If not now, when?
In 1960, SAG and WGA struck to force management to adapt to the new technology of television. Without that strike and the agreement it birthed, residual use payments would not exist.
Wil Wheaton and Gates McFadden support SAG-AFTRA and WGA at Paramount StudiosMy parents forced me to be a child actor, and stole nearly all of my salary from my entire childhood. My Star Trek residuals were not much, but they were all I had, and they kept me afloat for two decades while I rebuilt my life. I have healthcare and a pension because of my union. The AMPTP billionaires want to take all that security away so they can give CEOs even more grotesque wealth at the expense of the people who make our industry run.
We must now fight for the future of our industry in the face of changing technology, the same way our elders fought for us in 1960.To give some sense of what is at stake: There are actors who star in massively successful, profitable, critically acclaimed shows that are all on streaming services. You see them all the time. They are famous, A-list celebrities. Nearly all of those actors don’t earn enough to qualify for health insurance, because the studios forced them to accept a buyout for all their residuals (a decade of reuse, at the least) that is less than I earned for one week on TNG. And I was the lowest paid cast member in 1988. They want to do this while studio profits and CEO compensation are at historic highs. Nearly 9 in 10 SAG-AFTRA members does not earn the $26,470 required to qualify for health insurance. Meanwhile, studio executives are pocketing tens of millions of dollars of bonuses and compensation. Each. (CNN: “When Iger rejoined Disney as CEO in November 2022, he agreed to an annual base salary of $1 million with a potential annual bonus of $2 million. The agreement also includes stock awards from Disney totaling $25 million [and] Netflix’s co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters made $50 million and $28 million, respectively, in 2022, according to a company filing.”)
Those billionaire CEOs complain that what we are asking for is unrealistic and unsustainable. They say we — we — are destroying the industry that was so profitable and successful for a century before they arrived.
I realize they want to remodel their third vacation home so they don’t embarrass any of the guests they take there on their yacht. My heart just aches for them as they struggle to keep up with a changing business model. Here’s the thing: if the current business model of the industry only functions when labor allows itself to be exploited so that executives make thousands of times their salaries, that business model should be destroyed.
If workers refusing to be exploited makes a CEO’s bloated salary unsustainable, I think that’s kind of the point.
We in Labor aren’t hurting our industry. We’re fighting to save it from predatory sociopaths who will gleefully watch people lose their homes and go hungry, rather than release 2% of their grotesque wealth to ensure a healthy industry for everyone.
I mean, if not now, when? And I haven’t even touched on AI and working conditions. I’m only talking about the fundamental ability and opportunity to make a living, to survive and hope to thrive, in the entertainment industry.
We must now fight for the future of our industry in the face of changing technology, the same way our elders did for us in 1960. So today, my Spacemom and I went to the place where it started for us, way back when, to do just that.
I see all your support. It means so much. Thank you.
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The rich get richer, the poor get poorer -This needs to change for humanity to live long and prosper.
The last time the film industry went on strike, was when Dr Horribles Sing-along blog and the Guild came out as an independent web series on Youtube. I feel like if more people made indie shows without corporate companies and went indie and did everything out of pocket and just only asked for donations from viewers like PBS does with their shows, then we wouldn't have to pay companies at all cuz everything would be done with regular people. like dnd actual play shows and ones that stream on roll20 and stuff like The World of IO dmed by Brett Ultimus only take donations and stuff and don't have to rely on companies or unions or whatever cuz they are playing to have fun and tell a good story. Thats why they use Patreon and twitch subscriptions and stuff to pay for their shows. but other shows they just do it for fun and don't need to pay for it if they do everything themselves.I've been watching old shows and stuff cuz they have already been done and finished. There is plenty of shows and old movies everyone can watch until the Strike gets finished cuz not being able to promote anything you do or go to conventions and stuff during this is really sucky. And I feel like the movie theaters and stuff are going to lose money if we don't get any more movies coming out this year and tv studios will probably lose money too if shows don't come out this year. Sound of Freedom did well because they are an indie studio and an indie Christian film. Like I only watch indie shows and films more than the mainstream stuff like indie horror and stuff because I'm sick and tired of the constant remakes that the studios keep on forcing down everyone's throats. Like we already had a Haunted mansion movie with Eddie murphy in it and Jennifer Tilly which was pretty good. We didn't need a remake. If it wasn't for indie films, all we would have today is Remakes, sequels and ones based on Japanese films. the same with tv shows getting remade and stuff. If you start remaking our childhood, it doesn't feel like Nostalgia anymore. it's like they take our childhood and destroy it. Like the new powerpuff girls and teen titans go aren't good and if they are planning to go the dark route with the live action Powerpuff girls' series for the CW like they did with Sabrina the Teenage Witch then I am not watching it because my childhood was the old school Powerpuff girls' series and the original Teen Titans Anime series and the Melissa Joan Hart Sabrina the Teenage Witch series. Not every show from our childhood needs to go the Dark route. Like what happened to the wholesome family sitcoms I used to watch in the 90s? You don't hardly see them anymore. The last show I watched was My two dads from 1987 from Tubi and that was a wholesome family sitcom from the people that made Boy meets world. I miss watching Family sitcoms with morals and stuff. But yeah, I hope one day that TV shows get better, and they go back to wholesome clean Family sitcoms and stuff and shows where there is no sex or cursing or whatever that doesn't shove the real issues of the world down everyone's throats because we watch TV, movies, and stuff to escape from reality. Thats why I don't watch the news anymore either. There's too much politics and crap being put on tv shows now. maybe once all the studios start losing money, maybe they'll do better and change things to treat everyone better but until the CEOS quit being Aholes, I don't think anything is going to change.
