Hollywood actors go on strike, setting up historic entertainment shutdown
David McNew/Getty Images News
Hollywood actors officially went on strike Thursday at midday, queuing up a double strike among creatives that threatens to effectively shut down entertainment production until it's resolved.
The national board of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists unanimously voted in favor of a strike late Thursday morning in California, after receiving a unanimous recommendation to strike from the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee.
That means the actors union joins striking writers in the Writers Guild of America as they all seek better contracts from producers (the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) over key modern sticking points, including streaming residuals, shortened seasons and the future effect of artificial intelligence on writing shows and movies.
It's the first actors strike against the industry since 1980. And it's the first time writers and actors have been on strike together in 63 years -- since the Screen Actors Guild was led by Ronald Reagan in 1960.
"Because the AMPTP remains unwilling to offer a fair deal on key issues essential to protecting the livelihoods of working actors and performers, SAG-AFTRA's national board unanimously voted for a strike order against the studios and streamers," said the union's chief negotiator, national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.
"What happens here is important, because what's happening to us is happening across all fields of labor, by means of when employers make Wall Street greed their priority, and they forget about the essential contributors that make the machine run," said SAG-AFTRA National President Fran Drescher.
Crabtree-Ireland acknowledged that due to broad membership, the strike doesn't affect all members of all contract areas -- but the strike closes off the vast majority of U.S.-based entertainment. Variety noted that HBO (WBD) hit The House of the Dragon will continue filming in the UK, as its second-season scripts were finished before the writers strike, and its Equity union members are prohibited by strict British labor laws from striking in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA.
The most immediate effect of the strike will be to put a damper on marketing films during what has been a dicey summer at the box office, which is resting remaining hopes on three more key films: the just-opened Mission: Impossible -- Dead Reckoning Part 1 (NASDAQ:PARA) (PARAA), Oppenheimer (NASDAQ:CMCSA), and Barbie (WBD).
The strike vote came down during Oppenheimer's Thursday-evening London premiere, and director Christopher Nolan said the film's actors (which include Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, and Kenneth Branagh) left a multitude of cameras and microphones on the red carpet before the screening began, to "write their picket signs" and join the strike.
Notably, the strike means the Venice Film Festival -- a traditional kick-off to Oscar season, set to begin Aug. 30 -- would have to go on with a red carpet devoid of stars.
But it also threatens the upcoming fall television season, as production would come to a near-standstill with a shortage of written material and actors. Some shows already shot and "in the can" will continue to come out, but the fall season may end up (very) heavy on reality programming, with a lack of new scripted content.
AMPTP represents major studios and streamers, including Amazon (AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Disney (NYSE:DIS), NBCUniversal (CMCSA), Netflix (NFLX), Paramount (PARA) (PARAA), Sony (SONY) and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).
âThe studios and streamers have implemented massive unilateral changes in our industryâs business model, while at the same time insisting on keeping our contracts frozen in amber,â Crabtree-Ireland said.
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