The WGA Strike in Photographs: A 'People's History' Part 2 by J.W. Hendricks
Negotiating Committee Co-Chair David A. Goodman introduces the photographer's favorite images from the final 100 days of the Writers Guild strike
The 2023 Writers Guild of America strike lasted a grueling 148 days. Fifty days into it, 5AM StoryTalk shared a visual essay of the strike by J.W. Hendricks - which the photographer described as a “people’s history” of the labor action and the heroics he saw on the picket lines every day. He and I hoped the strike would be over soon, making additional such essays pointless, and yet…well…the studios and streamers had other ideas about that. And so today, J.W. and I share with you “The WGA Strike in Photographs: A ‘People’s History’ Part 2”, a record of the final 100 days of the Guild’s “hot labor summer” with an introduction by the Negotiating Committee’s co-chair David A. Goodman. This introduction will be followed by a special surprise, so please read all the way to the end.
I met J.W. for the first time, as a lot of people did, on the picket line. It was early on in the strike, and there was still a lot of press showing up, so I assumed he was a photojournalist, basically because he an expensive looking camera. But sometime in our conversation as we walked together, he told me he was a writer, a fan of “FUTURAMA” where I’d worked, and so I asked him, “Why the camera?” He said he just wanted to take pictures of the picket line. That was all; he didn’t seem to have a goal other than a simple artistic one, to document the strike. In my head, I was patronizing - “What a sweet kid.” I didn’t plan to think anymore about it.
Then, I started to see him quite a bit, at every lot, taking pictures, a picket sign wedged into his backpack to keep his hands free for his camera. Whenever I saw him, he was moving around, trying to get different shots. I’d ask him how he was doing, and he’d say, “I’m tired.” I became less patronizing in my head; this guy is showing up. He’s also working hard, and there’s no money it in.
And then, I started to see the photos.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about them. Mostly, they’re just of writers carrying picket signs. But of course, that wasn’t all that they were. They captured something, something very important, something that I think was the key to our victory. The writers of the WGA, their friends, and families and the other union members who joined them, during this period of stress, uncertainty, financial catastrophe, still managed to find joy. Joy in camaraderie, solidarity, companionship, support. Joy in entertaining one another, meeting new friends, reuniting with old ones, or just walking alone. I think with all the other emotions you see in those picketers, joy is in every photo. I don’t know if J.W. was just naturally drawn to that, but he captured it.
And that’s how we won - because I know those picket lines drove the companies crazy. Not just because we showed up on them, but despite the difficulties, we found joy in being there. Joy that J.W.’s artistic eye found.
I became addicted to J.W.’s photos, refreshing his website every day or so, sharing them on social media or through text, enjoying great moments I was a part of, and other that I had to miss. I was tired too, had a few of my own worries, but his photos did a lot to confirm my confidence that we were going to win.
And our friend J.W. accomplished what he set out to do. He documented our strike.
David A. Goodman
(Co-Chair 2023 WGA Negotiating Committee, former WGAW President, screenwriter)
Still here? Good, because this article is about more than just this photo essay despite what I told photographer J.W. Hendricks (sorry for the deceit, J.W.!).
You see, I live in Australia these days. I couldn’t be there on the picket lines with my fellow members of the WGA. This was a special kind of hell for me given how much I value my Guild and how grateful I am for all it’s done for me, my career, and, by extension, my family. But there were a handful of photographers who made my distance from what was happening every day of the strike a little less lonely - Brittany Woodside, Jerry Jerome, and, of course, J.W. What brilliant, talented, wonderful people.
Chief amongst these, for me and so many others I know, was J.W. Hendricks.
I valued his photographs so much that I asked him to join me for the first “People’s History” of the strike I already referenced and then to return for this sequel photo essay. But celebrating his work alone just didn’t seem adequate given his profound contribution to the strike - first as a volunteer photographer and then in the employ of the Guild itself. It seemed equally necessary to celebrate this young man.
Please read on as members of the WGAW try to do just that. Thank you, J.W., for everything.
