"Everyone needs to be paid for their work." A sequined dress, brushed hair and lipstick, Amanda Seyfriend had been supporting striking screenwriters since the Met Gala red carpet on May 2. The interpreter of Elizabeth Holmes in the series Theranos, said without filter his consideration for this underpaid profession in Hollywood. A month and a half later, Hollywood is bogged down in the strike launched by the East Coast and West Coast Writers Guild of America, the two main screenwriters' unions. The conflict is now likely to spread to the actors.
More and more actors are supporting the strike, such as Colin Farrell, Sean Penn, Elizabeth Olsen, Brian Cox and even the jury of the Cannes Film Festival. The Screen Actors Guild (SGA-AFTRA), a union representing 160,000 actors, consulted its members on June 5 and 98% of them voted in favor of the strike.
Ongoing negotiations
The union's president, Fran Drescher, launched the hostilities. This "strike authorization" (which does not amount to calling for a strike) is a "message of strength and solidarity" vis-à-vis the scriptwriters, she explained in a statement released last week. The strike even seems necessary for Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union's chief negotiator, as the profession and its issues are changing rapidly. "As we enter what could be one of the most important negotiations in the union's history, inflation, reduced residue due to streaming and generative artificial intelligence threaten actors' ability to make a living if our contracts are not adapted to reflect new realities," he said in the same statement.
Negotiations between the studio unions (AMPTP) and those of the actors, began on Wednesday 7 June. The Screen Actors Guild has demands much similar to those of the writers: better pay and fairer profit sharing with studios, especially streaming studios.
In the absence of an agreement, the profession could go on strike. If it were still possible for some productions to continue filming - strategy adopted by the series The Rings of Power for its second season currently in production - a strike of actors would sign the cessation of productions. The actors' three-year contract will expire on June 30. If no solution is found by then, the participation of comedians in the social movement will be inevitable.
A first since 2007
The hypothesis of a strike is all the more likely since the scriptwriters' union, already around the negotiating table, has no intention of ending the social movement. "We are still so far from the account," said screenwriter Greg Iwinski after the first proposals of the studios, considered too unambitious. "People are worried. Many believe that the strike will continue until the end of the year, "said to the Hollywood Reporter the producer Ted Hope, who has been practicing since the 1980s.
The writers deplore the studios' lack of consideration for their profession, and the poor remuneration that goes with it. Over the past decade, it is estimated that their salaries have fallen by an average of 4%, while studio profits have increased by 39% over the same period, thanks in part to the rise of streaming. The profession also deplores increasingly precarious working conditions. According to the union, the profession has become almost "totally freelance", with the explosion of mini-series and the reduction in the number of long productions, such as Games of Thrones or Grey's Anatomy.
The only clarification for the studios: directors should not take part in the social movement. Their union has just obtained a wage increase of 0.5%, an extension of filming periods and the supervision of the use of artificial intelligence. They should also benefit from a percentage of streaming revenue.
Hollywood had not experienced such a strike movement since that of 2007-2008, which lasted a hundred days and completely paralyzed Hollywood. Losses to the sector were estimated at $2.1 billion. A colossal figure, which could be even more important today, with the introduction of streaming in the sources of revenue of studios. In the meantime, dozens of highly anticipated blockbusters remain at a standstill - Stranger Things, The Last of Us, Emily in Paris - with no prospect of resuming filming.