Dispatches From The Picket Lines – “We Are Here With You ’Til The Very End,” Writers Tell Actors At AAPI-Themed Rally In Manhattan

deadline.com:

It was everything everywhere all at once Thursday in New York City: Striking actors getting ready for contract talks were joined by writers who have just wrapped up theirs at a rally in Manhattan that also highlighted Asian American Pacific Islander culture in film and television.

On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrated by Asian communities worldwide, about 200 people gathered outside the Manhattan offices of Warner Bros.

Discovery for pickets and speeches that marked the official end of one strike against the major studios and the continuation of another whose end might be in sight.

Speakers including Joel de la Fuente of Hemlock Grove, Perry Yung of The Knick, Celia Au of Wu Assassins and Ivory Aquino of When We Rise hailed the growing visibility of Asian-Americans onscreen and said that their strike demands — including sustainable wages and limits on the use of artificial intelligence in productions — are vital to keeping Asian-American characters and stories in front of audiences.  RELATED: WGA Chiefs Ellen Stutzman & Meredith Stiehm Q&A: “Transformative” Deal For Hollywood, Solidarity With SAG-AFTRA & The AMPTP’s “Failed Process” Yung, in his turn with a plastic megaphone shared by the speakers, drew a line of progress from his early days as an actor — “There was nothing for me to audition for,” he said — to the explosion of creativity seen in such projects as Crazy Rich Asians and reigning Best Picture Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All at Once, a time-tripping adventure with Asian-American talent in front of and behind the camera.  “Everywhere All at Once is just the beginning to show them that we are here, we’ve been here, and we are here to stay,” Yung said to cheers.On the scene today in New