I think I met J.W. at Paramount on the very first day of the strike. I was leading a small crew at Raleigh, and we were just getting the hang of walking in circles. There was a lot of press out there that day, but J.W. was something different. He was on our team. When I saw his photos online, it was clear he was there to document not only what was happening, but the faces behind it. In J.W.'s work, picketers are never props. They're people. - John August (2023 WGA Negotiating Committee)
At our final Screenwriters Picket at Fox on Day 137, J.W. was there and before he took a group shot of us piled on the sidewalk, he said, "Cinema is my life, so it's my honor to be here today with so many writers I admire." Every time I saw J.W. on the lines — and he was everywhere — you could feel his passion, his respect for the craft, and his genuine support for our action. The sensitivity and spontaneity of his photographs is remarkable. Forever grateful for his artistry in capturing this historic moment and enriching our WGA archives. - Michele Mulroney (WGAW Vice-President)
As a member of the WGA Negotiating Committee, I tried to visit as many of the picket lines as often as I could, especially if there was an event. I very quickly discovered that, wherever I went, J.W. was there taking pictures. It was really quite impressive. And suspicious. At some point, I theorized that, for J.W. to have been at so many events on so many lines, there must have been multiple J.W.s. But I now know, based on his work and who he is, there couldn't have been multiples. Because there is only one J.W. Hendricks. - Patric M. Verrone (2023 WGA Negotiating Committee and former WGAW president)
At first, I didn't know who the slim man wearing glasses, a face mask and multiple cameras slung around his shoulders was. But, as I was out on the picket line most days during the strike, I noticed this man everywhere. A special concert on the picket lines at Paramount, this guy was there shooting. International Day at Netflix, there he was. David Goodman or Chris Keyser addressing writers, at Amazon, and there was this person capturing the moment. It didn't take me long to find out this was J.W. Hendricks. Not only is JW a wonderful evocative photographer, but a lovely guy who was absolutely committed to documenting the WGA's "long, hot, labor summer." We are all so lucky he made this his mission. - Nicole Yorkin (WGAW Board of Directors and 2023 WGA Negotiating Committee)
I met J.W. on day 3 of the strike. He introduced himself and said he wasn't in the guild, but he had recently lost his job and he couldn't think of any better place to be. He just wanted to take some pictures and put them online. No expectations, just wanted to help in his own way. I'm not glad he lost his job but I sure am glad he decided to walk with us whenever he could. My days brightened considerably whenever I saw him show up on the line because I knew I'd remember that day better than the others. I have his strike pictures bookmarked. My parents do, too. They send me pictures of myself whenever I show up in the Disney gallery. - Carlos Cisco (2023 WGA strike lot coordinator)
As a (now former) Lot Coordinator, I was out on the lines a lot, and I had the privilege of both seeing and being photographed by J.W. When I first saw his work, I was stunned silent. He caught true moments as they were happening, getting on the inside of the action unfolding naturally and rapidly before our eyes could register them. He has an uncanny knack of freezing his frame on the humanity of these moments. And there are so many he captured. He compiled more than just a history of a labor action, he recorded the story of our emotions, all our anguish and our triumphs. To see his work is to live it again. It is a true gift for every writer who sacrificed to get the contract we achieved, and every future writer who will benefit from it. - Bill Wolkoff (2023 WGA strike lot coordinator)
Dear J.W., thank you for being a warrior, artist, and crucial historian during this 2023 WGA strike. Your photo brought joy and solidified memories for me and so many other picketers. Because of you, I'll always have a piece of history to share with my family and the next generation of writers - a way to always remember when we all came together and fought for our collective future. Truly, thank you again for everything. - Leilani Terrell
As the strike dragged on into the summer, J.W. coming by Universal was always a point of pride because it meant the team had put on or approved a unique or irresistible theme picket. We felt like an underdog lot, so were forced to get creative — and at times quite silly — to drive up numbers. None of us wanted to disappoint J.W. by having a thin crowd if he showed up! I'll always treasure the photos JW took over the months of the strike, not only because he captured the progression of our incredibly hardcore, scrappy Universal family, but because it's a record of the epicly ridiculous things we did to keep up morale. I'll always have a smile on my face looking at J.W.'s work, and am so happy to get to call him friend. - Rob Forman (WGAW Board of Directors and 2023 WGA strike lot coordinator)
J.W. didn't just capture the soul of a historic labor movement, he embodied it. Like the union folk on strike, he sweltered through earth's hottest summers on record; never complaining, never arguing. Just showed up ready to work and on time. In the thick of every picket was J.W. Always in the background but never a small presence, like a guardian angel. When Guild members were down for the count, he lifted them up with his candid photos illustrating their hardships. It was through him, and with him, that we lived through this strike. Without him, we wouldn't have had a chance to view our strength, our struggle, and our survival. There is no separating the WGA's 2023 strike from J.W. Hendricks. - Christina Piña
