Hollywood’s summer of industrial action now looks set to escalate, with actors ready to join the writers’ strike in a massive movement that would bring nearly all US film and television productions to a halt.
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) is locked in last-minute negotiations with the likes of Netflix and Disney. The deadline is fast approaching at midnight on 30 June.
The labour union’s 160,000 actors have pre-approved industrial action if a deal is not struck in time.
Writers’ strike – plus actors?
Should negotiators walk out, it will be the first time that all Hollywood actors and writers have been on strike simultaneously since 1960. Back then, actor and future US president Ronald Reagan led a showdown that eventually forced major concessions from the studios.
Writers have already spent nine weeks on the picket lines. Now, actors are demanding higher pay to counteract inflation, and guarantees for their future livelihoods.
Rebecca Metz, who has starred in FX’s Better Things and Showtime’s Shameless, spoke to Agence France-Presse (AFP). She said that it’s “massively harder” for actors – even established ones – to earn a living in Hollywood these days. Metz continued:
People who aren’t in this industry, and even some who are, vastly overestimate how much money actors make — you just assume that if you see someone on TV, they must be rich.
But it has been extremely not the case in the last few years.
I know lots of people at my same level who are taking second jobs, trying to come up with ways to keep themselves afloat until hopefully things come back.
Dwindling residuals
In addition to salaries when they are actively working, actors earn payments called ‘residuals’ every time a film or show they starred in is aired on network or cable. This is particularly helpful when performers are between projects.
But today, streamers like Netflix and Disney+ do not disclose viewing figures for their shows. They also offer the same paltry flat rate for everything on their platforms, regardless of its popularity.
Metz revealed:
When we’re not working for a good stretch, all of a sudden we’re worried about qualifying for our health insurance.
Whether a strike will go ahead is currently anyone’s guess. A media blackout on the talks has been imposed by both sides.
‘Productive negotiations’
Last Friday, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher released a video message telling members of “extremely productive negotiations” and promising a “seminal deal”.
However, union chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland warned there is a “very narrow window” to achieve a deal. This is fuelling speculation that both sides could agree to a temporary extension of talks.
While the writers’ strike has already dramatically reduced the number of movies and shows in production, an actors’ walkout would shutter almost everything.
Some reality TV, animation, and talk shows could continue. However, even high-profile events like television’s Emmy Awards, set for 18 September, would be at risk.
Popular series set to return to television as soon as this fall would be delayed. And further down the line, blockbuster films could be postponed too.
Artificial intelligence and auditions
Muddying the waters further is the issue of artificial intelligence. Actors want guarantees to regulate its future use.
Metz said:
There’s currently no protections around a producer taking our voice, our likeness, asking us [to] do things that we wouldn’t consent to do.
Inputting our previous performances and building a performance off of it that we don’t have to get paid for – these things sound wild and fantastical, but they’re very real.
Disney’s Secret Invasion, in particular, recently drew fans’ ire for its inclusion of an AI-generated opening sequence.
Another grievance for actors is the rise of ‘self-taped auditions’, which SAG-AFTRA is attempting to regulate.
Used before the pandemic on occasions when in-person auditions were not possible, the practice has become ubiquitous in Hollywood.
It places logistical and technological burdens on actors, and it robs them of feedback from casting directors.
Perhaps most importantly, performers do not even know if their audition has been watched.
Metz said:
Acting is a collaborative craft, at the end of the day.
Talking into a camera in your house, and knowing you’re never going to get any response, is several steps further removed from what acting really is.
Additional reporting via Agence France-Presse
Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/Thomas Wolf, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, resized to 1910*1000.
