On Thursday, a video of Levi onstage at Manchester Comic-Con, which took place in the U.K. last month, began circulating. In the viral clip, Levi expresses joking frustration over the fact that he can’t discuss his past work on Chuck, Tangled and the Shazam! films without outright naming those titles. “I’m not allowed to talk about…. This is so dumb,” he says to the crowd. “I’m not allowed to talk about any of my previous work. I’m not allowed to talk about movies that I may be a superhero in. I’m not allowed to talk about TV shows that I may have been a nerd who worked at a Best Buy. I’m not allowed to talk about any animated princess movies that I was fantastic in — as the best prince ever! I’m not allowed to talk about those things.”
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Levi’s remarks surfaced shortly after Arrow star Stephen Amellcalled the strike “myopic” and “a reductive negotiating tactic” while attending GalaxyCon in Raleigh, North Carolina. After receiving backlash, the actor later clarified his comments on Instagram, writing, “From an intellectual perspective, I understand why we are striking, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t emotionally frustrating on many levels for all involved” and requesting that “when you see me on a picket line please don’t whip any hard fruit.”
Although Levi bemoaned the guidelines in what appears to be an attempt at humor, the actor has publicly stated his support for the actors strike. Earlier this month, he shared an Instagram video with his thoughts on the negotiation for a fair contract with studios. “It’s always profit over people and not the other way around. So mark my words, if we don’t do something drastic right now…we’re doing something very drastic, and we need to be doing this very drastic thing,” Levi said. “We need to be striking, we should have done this years ago.”
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Vanity Fair has reached out to Levi’s reps for comment.
That’s according to the company’s Q2 earnings call Thursday, where Warner Bros. Discovery leadership broke down the numbers for April 1–June 30, a period when only the writers were on strike. This figure comes just before WGA leadership returns to the negotiating table with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
Although there is no such meeting in place between the studios and actors, WBD said it’s currently estimating “early September” as the end of striking. That’s far earlier than the six-month projection recently provided by SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher.
“We’re in the business of storytelling. Our goal is to tell great stories, stories with the power to entertain and, when we’re at our best, inspire with stories that come to life on screens big and small,” Zaslav said on the call, as reported by Variety. “We cannot do any of that without the entirety of the creative community, the great creative community. Without the writers, directors, editors, producers, actors, the whole below-the-line crew. Our job is to enable and empower them to do their best work. We’re hopeful that all sides will get back to the negotiating room soon and that these strikes get resolved in a way that the writers and actors feel they are fairly compensated and their efforts and contributions are fully valued.”
During the call, Zaslav—who was booed and told to “pay your writers” while giving a commencement address at Boston University weeks into the writers strike—continued: “I think all of us in this business are very keen to figure out a solution as quickly as possible. We are in some uncharted waters, in terms of the world as it is today and measuring it all. And so I think, in good faith, we all got to fight to get this resolved. And it needs to be resolved in a way that the creative community feels fairly compensated and fully valued.”
Viola Davis is pressing pause on her next project, despite receiving a greenlight from SAG-AFTRA to film amid industry strikes. Although the dual SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes have halted nearly every major production in Hollywood, dozens of independent films and TV shows have been cleared to continue filming under an interim agreement, including Davis’s upcoming political thriller G20.
“I love this movie, but I do not feel that it would be appropriate for this production to move forward during the strike,” the Oscar winner told Deadline in a statement on Saturday. “I appreciate that the producers on the project agree with this decision. JuVee Productions and I stand in solidarity with actors, SAG/AFTRA and the WGA.”
The union previously permitted the film to proceed, despite being distributed by Amazon Studios, because it is produced by non-AMPTP-affiliated studio MRC. Davis stars as a U.S. president who must fight for the future of her country after the G20 Summit is taken over by terrorists, according to The Hollywood Reporter. G20 is directed by Patricia Riggen and written by Noah and Logan Miller.
Davis’s stance came a day after Sarah Silvermanspoke out against SAG-AFTRA waivers on her Instagram. “What the fuck? I got offered an indie movie, I fucking said no, and so did a bunch of my friends. And now some of my friends are saying yes,” she said in her video. “I’m really pissed.”
While more than 300 companies are members of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), production companies including A24, which won the best-picture Oscar last year, exist outside of the organization. A24 is still making films now despite the strike, as are other “truly independent” producers—including films reportedly featuring actors like Anne Hathaway,Matthew McConaughey, Paul Rudd, and Jenna Ortega.
Silverman said she didn’t know if she should be “mad at these movie stars making these indie movies that are obviously going to go to streaming” or angry with “SAG for making this interim deal for these indie movies” during the strike. “It’s scabbing. You’ve made that so clear that it’s scabbing,” she continued in her video. “Now, all of a sudden movie stars can make movies if they’re indie movies that where they promise they’ll only sell it if X, Y, and Z? That’s called the end of the strike, motherfuckers!”
In response to some of the discord, SAG-AFTRA released a statement about interim agreements to its website on Sunday. The union said that it offers “many of our journeyman performers and crews the opportunity to pay their rent and feed their families. This approach maintains our strength, solidarity and upper hand with the AMPTP until they yield to the deal we deserve.”
The statement from the SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee further maintained that an interim agreement “is not a waive,r” and that each project seeking such an agreement is rigorously vetted. “Regardless of the size of the budget or the renown of the cast, these projects have been confirmed to be separate from the AMPTP and entirely independent,” the statement continued. “Independent producers must agree to all of the terms, without exception, including the very proposals that the AMPTP rejected.”
The guild will still “urge independent producers to apply and encourage SAG-AFTRA members to work on the projects that obtain an interim agreement, along with all of the other permissible work,” it said. “Some have suggested that the interim agreement might prolong the strike, but we disagree. We believe the leverage created by increasing competitive pressure on the AMPTP and denying them what they want most will force them back to the table and help bring this strike to an end.”
