Dispatches From The Picket Lines, Day 59: Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin & Dolly Drag Queens Back Writers In L.A.

The Writers Guild of America strike continued Thursday with a demonstration at Netflix headquarters in Los Angeles that featured appearances by Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin , as well as a slew of Dolly Parton drag queens on the picket lines. Related Story SAG-AFTRA & Studios Eyeing Talks Extension As Contract Expiration Looms The event, put on by the WGA ’s LGBTQ+ writers committee, was titled “Striking 9-5 Picket — A Dolly Drag Event. ” Fonda, Tomlin and the real-life Parton starred in the 1980 comedy that scored an Oscar nomination for Parton’s chart-topping title song.

The picket was organized by the film’s screenwriter Patricia Resnick, who also attended and spoke to the crowd that swelled to more than 400. On the scene at the Striking 9-5 Picket – A Dolly Drag Event outside of Netflix in LA today #WritersStrike 📸 Deadline/Rosy Cordero pic. twitter.

com/cVKOalwuca — Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) June 29, 2023 Fonda and Tomlin also starred in Netflix’s comedy series Grace and Frankie , which ran for seven seasons . “If Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and I were making 9 to 5 today, we’d be gig workers,” Fonda told the large crowd gathered on Van Ness Avenue. “Contracted out by one company to another — we probably wouldn’t know who our boss was.

We wouldn’t know who to complain when there’s wage theft; we’d likely be working two to three jobs to make ends meet. ” Saying they were there as actors in solidarity with writers, Fonda shouted that “your fight is our fight. We share the same concerns.

All of us need employers, studio executives, who earn such huge salaries, to rethink their business models. “If writers who provide them content, and the actors who bring it all to life, are having a harder and harder time making a decent living, while … the executives can afford mega-mansions and yachts and fancy vacations, then their business model is not sustainable – and it’s certainly not humane. “If Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton and I were making ‘9 to 5’ today we’d be gig workers… Your fight is our fight… To be creative you have to feel respected… We stand with you… They better watch out…” – Jane Fonda says at the 9-5 picket at Netflix #WritersStrike pic.

twitter. com/VvmfZipd0m — Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) June 29, 2023 After Fonda spoke, Tomlin told the picketers that based on “the description of the terms under which you are being asked to write now, it makes me wonder how they ever got any writers to work at all. ” She also quoted former MGM producer Irving Thalberg.

“‘The most important people in Hollywood are the writers — without the writers we’ve got nothing’,” she said to applause. The she finished the quote: “‘We have to do everything to never ever let them find out. ‘” “Irving Thalberg, one of the major producers at MGM all through the 30s, he said ‘The most important people in Hollywood are the writers.

Without the writers we’ve got nothing'”- Lily Tomlin says as she stands alongside Jane Fonda at the 9-5 picket at Netflix #WritersStrike pic. twitter. com/DK4hW1QAxH — Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) June 29, 2023 Resnick noted that it was her fifth strike as a WGA member, saying the current one is “crucial because writing as a career is on the line.

“Back then I was able to make a living as working writer… That is not the way it is now and don’t young writers deserve that?… Writing as a career is on the line… Artificial intelligence is not intelligent…” – Patricia Resnick says at the 9-5 picket #WritersStrike pic. twitter. com/2exeQFy0TF — Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) June 29, 2023 Among those in attendance today were Patricia Arquette, Sarah Silverman, Stephanie J.

Block — who starred in Broadway’s 9 to 5 — and Los Angeles City Council members Hugo Soto-Martinez and Nithya Raman. who both spoke. Also in attendance was Burbank mayor Anthony Konstantine, who said his son was a fan of the Tomlin-voiced Ms.

Frizzle on The Magic School Bus which streams on Netflix. Scenes from the WGA’s picket line at Netflix on Thursday (Rosy Cordero/Deadline) Rosy Cordero/Deadline As for the tribute to Parton, performances sprang up on the sidewalks along the picket-line route, with at least one rendition of “Why’d You Come in Here Looking Like That” as passing cars honked their horns. Dolly impersonator at the Striking 9-5 Picket- A Dolly Drag Event outside of Netflix in LA today #WritersStrike pic.

twitter. com/1AzH4XRy5E — Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) June 29, 2023 The L. A.

chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America provided tacos for the crowd. .