During their celebration of Halloween, on Tuesday, Hollywood actors were keen to boycott in this field also the major studios against which they are carrying out a strike, by abstaining from disguising themselves as their characters, such as Barbie and Marvel superheroes, contenting themselves with ghosts and vampires.
The demand movement that the actors began in July is still continuing despite the end of the screenwriters’ strike, subsequently causing a state of paralysis affecting the American film and series production movement.
While the negotiations were ongoing, the actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA, issued strict instructions to its members regarding ways to celebrate Halloween, prohibiting disguises as Barbie, Oppenheimer, or other characters that might contribute to promoting the studio’s work.
The union added in a recent statement, “Let us use our collective power to express a strong and clear position towards our employers that we will not promote their content without a fair contract.”
A broad commitment to these directives was observed among the participants in the sit-in in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
In front of the Netflix and Paramount headquarters, the actors appeared disguised in a very general way, as they chose to disguise themselves as witches, bats, or even frogs instead of appearing as superheroes, for example, or charming heroines, as they usually prefer on Halloween.
Actress Sonia Grace, who was posing as a schoolgirl, told AFP: “It would be a bit strange to protest against these companies and at the same time support them.”
As for her colleague Kristan Copeland, who was booing the heads of major studios and streaming platforms, she chose a cat costume.
Actors have been demanding for three months better wages and guarantees regarding artificial intelligence.
In contrast to the stagnation that the negotiations witnessed in the summer and their lack of progress, the negotiations have intensified in recent weeks. The two parties have been meeting almost daily and expressing cautious optimism without reaching a decisive settlement.
The screenwriters reached an agreement with the studios on salaries last month, which ended a strike that lasted approximately five months, but the demands related to salaries announced by “SAG-AFTRA” are higher than those put forward by the screenwriters, and the actors are demanding a greater increase in their salaries and to receive more compensation. A percentage of the profits achieved by a successful business instead of receiving a simple reward.
If the strike is not lifted in the coming days, it will likely not be possible to resume film and television production this year, as the wheel of work in Hollywood already stops during the end-of-year holidays.
Actress Michelle McAuslin, who is co-organizing the strike with the union, said: “I think that all of us being here has been scaring the studios for 110 days.” She stressed that “the time has come for production companies to negotiate with the actors and give them what they need.”
She believed that this prolonged strike should not prevent actors from having a good time on Halloween.