In 2020, Davis spoke to Vanity Fair about the importance of taking action against injustice. “I feel like my entire life has been a protest,” she said. “My production company is my protest. Me not wearing a wig at the Oscars in 2012 was my protest. It is a part of my voice, just like introducing myself to you and saying, ‘Hello, my name is Viola Davis.’”
The 75th Emmy Awards are the latest production to be put on pause due to the Hollywood strikes, and will not air as planned in September.
A person familiar with the postponement plans but not authorized to speak publicly pending an official announcement confirmed the delay Friday.
No information about a new date was immediately available.
The Emmy Awards were scheduled to be broadcast on Fox on Sept. 18. Rules laid out by the actors’ union, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, say stars cannot campaign for the Emmys or attend awards shows while on strike.
Writers are also not permitted to work on awards shows until the strike ends.
Whenever the next Emmy Awards are held, HBO will walk in the leading contender. The network is up for 74 awards for three of its top shows: Succession, The White Lotus and The Last of Us.
Ted Lasso has the most comedy category nominations with 21, including best comedy series and best actor for Jason Sudeikis.
Roughly 65,000 SAG-AFTRA actors and 11,500 Writers Guild of America screenwriters are on strike, calling for better pay, structure with residual payments and protection from the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Although the joint SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes have halted nearly every major production in Hollywood, more than 40 projects have been cleared to continue filming under an interim agreement aimed at independent films. But some actors have cried foul on that technicality—including Sarah Silverman, who publicly opposed this practice in a video shared to her Instagram on Thursday.
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“What the fuck? I got offered an indie movie, I fucking said no, and so did a bunch of my friends. And now some of my friends are saying yes,” Silverman said in her video. “I’m really pissed.”
While there are more than 300 member companies of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), production companies including A24, which won the best-picture Oscar last year, are not a part of the organization. A24 is still making films now despite the strike, as are other “truly independent” producers—reportedly featuring actors including Anne Hathaway,Matthew McConaughey, Paul Rudd, and Jenna Ortega.
Silverman said she didn’t know if she should be “mad at these movie stars making these indie movies that are obviously going to go to streaming” or angry with “SAG for making this interim deal for these indie movies” during the strike. “It’s scabbing. You’ve made that so clear that it’s scabbing,” she continued. “Now, all of a sudden movie stars can make movies if they’re indie movies that where they promise they’ll only sell it if X, Y, and Z? That’s called the end of the strike, motherfuckers!”
The Emmy winner, who has been spotted on the picket lines in Los Angeles, added, “Please, explain to me why I shouldn’t be angry, because people are making real-deal sacrifices. People, writers, actors, crew people, all these people are sacrificing their livelihood for this cause. It’s called union strong, where we are all together. And when SAG joined the strike, we should see every movie star out there striking along, because you have insurance because of your union and you get residuals because of your union. All of these things that you get because of your union, and you can’t stand with your union?”
While actors such as Mandy Moore and Amy Sedaris showed support for Silverman’s remarks in the comment section of her post, others offered counterpoints. “I think we are striking certain particular contractual agreements with the amptp – not all work,” Zooey Deschanel wrote. Said Juliette Lewis, “Call me an idealist but my HOPE is that there is a big mid-range Indie movie Renaissance that goes into theatres that are NOT waiting to be ‘sold’ streamers and that this formula and model gets broken and interrupted and threatened.”
Per SAG-AFTRA rules, striking performers are prohibited from promoting their current or upcoming screen work. But Silverman’s post arrives as Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone became the first actor to sign an interim promotional waiver for her own indie, The Unknown Country. In a statement, Gladstone said that her film should be an exception to the rule given that its production existed truly outside of the studio system. “It’s a real moment of equity when our union that is so concerned with our quality of life as a worker is also concerned with these films that highlight these marginalized circles, these quiet small corners, the small independent lens that is really community-grown and very grassroots,” Gladstone said. “There’s no way that the studios would have touched this story. This story only happened because people gave so much to make it happen.”
But this is also a source of division within the actors guild. When asked last week about performers seeking promotional waivers, Emmy winner Bob Odenkirk had a simple answer: “Don’t!” he said from the picket lines. “It’s a strike. Strike. You lose. We lose. Everybody loses. That’s tough shit. Sometimes you have to do the hard thing.”
What is the old cliché? When one door closes, another opens? The SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes may have shut the doors to film and TV studios, but it seems that other dream factories have been swamped with traffic: plastic surgeons’ offices. Now just to be clear: the vast majority of strikers—journeyman actors and workaday writers—are simply fighting for fair pay and protections in a rapidly changing business. But for some above-the-title talent, this work stoppage has become the perfect opportunity for a quick blepharoplasty so they can look more “rested” when cameras start rolling again.
Catherine Chang, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Los Angeles, says she’s seen a significant increase in Hollywood patients booking appointments for cosmetic surgery. The boom, says Dr. Chang, first began in May around the time of the start of the writers’ strike, which had writers as well as some producers calling her office to get work done. Once the SAG-AFTRA strike kicked off, a “really big influx” of actor patients began requesting appointments. “It’s been a little tricky, but we’re trying to get as many people in as possible,” says Dr. Chang. “We understand that usually actors and people in Hollywood don’t really get this opportunity to take time off and people are utilizing this time now to do personal things and personal interests of theirs.”
Those personal interests include a variety of facial procedures such as facelifts, upper and lower blepharoplasties (eyelid lifts), and brow lifts—the kinds of surgeries that require a more obvious recovery period, says Dr. Chang. (The downtime required for body surgeries is more discreet. Since you can cover them with clothing, they can really be done any time.)
