paramount Studios on May 2, 2023. A woman is seen holding a sign that reads, “Without writers Meredith Grey would not be a surgeon, no students could attend Abbott Elementary, and Logan Roy would still be alive!”
WGA protestors and other union members picket Netflix's office in Manhattan on May 3, 2023.
WGA protestors and other union members picket Netflix’s office in Manhattan on May 3, 2023. One man is seen holding a sign that reads, “Pay your writers or we’ll spoil Succession.”
WGA Strike Signage
WGA strike protestors are pictured in New York. One man, left, is holding a sign that reads, “I told ChatGPT to write a picket sign and it sucked.” A man on the right is seen holding a sign that reads, “What would Larry David do?”
WGA Strike Signage
On the left, a protestor is seen holding a sign that reads, “‘Here’s looking at you, kid,’ was not written by a producer.” On the right, Damon Lindelof is among the protestors spotted outside Amazon’s headquarters and the TV creator is holding a sign that reads, “Alexa will not replace us.”

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