Over the course of a week, actors including Tina Fey, Kevin Bacon and his wife Kyra Sedgwick, Rosario Dawson, David Duchovny and other stars joined working-class artists and writers in a sit-in outside the studios and corporate offices of streaming giants Netflix, Max and Amazon.
The regular appearance of actors at the picket lines provided additional force behind the demand for higher wages in the age of digital broadcasting and the use of artificial intelligence. Nearly 65,000 actors, the vast majority of whom do not earn enough to qualify for health benefits through their union, are participating in the strike, along with 11,500 screenwriters, according to the Associated Press.
Although many picket lines are located in Los Angeles and New York, film and television productions are carried out all over the country. Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago were among the major cities that went on strike on Tuesday and Wednesday. Later Friday, the actors are scheduled to organize an event in London in solidarity with the American Screen Actors Guild.
There is no indication when negotiations will resume with the studios and broadcasters represented by the Motion Picture and Television Producers Alliance. The coalition said it had offered writers and actors large pay increases and had tried to meet other demands. Many in the sit-in took advantage of the comments of their company bosses, such as Disney CEO Bob Iger, who described union demands last week as “unrealistic”.
For his part, the co-CEO of “Netflix” Ted Sarandos said that he grew up in a union family and knew that the strike was painful for workers and their families. He added, “We are fully committed to reaching an agreement as soon as possible. An agreement that is fair and allows the unions, the industry and everyone in it to move forward into the future.”
Actor and writer Seth Green said streaming, which has become a dominant entertainment outlet during the COVID-19 pandemic, has upended the livelihoods of those on strike.
The entertainment and film industry is witnessing a double strike, the first of its kind in more than 60 years, and will exacerbate the economic damage caused by the writers’ strike that began on May 2, in a new blow to the multi-billion dollar sector at a time when it is already suffering from the impact of changes in its business model.
The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists are calling for an increase in the basic wage and the differences or fees paid for live broadcasts via the Internet, in addition to guarantees that they will not be replaced by artificial intelligence, given that the aforementioned union is the largest union in Hollywood and includes more than 160,000 actors.