Dr. Chang says that these surgery requests are not a “sudden, whimsical decision” for her patients, though. “I think they have been thinking about it for a while,” she says. “Suddenly, they’re given this opportunity of time so they’re going to take it.” And take it swiftly. Chang had one Hollywood patient this month go from facelift consultation to surgery in two weeks, “which is very fast,” she says. “But no one knows how long this will last so they want to act quickly.”
The last time the plastic surgery industry saw this much of an unexpected boom was during the initial COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. People were spending more time on Zoom calls, staring at their own faces and finding things they wanted to tweak, but even more than that—they had the opportunity to just go “camera off” during a post-op healing period. Ben Talei, MD, a board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, says that the current demand in his office is very similar to during the pandemic lockdown, when the phone was ringing off the hook. “It’s just like we had for COVID, when we got a ton of calls, and people were waiting a week or two to see if there was going to be any kind of movement,” he says.
Now, Dr. Talei says that “a bunch of high-end people who are A-list, B-list” are trying to book their procedures, some even calling last-minute on Fridays and Saturdays when he’s normally off. “The actors started calling me as soon as the writers’ strike began because they knew something was coming down the line, so they just wanted to get their consults out of the way,” says Dr. Talei. “I had a couple actually put down deposits for surgery and had the date ready to go just in case it would happen.” Both Dr. Chang and Dr. Talei report a 30 percent increase in appointment requests since the strikes began.
When it comes to recovery time, an eye lift can heal in five or six days whereas facelifts take the longest. According to Jason Diamond, MD, a board-certified facial plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills who saw his biggest rush when the Writer’s Guild of America went on strike May 2, patients can usually recover from a facelift in two weeks. It can take four to six weeks for the surgery to be completely undetectable and for them to be camera-ready, though. “I’ve had many people who are like, ‘oh, no, no, I’ll be fine,’” he says. “I’ve never had anyone get called out, even when they’ve been back in two weeks, but I don’t recommend that.”
There are some things that can help speed up the process. Dr. Chang says her patients tend to recover much more quickly than usual because she is “very delicate with soft tissue handling.” And she doesn’t put them under general anesthesia (just sedation), even for facelifts, so they feel like themselves again faster.
Another trick requires Paris Hilton, or really, just her hyperbaric oxygen chamber. “I have like, five, six different patients who go to her house to use it,” says Dr. Talei. “The reason they go to Paris is because she has this big one that’s like a four-person chamber. It’s kind of more social and it’s not claustrophobic.”
Unless actors and writers get a fair contract, it’s hard to say there’s an upside to the Hollywood strikes. Still, in a medium once called the “silver screen,” there are silver linings for some.
Recently, former Paramount head Barry Diller suggested that movie moguls—and Hollywood’s highest paid actors—take 25% pay cuts. The goodwill gesture, by Diller’s reasoning, just might help bridge the gap between the striking writers and actors and the big studios and streamers. When I first heard Diller’s proposal I thought, It’s déjà vu all over again. Few remember that in 1933, the studios actually joined together to mandate that administrators and creators making over $50 a week take a 50% pay cut.
It didn’t work then and it probably won’t work now.
There are many reasons the move failed 90 years ago. But the bottom-line difference was that in 1933 writers and actors were not yet unionized. And in retrospect, it is clear that the studios, by imposing those steep cuts, made the writers—followed by the actors and directors—realize that their contracts were worthless without unions. (Screenwriters formed a guild that April; actors did so in July.)
Yes, there were already cinema organizations aplenty. For years, writers had belonged to clubs and associations. In 1922, a consortium of film companies had created the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association (MPPDA), otherwise known as the Hays Office, to lobby for the industry’s interests and to try and minimize censorship. Then, five years later, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) was formed, in large part to prevent the unionization of the still-burgeoning, if silent, film business. Brought together under one umbrella, the Academy’s five branches—writers, actors, directors, producers, and technicians—served to speed along the process of making sound pictures. (There are 18 branches today.) But by early 1933, a perfect financial storm had swept across Southern California, one that threatened the industry that, along with agriculture, tourism, and oil, was the backbone of the Los Angeles economy.
The Depression, which began in 1929, had circled the globe and hit Hollywood with a wallop. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated in early March of 1933 and closed the country’s banks for a week to get a handle on the economy. Suddenly, fewer and fewer Americans had cash for necessities, let alone movies. (By 1933, audience numbers had dropped to 60 million a week—from a sky-high 110 million in 1929.)
Filmmaking was a cash-on-the-barrelhead business, so studios turned to Wall Street for financing, eventually welcoming new moneymen and risk-takers who really hadn’t a clue about the movies. It got to the point that by the end of the year, there was not one person on the board of Paramount Pictures with previous experience making films.
It was the MPPDA, after all, that had come up with the idea to push the salary cut. And Warner Bros., Paramount, and Columbia complied: All three were among the studios that, on March 9, 1933, instituted wage reductions. At the time, MGM alone was operating in the black, thanks in large part to the success of the popular comedies of Canadian actor Marie Dressler. But MGM’s boss, Louis B. Mayer, apparently, only had enough money on hand to cover his staffers’ salaries for a couple of weeks.
As MGM story editor Samuel Marx later wrote in his book Mayer and Thalberg: The Make-Believe Saints, Mayer, with his beard “stubbled and his eyes red,” entered the largest auditorium on the lot at a pivotal moment in March to address his assembled employees. Mayer promised to keep the salary reductions short-lived and, if necessary, to repay them all out of his own pocket. He feigned tears. His voice caught. Lionel Barrymore and others cheered him on, expressing their support. When Mayer left the room, feeling triumphant, Marx heard him ask the casting chief, Benny Thau, “How did I do?” (Mayer’s crocodile tears moment was recreated in a scene in David Fincher’s 2020 feature, Mank, about the tortured birth of Citizen Kane.)
