Cynthia Nixon, Wanda Sykes, and many more take to 30 Rock and speak amid writers’ strike

Three weeks into the writers’ strike, the Writers Guild of America took over New York City’s legendary Rockefeller Plaza to make one thing crystal and rightfully clear to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP): They’re not backing down.

The WGA East organized a vibrant rally on May 23 below the iconic 30 Rock building, home to Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Late Night With Seth Meyers, and the NBC and Comcast offices. It’s also the structure that inspired NBC’s long-running, beloved sitcom,
30 Rock (a show that, a decade ago, was impacted by the previous strike). The adrenaline-filled energy from solidarity just can’t be beaten, and thankfully, the WGA wasn’t alone. Members of the SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, and other labor unions showed up in numbers to support the writers demanding fair compensation for their work. What else did corporations promoting AI over real writing talent expect?

The 30 Rock rally witnessed impressive speakers, from And Just Like That…’s Cynthia Nixon to Broad City’s Ilana Glazer, from playwright Tony Kushner to Good Omens’ Neil Gaiman. The A.V. Club did some boots-on-the-ground reporting to bring you rousing, insightful quotes from everyone who took the stage supporting the WGA, including exclusive comments from Girls5eva and SNL’s Paula Pell and rally emcee Josh Gondelman, former writer at Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.

[The following speeches have been condensed.]

Paula Pell: “We’re being devalued”

“Nothing exists without writing. I don’t care if a computer spits out something. It’s not inspired, like you get from the writers. We must value it because we’re being devalued, making less money, and young writers can’t learn. This is the time for them to learn from the writers’ room. I feel strongly about that.I’ve been so touched by looking up at this building where I learned to write [on SNL] and made my living for many years, learning how to write a comedy. I want every writer who is young, of my age, and in between to be able to make a living in this incredible craft. We’re all born with these crazy brains, and I don’t want machines taking over that because some people care only about quantity and not quality.”Pell confirmed to The A.V. Club that , has finished filming. “It’s a relief, but we would’ve happily stopped if we needed to. But we were blessed in our timing and could get it out.”