Deadline: Dispatches From WGA Picket Lines Day 7: Latino Writers Hit Universal With Steven Canals, Jaina Lee Ortiz, Jaime Camil & More; Disabled Scribes At Amazon Studios
Image Description: A collage of 5 people at the WGA strike. One is holding a picket sign with the words, “Writers Guild on Strike! AI? More Like Ay-Yi-Yi”
By Rosy Cordero
Latino WGA members and their allies descended upon Universal Studios en masse Monday beginning at 5 a.m. to picket on the seventh day of the Hollywood writers strike.
The early arrival for some came as picketers wanted to be visible to trucks attempting to enter through the studio’s gates. Several picket lines in Los Angeles and New York have turned trucks away since contract talks broke off May 1 between the writers and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
The WGA West’s Latinx Writers Committee organized today’s action, which at its height grew to about 300 picketers in Universal City, marching across Lankershim Boulevard from the main gates of the studio to Telemundo and back.
The list of writers included the Latinx Writers Committee chair Christina Piña and vice chair Jorge Rivera and Gordita Chronicles creator Claudia Forestieri, who talked about the abrupt end of her HBO Max series.
“We were on track to do Season 2, and we had a mini room,” she said. “Basically … it was more work, less people and less pay in less time — so, unfortunately, that trend can’t continue.”
Also on hand were Pose creator Steven Canals; Brooklyn Nine-Nine alum Melissa Fumero; WGA strike captain Marcella Ochoa; actors Judy Reyes and Ana Ortiz; and Schmigadoon! co-creator Cinco Paul and co-star Jaime Camil, the latter of which was holding a picket sign with the SAG-AFTRA logo.
The WGAW group is scheduled to reassemble Tuesday at Netflix’s headquarters in Los Angeles.
At Amazon Studios in Culver City, the Inevitable Foundation organized a group of disabled and non-disabled writers to participate in picketing. That group included Inevitable co-founder Richie Siegel; writer-comedian Pamela Galvez; Ashley Eakin (Disney’s Growing Up), the latter a member of both the WGA and Directors Guild; and Animation Guild member Shaina Ghuraya.