Word of Mayer’s cynical comments soon spread. And the film community got mightily riled. They held meetings. They looked to other industries across America in which organized labor was becoming a vital force. In short order, the screenwriter Albert Hackett would credit Mayer with creating, in one fell swoop, “more communists than Karl Marx.” And one long, hard look at their “contracts” proved to the writers, directors, and actors that those pieces of paper offered them no protection. Their only option was to unionize.
On March 28, 1933, movie scribes Anita Loos, Frances Marion, Jane Murfin, and Bess Meredyth were among the 100 women and men who gathered to sign $100 membership checks made out to the Screen Writers Guild (SWG). A week later, on April 6, those 100, along with scores of compatriots who joined their ranks “by invitation or application,” comprised the newly formed SWG. John Howard Lawson, who had few film credits to his name (but who, 14 years later, would become one of the blacklisted Hollywood 10, was elected the guild’s first president. Frances Marion, the town’s highest paid screenwriter, male or female—and one of its most prolific—was named vice president; producer-screenwriter Ralph Block, treasurer; and Joe Mankiewicz, still in his early 20s, secretary. (When his older brother, Herman, was asked why he didn’t support the guild, he claimed, with his cynical wit, “All the $250-a-week writers I know are making $2,500 a week.”)
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has made a seven-figure donation to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Relief Fund — a contribution the organization says will help support thousands of Hollywood actors currently on strike.
Johnson’s donation came after SAG-AFTRA Foundation president Courtney B. Vance and executive director Cyd Wilson sent a letter asking the union’s highest-earning actors for financial support, according to Variety.
Though the exact amount of Johnson’s seven-figure donation has not been publicly disclosed, Vance said Johnson “stepped up in a major, historic way.”
Wilson estimated the donation from Johnson, 51, is enough to provide financial aid to 7,000 to 10,000 members on strike.
“It’s the largest single donation that we’ve ever received from one individual at one time,” Wilson told Variety. “And what is amazing is that that one cheque is going to help thousands of actors keep food on their table.”
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Johnson has not commented publicly on his donation.
Performers represented by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) walked off the job on July 14 to join the already striking Writers Guild of America (WGA). The two strikes have brought most Hollywood productions to a screeching halt.
The SAG-AFTRA union represents about 160,000 Hollywood actors. The union declared its members would strike after negotiators failed to reach a deal with Hollywood’s biggest studios regarding fair pay and improved residuals for actors in today’s streaming age.
Canadian impact of the SAG/AFTRA strike
The SAG-AFTRA Foundation, a non-profit organization that collaborates with the union but is not a part, will use its Emergency Financial Assistance Program to support actors during the strike. Johnson’s donation will be added to the program.
“When we hit a crisis like this and we’re going to spend millions and millions of dollars in financial assistance, this is when we need our high profile talent who can afford it, who are in a situation to help others,” Wilson said.
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She said the foundation’s financial assistance provides up to US$1,500 (nearly C$2,000) per individual member, unless there are extreme conditions or health issues, in which case a union member may qualify for up to US$6,000 (about C$7,900).
According to Forbes, Johnson was the fourth highest-paid entertainer in 2022. Though he was the highest-paid actor on the list, Johnson’s 2022 income — reportedly a whopping US$270 million (almost C$356 million) — was only surpassed by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, musician Bruce Springsteen and rapper Jay-Z.
Since early May, writers have been picketing outside Netflix’s Hollywood offices as they fight for updates to their contracts with the entertainment industry’s biggest, and richest, companies. They’ve been refusing to work, disrupting productions, and creating chaos for an industry already reeling from the changes wrought by the rise of streaming. Last week, actors joined them in walking away from their work.
But turns out it’s hard to keep Netflix down. The streaming giant told investors on Wednesday that all of those paused productions have been helping it save some money, $1.5 billion to be exact. By the end of year, the company is now expected to have $5 billion in free cash flow.
The strikes don’t seem to have hurt Netflix’s standing with customers, either. The streamer added 5.9 million subscribers during the most recent three-month period, which ended after the writers strike had already been underway for close to two months. Even in the United States and Canada, where the effects of the strike are likely to be felt first, Netflix added nearly 1.2 million subscribers. That’s more new subscribers than it’s had in the region in at least a year.
Netflix attributed that growth to its recent effort to crack down on password sharing, and to offering customers more price flexibility with the introduction of a cheaper ad-supported plan. Both initiatives were put into place after the company was caught off guard by a sudden slip in momentum during the first part of last year, when it lost subscribers.
Before writers or actors went on strike, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos predicted that the company would be fine if its content pipeline dried up. “We have a large base of upcoming shows and films from around the world, so we could probably serve our members better than most,” he told investors in April. And yes, the company often has shows stockpiled for months before they air, meaning that customers aren’t likely to feel the effects of the production pause for some time. Netflix also relies heavily on reality programming and documentaries, which aren’t affected by the strike, to round out its scripted library.
Even when Netflix’s steady flow of new scripted shows turns into a drip, it’s got thousands of hours of licensed movies and television shows that it serves up to its subscribers on demand. (NCIS, anyone?) To pad out that offering, Netflix recently began licensing HBO shows including Insecure and Six Feet Under.
Still, Sarandos said in a video interview on Wednesday that he “very much hoped to reach an agreement by now.” The son of a union electrician added that he knows striking can take “an enormous toll on your family, financially and emotionally.” He didn’t go into specifics about Netflix’s role in the contract negotiations, but said, “We’ve got a lot of work to do. There are a handful of complicated issues. We’re super committed to getting to an agreement as soon as possible, one that’s equitable and one that enables the industry and everybody in it to move forward into the future.”
