Exploring a Secret Entrance To Bypass Hollywood’s Strike: Planet Money : NPR

Left: Bill Wolkoff is the Writers Guild of America strike captain who coordinated the protest at the Television City Theater. Before the strike, Wolkoff wrote for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Right: Sarah Bibel is a protest writer at Television City. She worked on The Young and the Restless for 13 years.

Dave Blanchard/NPR

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Left: Bill Wolkoff is the Writers Guild of America strike captain who coordinated the protest at the Television City Theater. Before the strike, Wolkoff wrote for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Right: Sarah Bibel is a protest writer at Television City. She worked on The Young and the Restless for 13 years.

Dave Blanchard/NPR

Now, writers and actors across Hollywood are protesting in front of studios, moving back and forth with signs demanding concessions on pay, the number of writers on projects and the use of artificial intelligence in television and film.

But in some places, there are these strange spare There were no pickets. Drivers could come and go as they pleased without encountering any sign of a strike.

Look at this neutral gate. This entrance is for people who work in these areas, but No Work for a production company that’s involved in these particular strikes. (Usually this means game shows or TV commercials.)

But as a group of protesters recently experienced, it’s hard to know whether these entrances are actually only used by neutral parties, or whether they could be abused.

On today’s show, we discuss whether a Hollywood production took advantage of a neutral gate, and what the fight over the driveway can tell us about broader labor struggles in Hollywood and across the country.

This show is hosted by Dave Blanchard and Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi, with reporting by Kenny Malone. James Sneed produced, and James Willetts and Debbie Daughtry mixed. Sierra Juarez fact-checked, and Keith Romer edited. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

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