In war, there is sometimes a ground attack. Other times, it comes from the skies. In a show of union solidarity and creativity, writer and director Jacob Reed, used the latter method.
What began as a joke among his friends, quickly became a reality as Reed first shared the idea on social media. Eventually, a small plane, with a banner attached, was rented flew over all of the major studios. The banner read, “Pay the writers, you AI-holes.”
“It started as a joke on my Instagram, asking who would chip in if I hired a plane to fly over the studios,” Reed told Reel 360 News. “Enough friends were enthusiastic about it, that I made the post public and started collecting donations. “
Donations flooded in from WGA West members as well as from members of IATSE Locals 44, 600, 700, 705, 728, 800, 871, 892, SAG/AFTRA, The Animation Guild, DGA, AFL-CIO, United Domestic Workers, California Teachers Association, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, AIGA, Association for Independence in Radio, ACLU, NAACP, as well as talent agents, managers, and movie and tv fans all over the country.
Reed received a total of $2500. The total cost to rent the plane was $1862.50. About $2,200 was spent to commission the plane and the rest was donated to the Entertainment Community Fund according to Reed.
While Reed was not in the plane himself – he was picketing at Paramount – the plane did fly for three hours, looping around Amazon Studios, Paramount, Sony, Fox, CBS, Universal, Warner Bros. and Netflix.
Take a look below at some of the videos and pics from the flight.
REELated:
Reed is not a member of the WGA himself, but he is a member of the DGA. He’s been on the picket lines over the past two weeks supporting his sister union and chose to lead the flyover initiative because “it’s all of our fight.”
He added: “The only way to take on capitalism and take on these CEOs that have literal billions of dollars…that they can wait out a strike on, is if we all join together.”
The strike enters its fourth week.
Colin Costello is the West Coast Editor of Reel 360. Contact him at colin@reel360.com or follow him on Twitter at @colinthewriter1
