Lesser-Known Writer’s Strikes

For the past two months, the Writers Guild of America has been on strike over labor disputes with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
However, theirs is not the only writers’ strike that has gripped the nation, threatening to curtail access to new cultural content. Here are some other, lesser-known writers’ strikes from recent history:

The James Patterson-Ghostwriter Strike of 2003

Demands: Sunlight, water, and new Alex Cross tote-bag clothes.


Outcome: Resolved within four withheld feedings.

Chair chained to a desk.

The Prell Shampoo-Bottle Eighth-Floor Copywriters’ Strike of 1989

Demands: Bigger font sizes, writer credits on the bottom of the bottle, first dibs on cool new prototypes.


Outcome: Resolved after two months of consumer tears.

A bottle of Prell shampoo turned on its side.

The Jersey Shore Skywriters Association Strike of 1996

Demands: Fewer clouds, longer lunch breaks, no cursive.


Outcome: Resolved after motion-sick lawyers refused to go back up for another counterproposal.

A clear sky over an ocean shoreline.

The Ransom-Note Writers’ Strike of 2017

Demands: A hundred thousand dollars in small bills and better scissors to cut out magazine letters with.


Outcome: Work resumed after ransom was left under the old bridge at midnight, no cops.

Strike spelled out in ransom notestyle magazine cutouts.

The Historical Science-Fiction Writers of Duluth Strike of 2001

Demands: That my wife, Shelley, seriously acknowledge historical science-fiction as a real and valid form of fiction.


Outcome: Strike still ongoing.

Man in tshirt Abraham Lincoln and alien holding up picket signs.