Something is stirring in the United States and the actors of Hollywood they know. Outside of their roles where they play from villains to heroes, from people like one to millionaires, the truth is that several of them outside of the screens are playing a different role in reality: support for workers’ demands.
“It is not easy to live from creativity”
Let’s start with the strike Hollywood Writers Guild: since May 2, more than 11,000 workers in the industry have laid off their jobs after the failure of negotiations between the union (WGA) and the Alliance of Film and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents the studios and more centrally streaming platforms. These are the ones that have been taking everything on the shovel without there being salary changes as opposed to the increase in job insecurity through the scriptwriters contract freelance and smaller work groups for shorter periods, outside of what is stipulated in the agreement.
In fact, the strike already began with the first repercussions, such as the case of David Simonthe creator of the series “The Wire“whose contract was suspended for HBO after joining the strike: “The day HBO called me to suspend my contract after 25 years of writing TV for them, I was doing the right thing,” he tweeted along with a video of him on strike.
Faced with this situation of strike, images of actors such as Cynthia Nixonthe remembered Miranda of Sex and the City y Fran Drescher (the very The Nanny) actively participating in workers’ claims. Other actors also spoke about it, such as Drew Barrymore who declared “Everything we celebrate and honor about movies and television is born from their creation. And until a solution is reached, I choose to wait,” after refusing to host the MTV Awards. “Everything changed with streaming and everyone should be compensated for her work. It’s fucking easy,” were also the words of the actress Amanda Seyfried. The actor could also be seen with the scriptwriters on strike Bob Odenkirk of Better Call Saul who expressed that “It’s a shame we have to do this, but writers need to be able to pay their bills and live a decent life when they write the great stuff that we’re all acting on later.”
The one that is in all
Deserves special mention Susan Sarandonwho not only also took part for the Hollywood scriptwriters but also took time to support the claim of the restaurant workers of NY in his fight for minimum wage.
The well-known and multi-award-winning actress was with a group of activists from the One Fair Wage campaign (For a Fair Wage) when she was arrested after holding a protest at the Capitol and pushing the New York State Police.
But It is not the first time that Susan has taken to the streets: in 2018 she was arrested at a rally against the immigration policy of the then US president, Donald Trump. In 2021 he also protested against the Democrat Alexandria Ocasio Cortez in a complaint for “Medicare for All” (government health plan) where he stated that “it is very difficult for people who are independent to get elected in the first place, and then see that the same people who sponsored the bill do not defend it It’s very discouraging.”
Outside of fiction, the claims grow. What is encouraging is that superhero actors are not needed to make them visible, but real flesh and blood people who, outside of all cholulismo, exorbitant profits and likes on social networks, put their bodies on and are where they need to be, together with workers like they.
2023-05-11 00:08:46
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