Helgenberger Joins The Picket Line

Marg Helgenberger stands alongside the writers.

On Monday, a group of more than 60 writers formed a picket line outside of the Universal Studios lot where CSI: Crime Scene Investigation films. Helgenberger was not scheduled to film for CSI that day, so she joined the picket line and held a placard. "I'm in total solidarity with them," she told the Hollywood Insider.

Helgenberger said that this was her first opportunity to picket in Hollywood. "I'm glad to be standing alongside these people," she explained. "If there was ever a time in history to stand up, this is it. This is where you draw the line in the sand." After the negotiations this past weekend, Helgenberger was not surprised that the strike occurred. "I had my doubts about things moving forward," she said, and went on to say that she had been hopeful that the last-minute discussions would be successful. "It's sad it has come to this," she said. "Nobody wanted this to happen. Nobody."

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) put a full-page ad in the trades last week. The ad was headed with the phrase "Pencils Down Means Pencils Down". It went on to say that writing scripts during the strike "undermines the very cause for which we’re fighting" and that doing so "sends the wrong message to those who honor our picket lines." At the bottom of the ad was a list of showrunners who vowed that, in the event of a strike, they would "do no writing and no story breaking — nor will any be asked of our writing staffs — until we get a deal." Among the showrunners whose names appeared were Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar from CSI and Pamela Veasey from CSI: New York.

The article about Helgenberger's participation in the picket line is from the Hollywood Insider. The WGA ad can be read here.

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