First day of the Hollywood Writers' Strike in Los Angeles in May. Photo: David McNew/Getty Images North America
Nearly all of the US TV and film production could be shut down as Hollywood actors prepared to join striking writers on Thursday for the first industry-wide shutdown in 63 years.
Tens of thousands of Hollywood actors are about to picket in line due to a quarrel over wages and the use of artificial intelligence.
Pickets in Los Angeles and New York are likely to be stellar spectacles, movie stars will be the first to join their ranks magnitudes and their bodyguards.
Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Constance Wu, Matt Damon and others Ben Stiller is among those who supported the strike.
“Money is earned and it needs to be distributed in such a way as to take care of people who are on the sidelines life,” Mr. Damon said on Wednesday.
Jennifer Lawrence (left) starred in No Offense with Andrew Bart Feldman. The actress is among those who supported the strike. Photo: Macall Polay/Sony Pictures
They joined some 11,500 writers whose strike resulted in endless reruns of late-night TV talk shows, disrupting much of the fall TV season and halting production on big-budget films.
Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, said that the strikers' expectations were not «realistic» for an industry still reeling from the effects of the pandemic. “It worries me a lot,” he said.
The double strike will be the first since 1960, when Ronald Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild and Marilyn Monroe was in her prime.
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Negotiators from Hollywood's largest actors union, SAG-AFTRA, unanimously recommended a strike after after negotiations broke down with the studios and the previous contract expired.
The final vote on the strike will take place on Thursday morning on the West Coast, early evening in the UK.
If approved, Hollywood studios could be forced to close production across the US.
Pickets in Los Angeles and New York will likely be a stellar spectacle, with world-class stars such as Meryl Streep joining them. Photo: Zach Dilgard
Many of the actors' demands reflect the demands of industry creators, such as demands for higher wages and residual payments — a kind of royalty — from streaming services.
They also want strong guarantees for the use of AI, in particular with regard to digital images of actors, amid fears that their images will be used without their permission or proper compensation.
A group representing major entertainment companies such as Disney and streaming giant Netflix, said it was «deeply disappointed» that the actors' union «decided to drop negotiations.»
The Film and Television Producers Alliance said it offered «a historic pay increase and a residual increase» as well as a «groundbreaking AI proposal that protects the digital representation of actors.»
It warned that the course of action would «deepen.» financial hardship for thousands of people who depend on the industry for their livelihood.”
“The disruptive forces in this business”
These comments were echoed by Mr. Iger during an interview with CNBC on Thursday.
He said, “It worries me a lot. We've talked about the disruptive forces in this business and all the challenges we're facing, the Covid recovery that's ongoing, it's not fully recovered. This is the worst time in the world to add to this destruction.»
He added: «They have a certain level of expectation that is just unrealistic.»
Fran Drescher, former star of the series » Nanny» and president of SAG-AFTRA, said the studios' response to the actors' concerns was «insulting and disrespectful.»
“The companies refused to have a meaningful discussion on some topics, and on others they completely stumped us,” she said after the deadline for agreeing to a new contract at midnight on Wednesday passed.
At the time how Hollywood prepared it is said that the united determination of the actors surprised the top executives.
The last time Hollywood actors staged a major strike was in 1980. The current collective action is against a backdrop of a growing union in California, where several sectors have gone on strike in recent months.
However, the dispute is likely to be difficult to resolve. Many streaming services have yet to turn a profit after companies have spent billions of dollars on programming to try and win customers.
Disney, NBCUniversal and Paramount Global lost hundreds of millions of dollars each from streaming in the last financial quarter. At the same time, the rise of online video has led to a decline in TV advertising revenue as traditional TV audiences shrink.
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