J.W. was an integral part of Universal. As I look back through the strike, he captured so many big moments: Our Veterans/Army Wives picket, Battlestar Picket, etc... He was there. My twitter background is from a photo he took. I know personally that his photos really got a lot of people through the strike and we often talked about them on the line like high school kids looking through a yearbook. - Fredrick Leach (2023 WGA strike captain/lot coordinator)
These photos meant the world to me. Being a strike captain was such an emotional roller coaster, seeing these photos during the strike really helped me see the solidarity between our union and other unions in what was otherwise a bleak five months. For that perspective, I will always be grateful. - Jeane Phan Wong
Hendricks' exquisite black-and-white photographs place the 2023 strike in the context of a much larger, and much longer, set of struggles. They depict the present even while evoking the past and promising a better future. Bravo. - Howard Rodman (former WGAW president)
J.W. was a frequent face on our line, slipping in the cracks between all the marching bodies, usually fading a bit into the background. Always observant, capturing this moment that was so hard to contextualize while still in the eye of the storm. Seeing his pictures as the days went by was so meaningful to me. I was a lot coordinator, so I wasn't at other locations and had no idea what they were like - J.W. took me there. His contribution to the strike was quiet and thoughtful but it kept me going everyday, and I know I'm not the only one. - Ariana Jackson (2023 WGA strike lot coordinator)
As someone who almost never takes selfies, some of the only photos I have of myself on the picket line were taken by J.W. Hendricks, and they mean so much to me that, ever as a writer, I'm at a loss for words. Now that it's so suddenly over, having photos to remember those twenty-one weeks are so important, and I'm so thrilled to have a couple pics of me out there with people who were once strangers and are now dear friends. - Matthew Billingsly
Every time J.W. uploaded photos, I’d sit down and browse through them and kinda look for friends and co-workers. And if I spotted them, I’d send them the pic like a proud auntie. When you’re out there picketing, clutching your sign and sweating and worrying about how it will all turn out, perspective starts to shrink. Seeing ourselves captured in J.W.’s photos was a reminder that we were part of a community and part of a movement. Not just for WGA members, but for the members of our sister unions and the not-yet-union-members who walked with us. They’re the kind of photos that kids years from now will use to show how badass their mom looked as she fought for their future. I’m so grateful to him for using his talent to give us that gift. - Hillary Benefiel
Once I met J.W., I always got excited to see him show up at a picket line. In a battle that relied on telling the story of writer solidarity, J.W.'s pictures took moments that were chaotic, sweaty, and sometimes painful and he was able to capture images of joy, connection, and happiness. Those daily photos let us all know we were not alone, that we were better together, and that we all look pretty damn good in black & white. - Robb Chavis (WGAW Board of Directors and 2023 WGA Negotiating Committee)
I first met J.W. at Netflix where he had come because another writer asked him to document our WGA Moms picket (we were all bringing our kids). We got to talking, and I learned he was a writer too who just felt compelled to photograph the strike. A couple days later, he sent me a cool black and white photo of me and my three year old daughter, holding her mini strike sign, home-made from a broom toy. There’s this thing in parenthood where you take a million pictures of your kid, but forget to document yourself so it meant so much to me to have this image of us marching together. - Erica Rosbe
Thank you to J.W., who was an unexpected, then reassuring presence on the picket lines. He was totally devoted to our cause. Like all great photojournalists, he was trying to capture the experience, the emotions, the truth. When I look back on 2023, the memories of JW and his camera will be inextricably linked with my memories of the writers in blue shirts. - Scott Alexander (WGAW Board of Directors)
I arrived at the Palladium on September 27th to join the Board in presenting the deal we had won. I saw J.W. backstage, and said, "Oh good, I was hoping you'd be here tonight!" He smiled kind of slyly and said, "I'm glad I made it in time." He told me he had been in New York on vacation, and got the call that morning to come photograph the event if he was available. Without hesitation, he changed his flight and came back to L.A. He might have even come straight from the airport, I can't remember. I said, you know, dude, that's crazy. And he just laughed and smiled and gave a little shrug and said something like, "yeah, but... I had to be here." And that's the thing - he didn't have to do it, that night or any other time over nearly 150 days. But what a gift to all of us that he did. - Molly Nussbaum (WGAW Board of Directors and 2023 WGA strike lot coordinator)
To wrap up this celebration of J.W. Hendricks, I want to share with you photos of J.W. that membership provided me with. Many of them expressed how glad they were to have these pics in their personal collections.
I’ll begin with this one from Fredrick Leach from NBCUniversal's “meme day” on August 24th. Andrew Aroche made the sign, which reads: "Seeing myself in a JW Hendricks photo." Leach then gets super-meta with J.W., putting him in a photo of his own.
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