mobanmarketHOLLYWOOD, CA — Film and TV actors went on strike Thursday, setting the stage for a complete shutdown of Hollywood production with economic ripple effects that will be felt across the country.
The board of SAG-AFTRA, the union representing 160,000 performers, voted to strike Thursday morning. The decision came after the contract between actors and studios expired at midnight and a last-minute attempt by the studios for federal mediation failed to yield results.
SAG-AFTRA’s board “unanimously voted to issue a strike order against the studios and streamers,” National Executive Director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said during a Thursday afternoon news conference. “The board has determine that union members should withhold their labor until a deal can be reached.”
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The strike will begin at midnight and members will be on picket lines Friday morning. The work-stoppage will apply to film and TV actors, but will not include SAG-AFTRA members working in interactive entertainment, audio books, music or commercials, he added.
Nationwide the New York Times estimates film and TV production was already 80 percent shutdown due to the Writers Guild of America strike, now in its 72nd day. Actors’ decision to strike means that major productions will be completely shuttered — with no one to act, there’s nothing to film.
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This marks the first time in 63 years that both actors and writers struck together. If the work stoppage lasts for any significant amount of time, it’s sure to add to already-guaranteed economic pain.
The last time the WGA struck, the 100-day 2007-08 strike, the economic coast totaled between $2 billion and $3 billion to the Los Angeles economy, according to various cost estimates. And that’s not just studios’ profits and writers’ wages — the ripple effects hit everyone from bus drivers and caterers to makeup artists and clerical workers.
“The gravity of this move is not lost on me, on our negotiating committee, or our board members,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said. “It’s a very serious thing that impacts thousands if not millions of people all across this country.”
This time around, it’s not just LA. In the decade since the last writers’ strike, production has increasingly moved out of the Golden State in favor of other locales, fueled by studios’ efforts to reduce costs as content needs reach an all-time high.
Georgia in particular has nurtured the film industry with tax incentives and economic development programs to become a full-fledged Hollywood East. Nearly 6 percent of Georgia’s total workforce is employed in production, according to the state’s Department of Economic Development, with many more working in fields that support film and TV. That’s helped make it the favored shooting location for the most expensive movies, including Marvel films.
New York continues to be an important center for the creation of film and TV. Massachusetts, Illinois, New York and Louisiana also have significant film industries that have been growing in recent years thanks to favorable tax environments.
Leaders of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA speak in similar themes about their fight against studios: As streaming and mergers have completely changed the way Hollywood does business over the last decade, contracts haven’t kept up with those changes, nor have wages.
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There’s been a stalemate in negotiations over issues including formulas for streaming-content pay and protections over the use of artificial intelligence. SAG-AFTRA leaders have accused the studios of negotiating in bad faith.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the trade group that represents studios, issued a statement during Thursday’s news conference: “A strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring our TV shows and films to life. The Union has regrettably chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the industry,” it reads.
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