The last time this happened, the Hollywood actors’ guild was chaired by a then rather average member. His name was Ronald Reagan. After 63 years, actors and screenwriters are now simultaneously striking again in the USA. And it is an event whose global impact on the film industry will be counted in the billions of dollars.
Famous actors Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt left the London premiere of one of the most anticipated films of the year, the drama Oppenheimer directed by Christopher Nolan. The sentence, which reeks of scandal, actually describes one of the many practical consequences of actors joining striking Hollywood screenwriters last week.
Representatives of the theoretical physicist behind the creation of the first atomic bomb and his wife, as well as other faces from Oppenheimer, simply could not participate in the promotion of the news in which they act.
First, a protest started in May by screenwriters who did not agree with studios such as Netflix or The Walt Disney Company to improve conditions in the era of streaming platforms. It has already resulted in the suspension of production of series such as sequels to The Last of Us or Stranger Things, or the next part of the Spider-Man film saga. Last week, the management of the actors’ union also announced a strike after union negotiators failed to agree on a study on the new wording of the collective agreement.
The problem has now also started to concern projects that have already been written and are currently being shot, or are going to happen soon. In the coming weeks, filming of the third part of the family film Paddington will not start, director Ridley Scott will not be able to work on the second Gladiator in Morocco, the continuation of the Andor series from the Star Wars world or the new fantasy series Dragon Rod will also be delayed.
With the addition of approximately 160,000 members of the actors’ association to 11,500 screenwriters, the American film and television industry, in which according to the New York Times turns over 134 billion dollars annually, he stopped.
Robert Iger, head of The Walt Disney Company, has quite possibly the most powerful word in Hollywood. | Photo: AFP / Profimedia.cz
According to Robert Iger, the head of The Walt Disney Company, now is “the absolute worst time” for similar strikes, as the industry is just recovering from the pandemic.
“They have expectations that are just not realistic,” he added to the protesters. However, he noted this characteristically from a conference in the resort of Sun Valley in the state of Idaho, dubbed by some the Billionaire Summer Camp. And that at a time when his mandate was extended by two years – with the fact that his potential annual financial bonus doubled back.
Iger’s statement stirred up emotions rather than contributing to finding a solution. The 72-year-old manager, who already managed The Walt Disney Company from 2005 to 2020 and returned to the position again last year, has quite possibly the strongest word in Hollywood today. It has undergone many changes in recent years.
Video libraries such as Netflix, HBO Max or Disney+ at first glance paid for those who offer better conditions to actors and filmmakers at a time when Hollywood has not been paying fabulous sums as it was at the turn of the millennium. However, now the flip side of their business is also showing, the boom of which is also slowing down after the pandemic.
Like screenwriters, actors are also protesting how much the entire market has been changed by the advent of streaming platforms. These seemed to offer great terms to better-known names. Director Martin Scorsese received tens of millions of dollars to make a dream project, The Irishman, for which the classic Hollywood studios did not have the funds.
In Hollywood, studios no longer routinely pay sums in excess of $20 million. Less famous actors collect around one or two million dollars for the main roles in films. For one episode of the series, they can receive, for example, 40,000 dollars, the more famous ones already 250,000. And real stars easily half a million dollars. Or more. This is also why more and more familiar faces are appearing on the screens recently.
However, beneath the surface of this “gold rush” is a more painful reality. While in classical television it was customary to receive royalties from reruns and studios normally employed screenwriters or actors on long-term contracts, no additional percentages come from streaming rights. And full-time work has become complete science fiction. This is one of the key points of the protests.
The second is concern about how the industry will change the use of artificial intelligence. This is potentially just uploading to Netflix and other platforms that are breaking the trend of hiring screenwriters only for the necessary time. Now they could easily leave part of their “daily” work on the computer.
From a distance, everything can seem like an artificial problem of people haggling over whether they will get 12 or 20 million dollars for the main role and whether they won’t find better conditions with the competition. But in the lives of the most ordinary soap opera supporting actors, who may be paid in the low hundreds of dollars per day of filming, royalties are often a matter of living decently.
Rosario Dawson, star of Men in Black 2 or The Mandalorian series, is in the middle in the picture from the actor’s protest. | Photo: ČTK / AP
Many actors and screenwriters work literally “day to day” and the strike itself can hit them hard. As well as other crew members who are not filming at the moment. A single film or series employs hundreds of people – from transport to catering to builders. All the more, they have a reason to continue protesting despite all the risks.
“Many actors and screenwriters have lost ways to make money,” cites Deadline.com of actor and director George Clooney. “We’re operating under an old contract at a time when a new business model has come in, and it’s not working for most people anymore,” she joined his Oscar-winning colleague Susan Sarandon. Many other influential people from across the industry are also fighting to improve conditions for all.
When screenwriters last went on strike in 2007, economic losses were around $2.1 billion after 100 days of negotiations, she wrote Reuters agency. With an impact on many businesses throughout California. Current estimates are even more pessimistic due to the simultaneous strike of the actors. And they are talking more about three billion.
The situation affects not only creators or actors, but it affects everyone from florists to hairdressers. And worldwide, it threatens, among other things, film festivals and the awarding of the most prestigious television awards, the Emmys, whose nominations were announced last week.
The ceremony is scheduled for September 18, but it may have to be postponed, because under the current conditions neither the actors nor the screenwriters would be able to participate.
At a time when finished shows can’t be filmed or promoted, Hollywood is now waiting to see what comes next. Further developments are difficult to predict. But at a time when streaming platforms are slowing down in the fierce battle of recent years for the amount of content, subscribers and who will be the number one in the market, one, perhaps naive idea would be offered. Content will decrease and quality will become more important. As well as dignified conditions for artists, without which popular films and series would not have been created.
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