No End in Sight for the 2023 Hollywood Strikes

On May 1, 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA), a union representing content creators in film, television, and radio, declared that it was going on strike at 12:01 AM. The WGA’s three-year contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) had expired after the two groups had been negotiating topics such as pay, streaming residuals, and artificial intelligence over the previous six weeks. Two and a half months later, on July 13th, another creative union- the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA)- also voted to go on strike, after their contract with the AMPTP expired. SAG-AFTRA and the WGA’s strikes make the current Hollywood strikes the first double strike in 63 years, according to Vox.com. In New York City and

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Los Angeles, actors marched outside the offices of Netflix Inc., Paramount Global, and other media companies, expressing a need for higher compensation and clarity on residual payments for working-class actors, reports Reuters.

The last double strike was in 1960, when the WGA and SAG-AFTRA went on strike due to the advent and popularity of television. According to hollywoodreporter.com, “Both sets of artists wanted a bigger cut of the post-1948 feature films that had been sold to TV and a solid deal for profit sharing in the future.” One of the key points of contention then (and now) was residuals, which are fees for work already done and recycled on television or, nowadays, streaming services.” For shows like I Love Lucy, which continued to generate a tremendous amount of revenue after its original airing, the producers and owners made much more money than the creators and performers. Creators and performers wanted residual payments, so they could continue to receive the financial benefits of their work. In 1960, according to hollywoodreporter.com, a spokesman commented, “The talent is entitled to get a portion of all this money that is floating around. It is as simple as that. Where would everybody be without talent?” The actors believed because they were “the talent,” they should continue to be paid after their show or film aired. The 1960 SAG strike lasted a month and a half until SAG “received residuals on all films made from 1960 on as well as a one-time payment of $2.25 million from producers to form a SAG pension and health plan,” according to Time.com. The WGA strike, on the other hand, lasted seven months, indicating how long the current Hollywood strike could last.

The 2023 double strike is analogous to the 1960 strikes. Writers and actors are striking to be compensated in a manner that takes into account changes in business models and technological shifts. Fran Drescher, the president of SAG-AFTRA, actress, comedian, and writer, in a speech she gave for CBSNews, explained: “The entire business model [in Hollywood] has been changed by streaming, digital, and AI.” Producers can use AI to write scripts instead of humans, leaving writers with less work and therefore, less pay.

Additionally, with the increasing popularity of streaming services such as Netflix, Max, Hulu, and more, the length of TV seasons has shrunk. The traditional broadcast model had up to 26 episodes per season. Currently, TV seasons typically have eight to ten episodes. Fewer episodes lead to less time acting, which decreases actors’ pay. SAG-AFTRA is asking for a raise, so actors can be compensated for the shift in TV season lengths. Moreover, in the past couple of years, Hollywood employees started using AI for writing and developing scripts, decreasing the need for (human) writers. Reuters reported, Susan Sarandon, an actress who won an Academy Award for Dead Man Walking, said, outside Warner Bros Discovery offices in New York, “We’re in an old contract for a new type of business and it’s just not working for most people.” The current residuals for working-class actors are not sustainable due to the technological and business shifts, reflecting a similar situation to the 1960 Hollywood strike.

Led by Fran Drescher, SAG-AFTRA “represents approximately 160,000 performers and media professionals…who work in film and digital motion pictures, television programs, commercials, video games, corporate/educational and non-broadcast productions, new media, television, and radio news outlets, as well as major label recording artists,” according to SAG-AFTRA’s website. With how large and widespread SAG-AFTRA is, the strike had some immediate impacts, especially on late-night shows such as ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and CBS’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” The late-night shows have already started airing reruns because so many writers are on strike. However, due to the lengthy timelines involved in the creation of movies and television shows, viewers are unable to witness the slowdown in film and TV production. Nonetheless, no person truly knows when the strike will end, or what long-term effects the strike will have.

On July 18, 2023, the unions initiated a dispute with a major production company. According to the Los Angeles, “Both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA filed labor complaints against NBCUniversal, alleging that the company was disrupting their strike efforts. According to the Los Angeles Times, the complaints allege that NBCUniversal has “interfered with, coerced and restrained employees in the exercise of their rights” by obstructing the strikers’ picket locations. These obstructions include construction fencing, which has caused strikers to march in traffic-heavy streets.

According to CNN, two of the chants strikers have been using are: “Hey hey, ho ho corporate greed has got to go,” and “What do we want? Contracts! When do we want ‘em? Now!” Many celebrities have joined in on the chants and spoken out in support of WGA and SAG-AFTRA. Jason Sudeikis, the star of Apple TV’s Ted Lasso, was asked why he was on the picket line, and he replied, “Just listen. That says it all,” according to CNN. Other celebrities, including Matt Damon, Margot Robbie, Odet te Annable, Mandy Moore, and Jamie Lee Curtis have also shown their support of the unions’ strike. According to CNN, The cast of Oppenheimer, the highly anticipated war film, walked out of the film’s UK premiere on July 13th, “to write their picket signs,” according to Christopher Nolan, the director of Oppenheimer. On July 12th, Margot Robbie, the lead in the other highly-anticipated film of the summer, Barbie, told Sky News, at the UK premiere of the film, “I very much am in support of all the unions, and I’m a part of SAG, so I would absolutely stand by them.”

The entertainment industry is just one of the many industries in which technological shifts have had major impacts. AI has been able to do the work of many creative minds, which begs the question of how many writers are necessary for creating TV and movies. However, the critical debate is now about how effective AI is at writing funny jokes, tension-filled scenes, and witty screenplays. While AI can answer almost any question, and chatbots exemplify humans, they are not the same. Another aspect of technological advancement, streaming services, has sparked the debate about residuals. With no end in sight, WAG and SAG-AFTRA will continue to stall TV and film production, until writers and actors are compensated for the business developments that have taken place over the last five years.