Decoding the Hollywood Strike Part One

 

On July 14th, actors and writers in Hollywood ranging from Marvel stars like Robert Downey Jr and Mark Ruffalo to tv stars like Issa Rae and Quinta Brunson, and even directors like Christopher Nolan went on a labor strike or what is being called the "SAG-AFTRA Strike". For those who do not know, the SAG-AFTRA which stands for Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, is a labor union that represents thousands of individuals in Hollywood, especially actors and writers. Why are the actors and writers going on strike? For starters, the writers have been going on strike for months and now the actors are joining them. NBC News said it best when they said "Thousands of screenwriters have been on strike for more than two months, and they will now be joined on the picket lines by thousands of actors represented by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, a labor union whose members include some of the most famous faces in the entertainment industry. SAG-AFTRA's national board voted unanimously Thursday to go on strike, marking the first time film and television performers have staged a work stoppage since 1980. The vote came the morning after high-stakes negotiations between the guild and a trade association representing the entertainment industry's top studios broke down."¹ To understand this, let's start with some key facts. There has not been a strike like this in Hollywood since 1960 when John F. Kennedy was running for president and Elisabeth Taylor was to the box office what the likes of Dwayne Johnson and Robert Downey Jr are now. Something else that is important to know is that actors and writers are fighting for the same things and some of those things are fair pay and stopping studios from submitting to artificial intelligence. 

Who are the key players in this fight? I stated them already but NBC News breaks it down even further by saying "The dispute pits SAG-AFTRA against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, or AMPTP, a trade association that represents behemoth entertainment corporations such as Disney, Netflix, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. (The group represents NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.) SAG-AFTRA was formed in 2012 after the merger of the Screen Actors Guild (founded in 1933) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The combined guild represents roughly 160,000 performers, from Oscar-winning A-list stars, such as Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, to radio personalities and television presenters."² It is important to note that Fran Drescher the actress who is the current SAG-AFTRA president is at the frontlines making sure her fellow performers are given exactly what they need and deserve. Another important thing to know is obvious. 

What do the actors in Hollywood want? In other words, why are they on strike? As NBC News illustrates "SAG-AFTRA's members are seeking a new contract with the AMPTP, an agreement that they believe must account for the economic realities of the streaming revolution and the risks posed by emerging digital technologies.³" The use of artificial intelligence is also a big talking point when it comes to this problem and I am not referring to CGI. Artificial intelligence in this case refers to things like ChatGPT and other programs. To talk about why, let's go back to the NBC News. They say "SAG-AFTRA's members are seeking a new contract with the AMPTP, an agreement that they believe must account for the economic realities of the streaming revolution and the risks posed by emerging digital technologies. The writers' complaints closely parallel those of Hollywood's screenwriters, who have been on strike since early May after talks between the Writers Guild of America, or WGA, and the AMPTP failed. The industry's screenwriters, for example, fear that generative AI programs like ChatGPT could one day be used as a substitute for their human labor."⁴ What is clear is that studios are cutting costs when they shouldn't be and are treating the actors and writers as expendable objects instead of humans who are making them millions of dollars. 

One side effect of the strike has been empty red carpets. A recent example of this is the premiere of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. Four of the actors in the film: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, and Robert Downey Jr. walked out of the UK premiere of their film in solidarity with their fellow actors and producers. Another side effect is that actors are not allowed to promote their films and television shows in any way. The casts of Oppenheimer and Barbie have already started hitting the press junket but all of that is meaningless when they have to pause everything due to the strike. Hollywood is at a standstill and although certain projects are exempt from being shut down, most of them are being halted indefinitely. Comic-Con will be nearly empty in San Diego after every major studio from Marvel to Universal has pulled out of the convention mainly due to this strike. Actors and writers need to be paid accordingly for their hard work. Kimiko Glenn who is an actor in Netflix's Orange is the New Black has gone on record saying that she made only $27.30 off of residuals from the show. For those wondering, residuals are the money that actors make from networks airing old episodes (re-runs) of their television shows or showing one of their films after its initial release.

Residuals are one of the main reasons why the actors are striking in the first place. The problem is that residuals decrease in value over time. The actors could make millions off of residuals (like the cast of Friends) one year but that number could end up being the same as Kimiko Glenn. Residuals are also how many background actors pay their rent and buy food. With residuals now being so low, many people are struggling and adding more to economic insecurity in America. The bottom line is that the everyday public should do everything they can to help these writers, producers, and actors get better pay in residuals but also get better contracts. This all boils down to the contracts. Studios are willing to sacrifice actors that have lengthy contracts for a large sum of money without any consequences. That is why Bob Iger at Disney is so at fault for claiming that the strike is wrong and that the actors are asking for too much. Disney like every other studio needs to give these actors better pay and better contracts. The strike is important because it will change how studios approach projects in the future. Disney's plan of scaling back on large projects like Star Wars is not the answer. The answer is putting these actors and writers in a better spot financially so that they can feed their families and so their work can reach a bigger audience. Money is the name of the game but how studios are handling the strike when it comes to money is not right. The public needs to help the word get out because many of these actors and writers do not have a voice to speak out about this themselves and that is the saddest part.