A huge crowd of animation workers, cartoon fans, and union members from other trades gathered in the parking lot of IATSE Local 80 in Burbank on a scorching Saturday afternoon for the Stand With Animation Rally. The historic gathering drew a crowd that appeared to number well over a thousand people, making it possibly the largest labor rally in animation history.

This afternoon’s rally was intended as a show of strength by animation workers, represented by The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839, who will battle the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on Monday to negotiate a new Master Collective Bargaining Agreement. The event was organized by The Mitchells vs. the Machines director Michael Rianda, who introduced a large group of speakers including Burbank Mayor Nick Schultz, Animation Guild President Jeanette Moreno King, actor Adam Conover and top animation talents Rebecca Sugar, Genndy Tartakovsky, Alex Hirsch, Peter Ramsey, Shion Takeuchi and James Baxter. In addition, rank-and-file animation workers from various chapters of The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839, took turns speaking on important labor issues relevant to their particular fields.

During the speeches, there were certain topics that repeatedly drew boos from the audience, including mentions of artificial intelligence and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. Storyboard artists Nora Meek and Charlie Jackson led a popular chant of “No Contract, No Cartoons” as they called out executives and their specific actions: