On a wall outside the iconic Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank, a poster celebrates the studio’s centennial.
Across the street, SAG-AFTRA members are celebrating not just the solidarity rally the day before, but the rousing speech given by strike captain Terry Wilkerson, who has been a union member for over 25 years.
He is affectionately known by members as “Strike Daddy,” and he proudly owns it. He says the nickname stems back to when he was in charge of the union’s scheduling app, Doodle.
“I was in charge of [it] in the beginning because our scheduling program was kind of still being developed,” he said. “So they started calling me Doodle Daddy…and then it kind of transitioned over into Strike Daddy.”
So what does Strike Daddy’s day on the lines look like?
“We come in in the mornings, we set up all the logistics and we set up the tents, we set up the T-shirts, the tables, the check-ins, all that good stuff in the morning,” he explains.
He says strike and gate captains are the “friendly faces for people to see on the line.”
“We kind of oversee operations and, you know, put out fires if there's any, any major issues going on around the studio that we need to take care of,” he says. “If something happens, I’m right there.”
He was right there at 8:30 a.m. when a car stopped at the light and the driver screamed at his comrades. Terry hustles over to check it out, but by the time he gets there, the light turns green.
Terry, who has been on the picket lines every single day since the strike started in July, says it happens occasionally before gathering his fellow union members for the morning meeting.
He acknowledges the team is smaller today, but not even a slightly cloudy morning or small crew dims neither Terry nor the team’s spirits.
“Let’s keep it moving,” he tells them before they all put their hands in and cheer.
The picket gets rolling right at 9 a.m.
Becoming a captain
Some volunteer to be captains. Some, like Terry, are nominated. For WGA strike captain Kathryn Borel, that title was thrust upon her.
Kathryn, who was sitting at the WGA tent, said when she showed up on day three of the writers’ strike, someone told her, “You have strike captain energy.”
One strike captain duty she highlighted was morale.
“Reminding everyone that we're here for them, we're in it together,” she said. “It was 95 degrees, 100 degrees, right…doing those hours it's exhausting…We're all writers. So we're used to sitting at a desk and being at a computer and forgetting that we have a body sometimes. “
A time of crisis that has carried on for months.
Striking spirits
That morning of Sept. 14 marked Terry’s 61st day of striking, but that day when the National Board issued a strike order and union president Fran Drescher declared, “The jig is up!” remains fresh in his mind.
“I hate to use this reference because I respect all of our servicemen, but it felt like we were about to go to war and all of the captains- anyone who signed up to be a captain, who was nominated to be a captain - it felt like we were about to be deployed and it was scary,” he recalls to me.
He describes that first day on the picket lines as “mayhem.”
“Cars were honking, it was like chaos,” he remembers. “People didn't know what to do….Press was here, like all of the negotiating committee were here. They had a tour bus that they were coming in with. They were really like hyping all of us up and saying, ‘Yo, we're here, we're about to start. This is it, this is what it is.’”
The hype producers in that Thursday picket comes in the form of a group of SAG-AFTRA members, identified as Conner, Julyza, and Devin, who shout at cars as they walk on the crosswalk.
“Jen and Drew, how dare you!” they chant, as a billboard ad for Jennifer Hudson’s talk show looms over the lines (Both Hudson and Barrymore have since delayed their talk shows until the strike ends.)
Nancy Daly, a gate captain for Warner Bros., keeps an eye out for the girls, and any picketer on the crosswalk, making sure they are striking safely.
“We take care of our own,” she says.
At the end of the day and the strike
The picket wraps up at 12 p.m. Day 61 ends for SAG-AFTRA and Day 135 ends for WGA on Sept. 14.
The following week, negotiators for the Writers Guild and the studios returned to the bargaining table on Sept. 20.
As for SAG-AFTRA, the strike’s ending is as cloudy as that early Thursday morning on the picket lines.
Terry says when all is said and done, he’s going to be most proud of his union and of those who stepped up.
“When I’m sitting on an island one day, I’ll think about the amazing friends and relationships,” he says. “Neither the AMPTP nor anybody could have predicted the amazing friendships that have been developed on this line.”
Until then, Drescher will lead vocally while Terry and the other strike captains will lead the picket lines.
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