Photo: MICHAEL TRAN/AFP/Getty Images
Small businesses in Southern California begin to feel the collateral damage wrought by the simultaneous walkouts of the Hollywood writers and actors unions.
Companies that depend on giving service and attention exclusively to film and television productions have stopped receiving income due to the work stoppage.
“I just want them to come back to the table and get serious,” Corri Levelle, owner of Sandy Rose Floral, which caters solely to the Hollywood arts scene, told ABC.
Many of the small businesses that rely on film and television productions have struggled not to disappear during the COVID pandemic, and now they face another difficult moment due to the strike of actors and writers from the mecca of cinema that has paralyzed their businesses.
Levelle estimated the losses at about $100,000 a month.
“I’m a small business, and that’s a lot of money,” said the owner of Sandy Rose Floral.
Photo: AFP/Getty Images
Small businesses began to suffer economic losses from December 2022when studios began winding down productions before contract negotiations with the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists stalled.
When the writers’ strike began on May 2, Levelle said she had to lay off more than half of their employees, so they currently have a facility with empty offices and no customer calls.
“This is affecting thousands of people,” Levelle said.
Among the businesses affected by the Hollywood work stoppage there are cafeterias, restaurants, small food stores and dry cleaners, among others.
“My business is 70% from the (movie and television) studios, and that is not easy to reverse,” declared the owner of a dry cleaner near the studios.
In the event that the two strikes last longer, small business owners contemplate laying off more employees.
Keep reading:
· The films and series that will be affected by the great strike of actors and scriptwriters in Hollywood
Writers’ strike in the United States: how the film and television industry will be affected
Nearly 11,000 Hollywood writers go on strike for fair wages