Sarandos also noted that Netflix produces a wide variety of content, including local-language fare that won’t be impacted by the strike. Still to come this year on the streamer: New seasons of The Crown, Heartstopper, and Virgin River. So content procurement shouldn’t be a problem. Instead, what Netflix needs to worry about most is whether the strikes eventually turn the tide of public opinion. The streamer is already the villain for thousands of picketing writers and actors. And as LA Times columnist Mary McNamararecently wrote, it could eventually become that for the general viewing public too.
The strain of Hollywood’s actors’ and writers’ strikes is being felt in productions all around the world, and film industry insiders say Canada is far from exempt.
Due to long-established industry ties to American unions and networks, most film and television productions in Canada have come to a screeching halt. Alistair Hepburn, executive director of ACTRA Toronto, says productions began slowing down in spring when rumours of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike began.
“There won’t be new shows recorded over the summer in time for a fall premiere.”
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Summer is typically the film industry’s most lucrative season across the board, he said, but this year will be “relatively slow.”
A lot of Canadian productions work with American studios and SAG-AFTRA actors, but just under half of the work done in provinces like Ontario is domestic, which includes shows like Murdoch Mysteries and Run the Burbs.
“It’s all of those shows that are filmed here using Canadian talent, Canadian writers, Canadian directors, Canadian crews to do the work. Those shows continue,” Hepburn explained.
Impact of Hollywood strike on Canada’s film industry
SAG-AFTRA is also working on an agreement where independent Canadian producers – not affiliated with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) – will be able to engage the services of a SAG member through a waiver system for the duration of the strike.
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Independent Canadian producers will have access to actors who are dual card holders as well, meaning they have both a SAG-AFTRA and ACTRA membership.
“We’ve been in constant contact with our colleagues at SAG-AFTRA and they are assuring us that they’re not looking to do harm to our industry,” Hepburn said.
Hepburn says he doesn’t know how long the strikes will go on and doesn’t see a resolution coming soon.
“This is going to have an impact for months, absolutely months on not just performance, but the entire industry as a whole.”
Hepburn emphasized that it’s not just performers that will be affected by the production drought. Directors, technicians, caterers and Mom-and-Pop hardware stores will feel the strain too.
“In Ontario, it’s 35,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the film industry. The trickle-down effect is real,” Hepburn said.
Shane Boucher, who is the founder of an Ottawa-based studio called 1Development Entertainment Services, says this is the first July in the industry where he hasn’t worked.
“It’s really an industry-wide shutdown. It’s a big deal,” Boucher said in an interview with Global News.
1Development is a service company, meaning they service other parent companies or networks. Almost all of the TV movies the company works with are American.
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Implications of Hollywood strikes on Canadian Film Industry
Boucher says business started as usual at the start of the year with approximately 16 productions lined up. When rumours of the WGA strike started, Boucher found himself scrambling to finish as many films as possible by June. Now, he doesn’t have any projects in production.
Many productions gained buzz when it was announced they were set to film in Canada this summer, including the first season of Cruel Intentions, filmed in Toronto.
Stefan Steen, a producer on the show by Amazon, says production has stopped until the strike ends.
“It’s completely devastating to the local film industry. Everyone currently filming U.S. productions has had to stop and all local crews are immediately out of work. Most get one week’s additional pay but that’s it,” Steen said in an email to Global News.
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‘We are the victims here’: SAG-AFTRA president says as Hollywood actors go on strike
Creative B.C., a program in British Columbia that supports the provinces’ creative sector, said in a statement on their website that they are “watching the situation closely” and “respect the process and all parties.”
“In our role as the economic development organization for motion picture in B.C., together with our local industry partners, we are concerned for the workforce, companies, industry, and people,” the group said.
“The industry is evolving rapidly, business models have changed, and addressing these changes is part of a necessary industry business cycle.”
Hepburn says anyone who wants to support the strike can vote with their wallets.
“It’s time to cancel your streaming account. That’s ultimately what is going to force the hand here. It’s going to be about financial hardships on the AMPTP companies,” he said.
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“There needs to be action taken by the public.”
Hepburn also says he hopes other countries will show solidarity in what performers are fighting for.
“SAG’s fight is everybody’s fight,” he said. “It’s a righteous fight on behalf of performers worldwide.”
“The compensation issues include both upfront compensation, the session fees, the money they’re paid when they do the work, and also residuals or royalties that actors, and also writers and directors get paid when product is rerun or reused,” said Los Angeles entertainment lawyer Jonathan Handel in an interview with Global News.
When it comes to streaming, actors are concerned that being on a successful show on services like Netflix or Prime video won’t earn them a higher compensation than one that draws in less buzz.
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“‘Wednesday’ doesn’t pay any higher residual than ‘Tuesday’ as it works,” Handel said, referencing the recent Netflix series produced and partially directed by Tim Burton.
American producer Tom Nunan told Global News that actors are increasingly being paid one lump-sum for their work on streaming services. Now, they want longer relationships with their content — similar to how they have been paid by non-streamers — and to see more transparency with the way that streaming services are measuring success.
The impact of the Hollywood strike on Canada
Before streaming services, “actors would have a movie or TV show premiere and then get paid for that one thing and then it would be on cable systems or on demand… and they would continue to have what we call residual relationships with the content financially,” Nunan said.
“Now in the streaming era, you get paid once and that’s all you get paid.”
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Attending a photo event on Wednesday, film star Matt Damon said that while everyone was hoping a strike could be averted, many actors need a fair contract to survive.
“We ought to protect the people who are kind of on the margins,” Damon told The Associated Press. “And 26,000 bucks a year is what you have to make to get your health insurance. And there are a lot of people whose residual payments are what carry them across that threshold… And that’s absolutely unacceptable. We can’t have that.”
Actor Rosario Dawson attends a rally by striking writers and actors outside Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, Calif. on Friday, July 14, 2023.(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill).
Actor Jac Cheairs and his son Wyatt, 11, take part in a rally by striking writers and actors outside Netflix studio in Los Angeles on Friday, July 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello).
