Three years after the pandemic brought Hollywood to a standstill, the film and TV industry has again ground to a halt.
announcing the strike. "We’re not going to keep doing incremental changes on a contract that no longer honors what is happening right now with this business model that was foisted upon us.Disaster also loomed in Hollywood when COVID-19 in March 2020 shuttered movie theaters, emptied TV studios and shut down all production. The recovery is still ongoing.
Though many of the demands of SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America are longstanding, much of the current dispute gathered force in the helter-skelter days of the pandemic. A digital land rush to streaming ensued, as studios, in many cases, hurried to craft their Netflix competitors. Subscriber growth became the top priority.
The last time screen actors and writers struck simultaneously, in 1960, the guilds established royalty payments for replays of films and TV episodes, among other landmark protections. If that strike reckoned with the dawn of television, this one does much the same for the streaming era. Increasingly, it’s looking like everyone lost in the so-called streaming wars that went into hyperdrive under COVID-19. Since Wall Street last year began souring on subscription numbers being the be-all-end-all, most media companies have suffered stock declines. Wall Street's message turned to: Show us the profits.
Many are now girding for a prolonged stoppage that, if carried into September, would greatly impact the fall TV schedule and the film festivals that launch the season's awards contenders. Drescher said she "couldn't believe" how far apart her union and AMPTP are. There are also differences that favor the writers. In 1960, the strike by SAG was fiercely opposed by some other guilds, including the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees , which represents below-the-line crew members. This time, the actors and writers have near-universal support throughout the guilds. IATSE, notably, is set to negotiate its own new contract next year.
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