I don't support this strike but ya'll have as much a right to strike as everyone else same with signing petitions. Don't know if they'll do any good in the long run and if anything will change or whatever but at least you are trying. Sometimes it doesn't work tho cuz I tried to sign a petition to save the home of my local community theater that I was a part of from the city tearing it down to make apartments out of and it didn't do anything because the city still tore the old log cabin down and my community theater is now a travelling theater troupe having to go to different venues around the city as they don't have a permanent theater home anymore due to the Mayor not wanting to help them and they never went through with the apartments. The land where the community theater used to be is now an empty lot near a park in the downtown area. and everyone makes the costumes and everything being a nonprofit community theater organization for Murfreesboro Little Theater in Murfreesboro TN. They get their funds and help from volunteers and ticket sales and concessions and member dues to help fund for future shows and stuff and do fundraisers too.
I'm having trouble understanding a few things about the strike though. At least one speaker at the Times Square event mentioned "corporate greed" (which I fully agree is a huge problem in our American society, in which "capitalism without a conscience" is very common), and I wonder if they'll continue to speak about it after the strike has ended. I wonder if writers and actors will depict it more in television shows and movies, and whether they'll be more outspoken against advertisers that have a proven history of exploiting employees and consumers, the same companies that sponsor television shows and movies. Will there be more scripts about factory and fast-food workers that struggle to get by, who live paycheck-to-paycheck, who can't get proper medical care, who have been injured on the job and don't have the means to litigate for compensation? And as for the supporting industries of screen production, will costume designers, and the people who build the sets, who do the heavy lifting of props, and who clean up after messy scenes be compensated with residuals? Will the writers at SNL (formerly one of my favorite shows) cease insulting politicians and celebrities by implying that their odd or irrational behavior is caused by "mental illness"?
I understand you wouldn't be able to answer some of these questions, nor can you responsible for implementing them, but hopefully my points by asking them are mostly clear. I can't say I'm entirely supportive of the strike, though I'm fully supportive of their right to strike, and I do feel that workers, laborers, and artists deserve fair treatment, compensation, and health benefits. I would like to see it for workers in all industries, but of course I understand that when unions strike, they are striking on behalf of their own industry at the time.
If I seem overly cynical, I must admit it partly stems from jealousy; I used to have fantasies about being on the writing team at SNL and improving the show (but honestly, I've never worked to achieve that goal, so I'm in no position to pass judgment ;) ).
Though I've expressed some unfair negativity due to ignorance of the issues faced by SAG-AFTRA and the WGA, you and your colleagues (including your spacemom) can reasonably assume that many people have similar questions such as I, and confusion about how the artists on strike will deal with socio-economic inequity and widespread corporate greed after the strike is over.
On a final note, I'd like to mention my hope that the writing of television series will improve after the strike. In my opinion, too many shows now rely on cliffhangers to keep the audience coming back for more. I've seen 20 or 40 minutes shows that don't have much substance, until the very end where the last few minutes lead to a very dramatic buildup and cliffhanger. I long for the days of good stories that rely less on tension tricks and eye candy, and more on quality writing, such as those presented by Star Trek TOS and TNG.