Actor Dermot Mulroney takes part in a rally by striking writers and actors outside Netflix studio in Los Angeles on Friday, July 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello).
Actor Jason Sudeikis, center, walk a picket line with striking writers and actors, Friday, July 14, 2023 at NBC Universal Studios in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews).
Actors and comedians Tina Fey, second from right, and Fred Armisen, second from left, join striking members of the Writers Guild of America on the picket line during a rally outside Silvercup Studios, Tuesday May 9, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews).
Another key issue in the strike is the use of artificial intelligence — or AI. Computer generated imagery (CGI) is already widely used in the industry to simulate crowds or audiences, for example.
But as the digital age advances, studios have started to explore ways to convincingly replicate actors’ voices and faces. Early rumblings of ‘deepfakes’ already exist, where AI is used to make images of fake events or make appear that someone is saying something they didn’t.
Handel says that the industry generally holds two schools of thought on the matter. Some actors say they don’t have an issue with studios reproducing their likeness with AI, but they want to be compensated by studios. Others take issue with the use of AI entirely for authenticity purposes.
“It’s a compromise between both sides of the table… but I think the unions are most likely to take the first position: that as long as there’s compensation that would be satisfactory,” Handel said.
Nunan says he doesn’t think there is a large risk of Canadians’ favourite A-listers having their likeness replicated without their consent. Rather, lesser-known actors are more likely to have their features replicated without being aware because they don’t have the same protections through lawyers, agents and managers.
Hollywood actors join screenwriters on strike: ‘We are being victimized by a very greedy entity’
With actors and writers stepping away from U.S. productions, Handel says audiences may have to brace themselves for slightly different content for the time being. Reality television will be emphasized, he says, along with sports.
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There’s also an opportunity for foreign content with actors and writers who are not part of the striking unions.
“Some companies, Netflix in particular, have proved very adept at creating content overseas and getting Americans to watch it. You know, “Squid Game,” for example. Netflix managed to do something that no one thought was possible, which is to get Americans to watch foreign content.”
Nunan, on the other hand, does not see foreign content now dominating screens, but it “could be promoted more heavily,” he says.
The actors’ guild released a statement early Thursday announcing that its deadline for negotiations to conclude had ended without a contract.
BIV: Impact of Hollywood strikes on B.C. film industry
“The companies have refused to meaningfully engage on some topics and on others completely stonewalled us. Until they do negotiate in good faith, we cannot begin to reach a deal,” said Fran Drescher, the star of “The Nanny” who is now the actors’ guild president.
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Members of the Writers Guild of America have been on strike since early May, slowing the production of film and television series on both coasts and in production centres like Atlanta.
Handel said the dual actors’ and writers’ strike is a “win” for studios because “they’re not spending money on production.”
With files from the Associated Press and Global News’ Reggie Cecchini.
Canada’s film and television community is bracing for more job uncertainty amid a Hollywood actors’ strike that observers say has the potential to throw more people out of work, upend TV schedules and dim the wattage of celeb-studded events like the Toronto International Film Festival.
It also raised questions about the fate of celeb-studded tourist draws including TIFF, set for Sept. 7 to 17, and Fan Expo Canada, set for Aug. 24 to 27.
TIFF said in an emailed statement that a SAG strike would almost certainly impact its typically star-packed festival, known for fan-friendly red carpets and premieres, as well as A-list studded press conferences and junkets that draw journalists from around the world.
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“The impact of this strike on the industry and events like ours cannot be denied,” TIFF said moments after SAG announced job action.
“We urge our partners and colleagues to resume an open dialogue. We will continue planning for this year’s festival with the hope of a swift resolution in the coming weeks.”
Writer shares experience picketing at Paramount Studios during strike
Asked last week about the potential impact of a SAG strike on Fan Expo Canada, a vice president with Fan Expo HQ dismissed the possibility of no-shows at the genre-focused pop culture event.
“There will be no impact to the experience we have planned,” Andrew Moyes said in an emailed statement Saturday.
“We hope all parties affected by this are able to reach an amicable agreement soon.”
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However, it was not clear Thursday if some SAG members might decide to sit out such events in solidarity, even if their appearance does not involve a studio project affected by the strike, said one Toronto-based SAG member who predicted TIFF would be “a quiet place this year.”
“I think they’re trying to do a hard no to everything,” Anthony Q. Farrell said of the strike’s intent when it comes to things like Comic-Con and Fan Expo.
“You definitely can’t go as someone who is trying to market a series, that is a SAG series. But they’re also telling you, if you don’t have to go then don’t go. Let’s cut them in the pockets where it really, really hurts.”
FILE – Actors and comedians Tina Fey, center, and Fred Armisen, right, join striking members of the Writers Guild of America on the picket line during a rally outside Silvercup Studios, Tuesday May 9, 2023, in New York. Unionized Hollywood actors on the verge of a strike have agreed to allow a last-minute intervention from federal mediators but say they doubt a deal will be reached by a negotiation deadline late Wednesday, July 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File).
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The U.S.-based battle is expected to send myriad ripple effects across the border, where more than half of Canadian-set film and TV shoots are U.S. productions that collectively employ tens of thousands of local talent and crew.
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Farrell said he was happy to see his union stand up to the studios but predicted the move would put more Canadian crew members out of work if their shoot includes a SAG cast member.
Also a member of the WGA, Farrell hoped the twin strikes would accelerate deals for both unionized actors and screenwriters, and get everyone back to work soon.
“Things simply are not in a place where they are fair yet,” Farrell said from Winnipeg, where he was speaking to emerging showrunners.
“I feel like this will hopefully be a good thing for our cause, the WGA. I think we’ll have a strong contingent on the picket line and hopefully we’ll get to a resolution much faster because of it.”
