Actors join the writers' strike in Hollywood: these could be the consequences for the industry

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In the month of May approximately 11,000 film and television writers in the United States went on strike, one of the main reasons being low wages. Although attempts were made to hold negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and the Hollywood studios, their breakdown led to their going to the streets.

Of course, this disagreement generated great expectations not only in the entertainment industry but also in viewers. “Although we negotiated with the intention of making a fair deal, and although your strike vote gave us the advantage to make some gains, the responses of the studies to our proposals have been totally insufficientgiven the existential crisis that writers face,” the union said at the time.

The Alliance of Film and Television Producers (AMPTP) who supports some companies such as: NBC Universal, Paramount, Sony, Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Discovery-Warner and Disney He was in negotiations with the union who not only demanded fairer wages but also the non-incorporation of artificial intelligence to carry out the scripts.

This would not be the first time that writers have gone on strike to demand their rights, in 1988 there was a demonstration that lasted 153 days and in 2007 another one was held that lasted 100 days. Now the latter takes approximately 70 days, without any conciliation between the parties and as expected the situation does not look good for Hollywood.

The actors’ strike

But, it is not only the writers who remain in the streets to demand better wages and conditions. Now the strike has been joined by the big stars, who after the breakdown of negotiations between the Actors Union of the United States, SAG-AFTRA, and the AMPTP, about 160 thousand Hollywood actors will join the strike.

This will undoubtedly generate a prolonged pause within the entertainment industry if agreements are not reached in the coming weeks, meaning that many of the filming of movies, series and television programs will remain halfway.

What could be the consequences

During the negotiations of the 2007-2008 strike and the signing of a new three-year contract with the AMPTP, it is estimated that the industry during that time had a loss of more than $3 billion dollars.

An article published by the Los Angeles Times noted that in total “an estimated $772 million comes from lost wages for writers and production workers, $981 million from various companies that provide services to the industry, including catering services and equipment rental houses, and $1.3 billion from the ripple effect of consumers not spending as much at retail stores, restaurants and car dealerships. .

Therefore, in addition to the prohibitions established by the union of not going to the filming of movies and series, the cancellation of massive eventsfailure to attend film premieres or events or even the non-promotion of some events, this joint stoppage can cost the industry millions of dollars.

Keep reading:

• Nearly 11,000 Hollywood writers go on strike for fair wages
• When a strike paralyzed the entertainment industry in the United States and caused an economic loss of $3 billion
• LAUSD and 30,000 workers reach agreement after strike that closed Los Angeles schools