Hollywood’s actors and screenwriters join forces on the picket line after studios failed to reach a deal this week with the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). The strike has emerged as the first industry-wide shutdown in 63 years.
Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA, accused studios and streaming networks of making “Wall Street and greed their priority,” forgetting “about the essential contributors that make the machine run.”
Among SAG-AFTRA’s 160,000-strong ranks are many of the world’s biggest stars. Hollywood’s A-listers, such as Margot Robbie, Meryl Streep, Constance Wu, Jennifer Lawrence, and Matt Damon are among the celebrities supporting the SAG-AFTRA strike. At the London premiere of “Barbie” on Wednesday, SAG-AFTRA member, Margot Robbie told Sky News that she will “absolutely” support the strike.
Although the strike was set to start at midnight on Thursday, stars Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt were among the actors to make a stand early when they walked out of the London premiere of Oppenheimer in solidarity with their colleagues.
Almost all US film and TV production has come to a halt due to the dispute over wages and the effects of artificial intelligence (AI) on film studios and streaming services. A disagreement arose between the unions over a fairer distribution of profits and stronger protection of AI rights. The unions are worried about contracts keeping pace with inflation, ensuring residual payments in the era of streaming, and establishing measures to prevent the use of AI that imitates their work in movies and TV shows.
With actors joining the strike, only a few soap operas will be able to continue production in the United States, as they operate under separate contracts. Aside from that, reality shows and game shows are the only types of productions that can still proceed.
Major Hollywood studios like Disney have already postponed their release dates with Disney’s CEO Bob Iger lamenting on Thursday that an actors’ strike would have a “very damaging effect on the whole industry.” He said to CNBC, “This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption,”
The strike has brought the immediate shutdown of late-night talk shows, “Saturday Night Live,” and several scripted shows, such as “Stranger Things” on Netflix,” “Hacks” on Max, and “Family Guy” on Fox, which have either had their writers’ rooms or their production paused.
The impact of the strike goes far beyond Hollywood to other industries like catering, hospitality services, and costume designers who are all connected to film and TV production.