Canada’s actors union, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, which represents 28,000 members across the country, expressed their solidarity with SAG.
What a U.S. writers’ strike means to BC’s film industry?
The U.S. dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers — which represents employers including Disney, Netflix, Amazon and others — has largely centred on compensation, benefits and guarantees around the use of artificial intelligence.
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“We recognize that their fight is our fight and is for the good of all performers,” ACTRA president Eleanor Noble said in a statement.
“Together we will continue working to ensure performers are respected and achieve fair compensation for the value we bring to every production.”
Shaftesbury Films CEO Christina Jennings said a SAG strike would not impact Canadian shows with Canadian casts, such as Shaftesbury’s “Murdoch Mysteries” and “Hudson & Rex,” both currently shooting.
But she said it could affect future unannounced Canadian projects with a SAG cast.
“This isn’t a great day but we’re lucky at Shaftesbury that it really has not impacted our business at all right now,” said Jennings.
“We have a couple of new shows coming and you know, we’re in no urgency, but we will watch this news carefully…. We may have to make adjustments to strategy.”
Hollywood writers strike: Screenwriters join picket lines to fight for fair pay in streaming era
At least one Canadian broadcaster acknowledged the chance of derailed fall TV plans, with Citytv noting that if the strike continues, it would delay the return of titles including “Law & Order,” “Chicago Med,” “Chicago Fire” and “Chicago P.D.”
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Jennings said shifts like that could open opportunities for Canadian shows, believing that homegrown broadcasters would have holes to fill.
“I already know this from talking with them that they have been really, really looking at their schedules just because of the writers guild strike,” she said.
“They’re already moving shows. Often Canadian shows are moving up in the schedule because they need them to fill the fall hole.”
Leaders of a Hollywood’s actors union voted Thursday to join screenwriters in the first joint strike in more than six decades, shutting down production across the entertainment industry after talks for a new contract with the studios and streaming services broke down.
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, executive director of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists, said at a news conference that the union leadership voted for the work stoppage hours after their contract expired and talks broke off with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers representing employers including Disney, Netflix, Amazon and others.
“A strike is an instrument of last resort,” he said. Union leaders said at a news conference that they voted unanimously for a strike to begin at midnight. Outside Netflix’s Hollywood offices, picketing screenwriters chanted “Pay Your Actors!” immediately after the strike was announced.
It’s the first strike for actors from film and television shows since 1980. And it’s the first time two major Hollywood unions have been on strike at the same time since 1960, when Ronald Reagan was the actors’ guild president.
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“Employers make Wall Street and greed their priority and they forget about the essential contributors that make the machine run,” SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said. “Shame on them. They are on the wrong side of history.”
With a stoppage looming, the premiere of Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer in London was moved up an hour so that the cast could walk the red carpet before the SAG board’s announcement.
The looming strike also cast a shadow over the upcoming 75th Emmy Awards, whose nominations were announced a day earlier.
Disney chief Bob Iger warned Thursday that an actors strike would have a “very damaging effect on the whole industry.”
“This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption,” Iger said in an appearance on CNBC. “There’s a level of expectation that (SAG-AFTRA and the WGA) have that is just not realistic.”
Hollywood actors to strike, join writers on picket lines in 1st dual walk-off since ’60s
An extension of the contract, and negotiations, for nearly two weeks only heightened the hostility between the two groups.
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Before the talks began June 7, the 65,000 actors who cast ballots voted overwhelmingly union leaders to send them into a strike, as the Writers Guild of America did when their deal expired more than two months ago.
When the initial deadline approached in late June, more than 1,000 members of the union, including Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence and Bob Odenkirk, added their names to a letter signalling to leaders their willingness to strike.
The stakes in the negotiations included both base and residual pay, which actors say has been undercut by inflation and the streaming ecosystem, benefits, and the threat of unregulated use of artificial intelligence.
The group representing the studios, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), said earlier it was disappointed by the failure to reach a deal.
“This is the Union’s choice, not ours. In doing so, it has dismissed our offer of historic pay and residual increases, substantially higher caps on pension and health contributions, audition protections, shortened series option periods, a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses, and more,” the AMPTP said in a statement.
The actors’ guild has previously authorized a strike by a nearly 98 per cent margin. With the actors on strike, they will formally join screenwriters on the picket lines outside studios and filming locations in a bid to get better terms from studios and streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon.
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Members of the Writers Guild of America have been on strike since early May, slowing the production of film and television series on both coasts and in other production centres. Issues in negotiations include the unregulated use of artificial intelligence and the effects on residual pay brought on by the streaming ecosystem that has emerged in recent years. Actors have joined writers on picket lines for weeks in solidarity.
An actors’ strike would prevent performers from working on sets or promoting their projects.
Attending a photo event on Wednesday, actor Matt Damon said that while everyone was hoping a strike could be averted, many actors need a fair contract to survive.
“We ought to protect the people who are kind of on the margins,” Damon told The Associated Press. “And $26,000 a year is what you have to make to get your health insurance. And there are a lot of people whose residual payments are what carry them across that threshold. And if those residual payments dry up, so does their health care. And that’s absolutely unacceptable. We can’t have that. So, we got to figure out something that is fair.”
The looming strike has cast a shadow over the upcoming 75th Emmys. Nominations were announced Wednesday, and the strike was on the mind of many nominees.
“People are standing up and saying, ‘This doesn’t really work, and people need to be paid fairly,’” Oscar-winner Jessica Chastain, who was nominated for her first Emmy Award on Wednesday for playing Tammy Wynette in George & Tammy, told the AP.
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“It is very clear that there are certain streamers that have really kind of changed the way we work and the way that we have worked, and the contracts really haven’t caught up to the innovation that’s happened.”
