2023-08-26
21 分钟Two notes before we start.
This episode is about unions going on strike.
Full disclosure, we are members of the SAG AFTRA union, part of which is on strike.
But broadcasters are covered by a different contract, so we are not on strike.
Also, somebody swears in this episode.
This is Planet Money from NPR.
Back in May, members of the Writers Guild of America walked off the job.
They were trying to get tv and film studios that they work for to make concessions on things like pay and how many writers work on projects and not using AI to replace them.
On day 93 of that strike, we headed to Los Angeles.
About 15 writers are holding signs, walking back and forth in front of this giant filming lot called Television City.
How do you tell the difference between a friendly honk and an unfriendly honk?
When somebody yells out and shouts at us, get back to work.
That's pretty clear.
Yeah.
That is tv writer Bill Wolkoff.
In the before times, he wrote on the new Star Trek show, but now.
He'S one of the strike captains here at Television City in charge of organizing the picketers, making sure they're out blocking the entrance to the studio when they're allowed to be, and that they get out of the way of cars when they have to.
As Bill talks to us, a car starts to pull out of the studio parking lot.
You can see there's a black convertible that's trying to leave the lot right now.
And as long as we have pedestrians with picket signs moving back and forth, cars can't come or go, and it slows down the company a little bit.