Hollywood on hold: actors join writers on the picket line
There is a haves vs. have-nots mood in Tinseltown
Hollywood studios thought they could “ride out” the screenwriters’ strike, which began in May, and keep the dream factory open, said Meg James in the Los Angeles Times. But now that Hollywood’s actors have joined writers for the biggest Tinseltown shutdown since 1960, things aren’t turning out that way.
“Movie shoots have ground to a halt”, with big-budget sequels such as “Gladiator 2” and “Deadpool 3” shutting down in the middle of shooting. “A-list stars have bailed on film and TV marketing campaigns.” And there’s deadlock between the two main players: the 160,000-member actors’ union, Sag-Aftra, and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents the big studios. The union argues that the advent of streaming has enabled studios to unfairly cut their pay. They also want “protections against the use of AI” in film and TV.
Streaming scrambled tradition income model
“There will be no fresh helpings of “The White Lotus”, “The Last of Us” or even “Emily in Paris” beaming into front rooms when summer fades,” said Vanessa Thorpe in The Guardian US. Americans, and much of the world with them, had got used to an endless stream of high-quality entertainment.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But now they are coming face to face with the uncomfortable fact that, even as entertainment choices have exploded, creators haven’t shared in the bounty. Actors – like writers – “have traditionally had a base of income” from repeat showings, said Michael Schulman in The New Yorker. But “streaming has scrambled that model”, and endangered “the ability of working actors to make a living”.
In the old days, residual payments could yield a good living. The cast of “Friends”, for instance, would earn millions every time a series was rerun. But on streaming platforms there are no reruns as such: shows are put up there permanently, and actors complain that they make peanuts. In one celebrated case, an actress playing a recurring character in “Orange Is the New Black” – a big hit for Netflix – received precisely $27.30 in residuals. Some cast members have been considering turning to food stamps. Sag-Aftra negotiators are demanding residuals partly based on audience numbers for streaming services. But those platforms disagree, and they are not even willing to share commercially sensitive viewing numbers.
‘Us against them is straight out of Les Miz’
The use of generative AI has also been a major point of contention at the negotiating table, said Andrew Webster on The Verge. Many actors fear that, without strict regulation, their work could be replicated and remixed by artificial intelligence tools, and that such transformations will both cut their control over their work and hurt their ability to earn a living. Sag-Aftra claims – though the studios dispute it – that the bosses want people who play film and TV extras “to be scanned, get one day’s pay, and their company should own that scan, their image, their likeness, and should be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want, with no consent and no compensation”.
The “us against them”, haves vs. have-nots mood in Hollywood is “straight out of ‘Les Miz’”, said Brooks Barnes in The New York Times. Striking actors have pointed to the pay packages of studio heads: Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, for instance, got an astonishing $246.6m in 2021. But beneath the surface, the studios are facing existential questions. Entertainment companies are still trying to grapple with the erratic economics of streaming, along with lower box-office figures and the demise of traditional broadcast and cable – their bread and butter for decades. At the moment, no talks are happening between the union leaders and the studios, and none have been scheduled. There’s no sign of a Hollywood ending.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
10 recent scientific breakthroughs
In Depth From cell reparation to monkey communication
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
TV to watch in September, from 'Agatha All Along' to 'The Penguin'
The Week Recommends A 'WandaVision' spinoff, a DC Comics villain's starring turn and a silly Netflix original
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
Pope urges climate action, unity at Jakarta mosque
Speed Read The pope and the mosque's top cleric signed a joint declaration encouraging religious tolerance and climate change action
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Death of England: Closing Time review – 'bold, brash reflection on racism'
The Week Recommends The final part of this trilogy deftly explores rising political tensions across the country
By The Week UK Published
-
Sing Sing review: prison drama bursts with 'charm, energy and optimism'
The Week Recommends Colman Domingo plays a real-life prisoner in a performance likely to be an Oscars shoo-in
By The Week UK Published
-
Kaos review: comic retelling of Greek mythology starring Jeff Goldblum
The Week Recommends The new series captures audiences as it 'never takes itself too seriously'
By The Week UK Published
-
Peter Godfrey-Smith's 6 favorite books for expanding your mind
Feature The philosopher recommends works by Annie Proulx, Douglas Hofstadter, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 groovy homes built in the 1970s
Feature Featuring a skylit conversation pit in Texas and a sunken living room in California
By The Week Staff Published
-
The wild beauty of southeast Sri Lanka
The Week Recommends Dive deep into the island nation's most beautiful and untamed places
By The Week UK Published
-
Teenagers: should we let them roam?
Talking Point Kirstie Allsopp revealed she let her 15-year-old go Interrailing with a friend causing a 'predictable furore'
By The Week UK Published
-
Mohammed Sami: After the Storm – a 'cunning' and 'highly intelligent' show
The Week Recommends The Iraqi artist brings 14 of his 'exhilarating' works to Blenheim Palace
By The Week UK Published