Hollywood On Strike: What It Means & Who It Affects
On May 2, 2023, the WGA (Writers Guild of America) went on strike, demanding fairer wages and working conditions. In mid-July, the SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) joined them at the picket line.
One Moore Hollywood Podcast’s fourth episode takes a deep dive into what Hollywood’s strike is all about, addressing three main questions:
Why are writers and actors striking?
How is the strike affecting the industry?
How is the strike affecting the audience?
Why Is Hollywood on Strike?
The reason for this strike harkens back to a topic covered in an earlier episode of OMHP, in which our hosts discussed the complexities of Hollywood's current business model. Because Hollywood's business model has shifted from hit-driven to subscription-driven, writers and actors aren't getting paid as they used to be. The vast majority aren't even earning a livable wage anymore.
“Strikes in Hollywood are similar to other strikes happening in the world. The industry money is not being properly divided between workers and owners. Some people are getting paid ridiculous amounts, and some aren't paid enough for a substantial life."
–Chris Moore
So, how does subscription-based streaming affect how actors and writers are paid? The answer is residuals.
What’s Up With Residuals?
When it comes to understanding the strike, our hosts say residuals are the key.
As part of their contracts, writers and actors are paid based on the re-use of the content they create. Over time, these payments can add up to a larger sum than the initial payment they received for the job. These small payments accumulated over the years are called residuals, created to help provide more stability to creatives in the industry, giving them access to funds between productions and beyond.
“Part of the reason this isn’t working is that the money you [as an actor or writer] receive from the budget for your salary isn’t enough to live on. People agreed to that because they were always guaranteed other [residual] payments.”
–Chris Moore
In the past, residuals would accumulate through a TV channel paying to rerun show episodes, Blockbuster buying DVDs from Miramax, or Tide airing a commercial. Unfortunately, because subscription streaming sites have taken over what used to be the domain of cable and video rental stores, residuals have been drastically reduced.
As it stands today, subscription sites pay one upfront fee for the content they put on their platforms no matter how popular it is or becomes, so the residual payments that used to make most actors' and writers' lives sustainable aren't offered to them anymore.
“At the core of this strike is that the general business model has drastically changed from movies being hits in theaters to audiences now subscribing to a handful of streaming platforms.”
–Katie Marpe
After continuing to lose money and failing to negotiate with the studios, writers and actors have joined forces to advocate for a more equitable way to distribute pay in a rapidly changing industry.
How Is the Strike Affecting the Industry?
The reduced residuals from the subscription streaming takeover have impacted the overall budgets of films everywhere. If actors and writers can't be guaranteed residual money over the years from their content, they must demand higher initial pay from the studios hiring them.
This (justified) demand for higher upfront payments has resulted in studios hiring fewer people, decreasing hours, and producing less content than before. While in the past, writers' rooms housed five to eight writers, now they have two to five. A network series used to run for an average of twenty-two to twenty-six episodes per season. Now we're looking at six to ten.
These changes also impact content quality–writers used to be present during shooting to help rewrite scenes if they needed to be changed. Now, studios don't want to pay for the extra time for them to be there, opting to potentially sacrifice the show's cohesive content in favor of a smaller budget.
How Is the Strike Affecting the Audience?
Delays in production, both for projects in the works and those not yet begun, are an expected side effect of this strike. How drastic the delay is will depend on how long the strike lasts.
What's important to remember is that the production delay is the point. It's the only way these writers and actors can get the attention of the studio executives they have been negotiating with–by showing how indispensable they are to creating the entertainment we all love.
"The thing that's important now with these strikes is everyone else has to stay home too. You can't make anything without a script, and you can't do it without someone in front of the camera. Everyone working in catering, every driver, etc., is sitting at home. They didn't choose to strike; they're not fighting for their contract, but if we get a new way to pay people, it benefits everyone."
–Chris Moore
One of the many false notions about Hollywood is that every actor is rolling in cash. With over 80% of SAG-AFTRA actors making less than $26,000, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Everyone deserves a living wage, and the fact that the majority of those behind the storytelling we turn to daily cannot live sustainably off their pay means it's high time for something to change. Hopefully, this unrest will address the direct needs of the actors and writers on strike and draw attention to the vast pay discrepancy in Hollywood as a whole.
Listen to the entire episode here: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or iHeartRadio.
