Chasing the dream: One writer puts down her pen and picks up a sign

The Hollywood writers' strike continues to drag on after talks between the Writers Guild of America and major studios and streaming producers broke down on Monday.

Brandi Nicole is one of thousands of writers who have taken to picket lines outside the gates of studios around Los Angeles.

She recently started a new job as a staff writer on an untitled Bosch spinoff series for Amazon, focused on the character of Renee Ballard. Four weeks ago, she moved from Memphis, Tennessee, to LA.

"Now we're on strike and so I'm here on the picket line," Nicole said.

On a sunny day in Burbank, California, this week, Nicole picked up a sign and joined fellow writers picketing in front of the gates of the Warner Bros. studio lot.

"My hope and my goal is to be able to be a writer as a long term viable career. And under the current circumstances, that's just not possible," Nicole said. "It's like a gig economy where you may only get one job a year where you're working for 10 to 20 weeks, and another has to hold you until the next year or two when another job comes available and that is not sustainable."

Nicole says the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents Warner Bros. and streamers like Amazon and Netflix, should come to the table with a reasonable offer to get writers back to work.

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"We are the creators of so many of your favorite TV shows, your favorite movies, and so we should be able to share in this success," she says. "So I will be out here on the picket line with my fellow brothers and sisters for as long as it takes for us to get our piece of the pie."

Through it all, Nicole says she will continue chasing her dream.

"I love writing, I love being a storyteller. I love being around other storytellers who help  us to build and create worlds and make it even better than I may have originally thought of," she says.

Back home in Tennessee, Nicole says her three sons Jayden, Stephen and Daniel are watching.

"I'm very proud that they can see their mom out here pursuing her dreams. And that I'm going for it," she says. "Even though right now we have this strike we, together, we will win."