It looks like the Hollywood strikes are over and everyone can get back to work! Deadline reported that on Wednesday the SAG-AFTRA actors’ union and the studios had come to an agreement. The industrial action will end at 12:01 am Thursday.
The Hollywood industrial action is estimated to have cost the Southern California’s economy $6.5 billion. Around 45,000 jobs in the entertainment industry have also gone. It is worth noting is not just those in glamorous jobs who were hit. Workers adjacent to the industry, everything from baristas to costume cleaners, suffered.
SAG-AFTRA called a strike on 14th July and actors joined writers on the picket lines. The writers’ union, the WGA, ended their strike back on 27th September. It was expected in some quarters that actors would come to an agreement not long after. However, the talks have been rather tense, by all accounts. Things took some time to resolve. Talks frequently broke down.
The end of the strike means that production can fully resume and actors can go back to performing and promoting their work. (If you want to see what the reality of this ban of promo was, watch the latest episode of The Graham Norton Show on the BBC. Sarah Snook couldn’t talk about “Succession” and Greta Lee couldn’t talk about “The Morning Show” and Norton had to explain why.)
The Ankler’s Sean Mcnulty joined “The Addition Podcast” in June and September to discuss the Hollywood strikes. The unions raised various issues, including smaller writers rooms, and a lack of transparency from streamers and AI.