With pens down and picket signs up, actors
and writers bring Hollywood to a standstill. Simply put, the strikes in
Hollywood shine a spotlight on the seismic shakeup caused by the surge of
streaming platforms, jolting the foundations of traditional compensation and
viewership models. This disruptive tremor has sparked labor strikes and ignited
fears for the fate of actors and writers, casting a shadow over the industry's
future.
On July 14th, 2023, a significant event
unfolded in the entertainment industry as the 160,000 members of the Screen
Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
(AFTRA), collectively known as SAG-AFTRA, initiated a historic strike. This
labor action had a profound impact on the world of film, television, and radio.
To understand the context leading up to this strike, it is essential to delve into the history of SAG-AFTRA. The Screen Actors Guild was established in 1933 as a labor union representing professional actors in the United States. Its primary goal was to protect the rights and interests of performers, ensuring fair wages, safe working conditions, and equitable treatment in the entertainment industry. AFTRA, on the other hand, originated in 1937 as a union for radio performers, expanding its jurisdiction to include television and other media over time.
Over the years, SAG and AFTRA collaborated on various issues, recognizing their shared goals and the benefits of collective bargaining. In 2012, after years of negotiations, SAG and AFTRA merged to form SAG-AFTRA, creating a stronger and more unified voice for performers across different media platforms.
A Netflix Strike?
A was noted above, the union represents
different performers like actors, journalists, and voiceover artists. Their
contract with the studios expired, but they extended negotiations.
Unfortunately, they didn't reach an agreement. On the first day of the strike,
performers gathered on picket lines in Los Angeles and New York. Cars honked to
support them, even near Netflix's offices. Many picketers carried signs for
SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America (WGA), who had their own strike
earlier. This is the first time both unions are striking together since 1960.
One sign even mentioned Blockbuster, a video-rental store that doesn't exist
anymore.
The strikes happened because streaming
changed TV and movies a lot. The writers' strike is sometimes called the
"Netflix strike." Actors and writers say they can't make enough money
from residuals, which they get when their work is shown again. They also have
problems because streaming services keep viewer numbers secret. This makes it
hard to know why shows are canceled or if they become popular. Artists think
they should be paid more for their successful work. The strike is a way for
working actors to stand up because they're afraid they might lose their jobs.
Actors are also worried about artificial intelligence (AI) taking their place. Some signs even talked about that. The union says the studios offered to pay actors for scanning their image and likeness for one day, but the studios could use it forever. Fran Drescher, the star of a TV show called "The Nanny" and the president of SAG-AFTRA, talked about this at a press conference. She was really angry and said if they don't take action now, they could all be replaced by machines.
How will the strike affect Hollywood? Well, it's going to be a big problem. TV shows and movies won't be made anymore. Actors can't promote their work at events like film festivals and premieres. Even talk shows won't have them as guests. The Emmys, a famous award show, won't be as exciting if the strike continues until September. Cities that rely on film and TV production will also be affected. When writers went on strike before, California lost a lot of money. The current strike is costing the state millions of dollars every day. But Los Angeles is a strong city with a diverse economy. In fact, the film industry employs a lot of people there. Even though they're important, they make up less than 2% of the city's workforce.
Union membership in the country is very low.
Only 10.1% of Americans are part of a union. But the strikes in Hollywood are
happening at a time when workers are unhappy in California and other places
too. In the past year, school employees and hotel workers in Los Angeles went
on strike. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted many work stoppages in 2022,
which means a lot of workers didn't go to work. If UPS workers go on strike as
they are threatening to, it could be a really expensive strike.
President Joe Biden supports labor unions a
lot. He wants more people to join them. When screenwriters went on strike,
other unions supported them. For example, the trucking union called the
Teamsters refused to deliver things to the studios because they didn't want to
cross the picket lines.
At a Netflix location, picketers were still
talking about what happened that morning. Ms. Drescher, who is a famous actor
and the president of the union, came to talk to them. She's good at standing up
for what's right, just like her character on the TV show "The Nanny."
Her character once said, "never, ever, ever cross a picket line."
One thing is for certain: The strike is like
a storm hitting Hollywood, leaving TV shows and movies in its wake. If the strike continues, Hollywood will be a
ghost town, with no red carpets or shining stars.
Notes
Barnes, B. (2023, July 15). In
Hollywood, the Strikes Are Just Part of the Problem. Retrieved from The New
York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/15/business/media/hollywood-strikes.html
Cruz, G. (2008, December
18). A Brief History of the Screen Actors Guild. Retrieved from Time
Magazine: https://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1867172,00.html
Provost, R. (2021, December
26). What is SAG-AFTRA — Guild History, Eligibility & Membership.
Retrieved from https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-sag-aftra-definition/
Pulver , A., & Shoard,
C. (2023, July 14). The Hollywood Actors’ Strike: Everything You Need to
Know. Retrieved from The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/jul/14/the-hollywood-actors-strike-everything-you-need-to-know
The Economist. (2023, July
14). Cut! An All-Out Strike Brings Hollywood to a Halt. Retrieved from
https://www.economist.com/united-states/2023/07/14/an-all-out-strike-brings-hollywood-to-a-halt
No comments:
Post a Comment