Los Angeles Times

Inside the writers' 'guerrilla tactics' to shut down live productions

Writers Guild of America East members participate in a“ Rally at the Rock” strike event outside of the NBCUniversal offices on May 23, 2023, in New York City.

On a frigid early morning in Chicago last week, screenwriter Michael Gilio bundled into a car in the city's West Side with other writers and made his way to Cinespace studios, located in an industrial zone.

Gilio, a strike captain for the Writers Guild of America, heard that Showtime's coming-of-age drama "The Chi" was planning to resume filming its sixth season at 4 a.m.

So he and his colleagues sprang into action. They fired off emails to other guild members in the area, hoping some might turn out in the early hours. They needed two picketers.

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