“The impact of this strike on the industry and events like ours cannot be denied. We urge our partners and colleagues to resume an open dialogue. We will continue planning for this year’s festival with the hope of a swift resolution in the coming weeks,” said Alejandra Sosa, the director of communications with the Toronto International Film Festival.
Negotiators for the SAG-AFTRA actors union agreed late Tuesday to call in a federal mediator to try to forge a last-minute agreement with Hollywood studios and avoid a second simultaneous strike in the entertainment business.
The 160,000 members of SAG-AFTRA, Hollywood’s largest union, have authorized a strike if a new labor deal cannot be reached before midnight on Wednesday. The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since early May.
In a statement late on Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA said it was sticking with the Wednesday deadline and would “exhaust every possible opportunity to make a deal.”
“However we are not confident that the employers have any intention of bargaining toward an agreement,” the statement said.
SAG-AFTRA is demanding higher compensation in the streaming TV era plus safeguards around the use of artificial intelligence (AI). A-list stars including Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep have said they are ready to walk off the job if union leaders cannot reach a “transformative deal.”
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Writer shares experience picketing at Paramount Studios during strike
On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA said the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the group that negotiates on behalf of studios, “has abused our trust and damaged the respect we have for them in this process.”
The union said studio sources had leaked the request for a mediator to the press before SAG-AFTRA negotiators were informed.
“We will not be manipulated by this cynical ploy to engineer an extension when the companies have had more than enough time to make a fair deal,” the union said.
A spokesman for the AMPTP, which represents Walt Disney Co , Netflix Inc and other major studios, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Negotiations were taking place at a difficult time for media companies that are under pressure from Wall Street to make their streaming businesses profitable.
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Disney, Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal and Paramount Global each lost hundreds of millions of dollars from streaming in the most recent quarter. The rise of streaming has also eroded television ad revenue as traditional TV audiences shrink.
Actors represented by the Hollywood union SAG-AFTRA voted Monday evening to authorize a strike if they don’t agree on a new contract with major studios, streamers and production companies by June 30.
The strike authorization was approved by an overwhelming margin — nearly 98% of the 65,000 members who cast votes.
The guild, which represents over 160,000 screen actors, broadcast journalists, announcers, hosts and stunt performers, begins its negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Wednesday, over a month after the Writers Guild of America began striking over its own dispute with AMPTP. If the actors union ultimately moves forward with the strike, it would be limited to television and film productions; news and broadcast work would not be directly affected.
At stake is increased base compensation, which actors say has been undercut by inflation and the streaming ecosystem, the threat of unregulated use of artificial intelligence, benefit plans and the burden of “self-taped auditions” — the cost of which used to be the responsibility of casting and production.
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“We are approaching these negotiations with the goal of achieving a new agreement that is beneficial to SAG-AFTRA members and the industry overall,” the AMPTP said in a statement Monday.
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The strike authorization vote, a tool at the bargaining table, comes at a pivotal moment for the industry as 11,500 writers enter their sixth week of striking and the directors guild reviews a recently reached tentative agreement with studios on issues like wages, streaming residuals, and artificial intelligence. Should the actors strike, the industry already hobbled by the writers strike would come to a near-standstill, from production to promoting completed projects.
The WGA, DGA and SAG-AFTRA have shown solidarity with one another since the writers began walking the picket lines on May 2. Many in Hollywood worried about the very real possibility that all three guilds would strike at the same time, as both the directors and the actors contracts were soon due to expire as well.
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That scenario changed Sunday night when the directors guild, which represents 19,000 film, television and commercial directors, announced that they had reached a “truly historic” tentative agreement with studios. The terms, which have not been disclosed in detail to the press or the other guilds, will be presented to the DGA board on Tuesday for approval and then to the membership for ratification.
Representatives for both the writers guild and the actors guild congratulated the directors group for reaching a tentative deal, though neither commented on specific points of the DGA terms. The WGA also said that its bargaining positions remain the same.
The DGA deal did not sit well with some individual WGA members, some of whom remembered when the directors negotiated their own contract while the writers were striking in 2007-2008. That deal 15 years ago, some felt, set precedent that forced the writers to fall in line with the terms agreed to by the DGA and end the strike.
“Zero surprise. The AMPTP continues to use their tired old playbook. And the DGA sadly continues to toe the line, knowing that they can draft off of the WGA’s resolve to strike for a truly historic deal. Disappointing, but not surprising,” veteran television writer Steven DeKnight, who also wrote and directed “Pacific Rim: Uprising,” tweeted.
Seemingly anticipating a repeat, the WGA negotiating committee last week released a letter cautioning that the studios would once again pursue a “divide and conquer” strategy, pitting the guilds against one another.
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“Our position is clear: to resolve the strike, the companies will have to negotiate with the WGA on our full agenda,” the WGA letter had said. “We will continue to march until the companies negotiate fairly with us.”
While the unions have appeared more united this time, their aims are also different in many arenas. For the directors, securing international streaming residuals that account for subscriber growth was a key component, as were wages, safety (like banning live ammunition on set), diversity and inclusion and the addition of Juneteenth as a paid holiday.
The WGA agenda includes increased pay, better residuals and minimum staffing requirements. One key area of overlap between all is artificial intelligence. The DGA said they’d reached a “groundbreaking agreement confirming that AI is not a person and that generative AI cannot replace the duties performed by members.”
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, maintains the needs of the guild’s actor members are unique. Hollywood actors haven’t gone on strike against AMPTP since 1980, which saw a 95-day strike over terms for paid television and VHS tapes.
“Our bargaining strategy has never relied upon nor been dependent on the outcome or status of any other union’s negotiations, nor do we subscribe to the philosophy that the terms of deals made with other unions bind us,” Crabtree-Ireland said Sunday.
On Monday, he added that the vote was a “clear statement that it’s time for an evolution in this contract.”
