Soundstages and sets across the country are eerily quiet. Boom mikes are turned off, Craft services tables are empty and unfinished costumes hang waiting to be stitched.
The rally cries of the Writer’s Guild of America as well as the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists are being felt in all corners of Hollywood.
Members of the WGA voted on May 2 to strike with a 98 percent agreement of 65,000 union members.
In an interview with TIME, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said, “There has been a sea change in the entertainment industry, from the proliferation of streaming platforms to the recent explosion of generative AI, and at stake is the ability of our members to make a living.”
Primarily, the writers believe they are being severely overworked and underpaid as the rise of streaming services has soared in recent years. With series television overriding cable TV and Network shows, writers have been left to cramp their hands to meet the needs of streaming services and their commitment to series release.
“The Guild wants to see industry minimum rates, known as MBAs, applied to writers who work on comedy-variety programs ‘made for new media’ and restrict the use of excerpts, which writers don’t get paid for,” said Kim Bellware and Ben Brasch of the Washington Post.
On July 14, SAG-AFTRA members joined the picket line.
“Hopefully people are now understanding that we’re not a bunch of rich, pampered actors or writers,” actor and model Kathy Boettcher said in an interview with Variety. “We all know that most of us don’t make much money. It’s a small handful. They continue to cut wages and health benefits, and then the top [one percent] takes all the money and then cries foul. It’s just not right.”
Ultimately, it is a matter of abuse of the working class in the film industry. The writers and actors work tirelessly while the executives sit pretty in the boardrooms reaping in all the money.
According to an interview of union leader and actress Fran Drescher on “TODAY”,“We’re not going to settle. It’s a very different industry from the way the old contract was reflecting. With streaming and digital, it’s really important that it becomes restructured to complement what it is now.”
During the first weeks of negotiations, SAG-AFTRA was confident there could be an end to the strike. However, Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers delayed their response to SAG-AFTRA’s original demands by 12 days.
Dreschner states the delays were simply to bide time for the summer 2023 movie premieres like “Oppenheimer.”
“During that time, they canceled our negotiation meetings,” Drescher said in an interview with Variety Magazine, “I thought, maybe they’re duking it out behind closed doors, maybe they’re gonna come back with something that we can really start to roll up our sleeves. [But] they just wanted to get more time to promote their summer movies and they had no intention of using that extension for anything else.”
Movie premieres are being postponed along with tv shows and late-night shows. Even the 2023 Emmy’s award show has been rescheduled for Jan. 15, 2024 – which marks the first time since 2001 that they have been delayed.
“Every year, my family and I look forward to watching the Emmys,” senior Rylie Ruggirello said. “But, because of the strike, we have to delay our yearly tradition.”
Numerous anticipated movies also are being postponed until 2024.
“I’ve been looking forward to “Dune: Part Two” since the first one came out,” senior Mallory Dreager said.
“But, since the postponement, I decided to just read the book instead because who knows when it will finally get released.”
Big production studios like Disney and Warner Brothers are facing massive loses as a result of the strike and feel they are unable to reconcile on either side.
“There’s a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic,” said CEO of Disney Bob Iger to Variety magazine. “And they are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.”
Members hope the strike has finally been given the publicity their boards have fought so hard for since May.
“There are so many issues at stake here, the bottom line of all of them being: how do we protect the longevity and sustainability of our professions?” said voice actor Ashly Burch to Fan Nation. “There are so many writers and actors that are barely getting by, or had to leave the profession because they couldn’t make ends meet. These are people that were actively working these contracts, and still couldn’t live off of their wages. That’s unacceptable.”
