UnNews:Hollywood strikes
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Monday, October 2, 2023, 05:54 (UTC)
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On May 2, 2023, The Writers Guild of America went on strike. On July 14, 2023, the actors joined them. This hub covers the latest developments, talks, solidarity, and threats to kill off your favorite character. No, not Eleven! Dear God, no! edit
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“ | People who get in the way of technology don’t last long in business. You look at the buggy-whip business, radio manufacturers. When radio started in the ’20s and ’30s, there were thousands of companies making radios. There aren’t many people making radios anymore. | ” |
Also very telling is this quote, where he just flat out agrees with the writers and actors anyway, but still refuses to yield to their deals:
“ | You can’t copyright a product that is generated by a computer. You can only copyright product made by a person. So, we’re not going to take a script written by a computer and make it into a TV show or a film. You can’t take someone’s image or likeness without their permission. And everyone in the AMPTP and the production business is fully aware of that and will adhere to that. | ” |
This is textbook hypocrisy. Shame on you, Tony Vinciquerra.
As of Thursday, SAG-AFTRA has been on strike for exactly two months. Day 63 for actors and day 136 for writers. Writers have been on strike for four months and counting.
The Summer 2023 issue of SAG-AFTRA Magazine has been published and can be read online here, though zooming and scrolling might prove to be a pain in the neck.
Both unions staged a massive solidarity March on Wednesday.
Actors are auctioning themselves to support those affected by the strike. What you do mean there's no "get killed by Jason"?! But hey, at least there's signed scripts and posters from a strange show about things, Natasha Lyonne's crossword help, 20 questions with Sarah Silverman, and John Lithgow watercolor paints your pet. What do you mean there's no "Get your mugshot taken with Trump?"
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
Hundreds of Showrunners showed up at Fox for a Showrunners Solidarity Day.
Friday, September 8, 2023
Fran Drescher has been re-elected SAG-AFTRA President, and Joely Fisher Secretary-Treasurer.
Legacy studio execs have privately told the WGA that they want to make a deal, a revelation the AMPTP is now denying. Read it here in the WGA's own words.
Friday was Day 130 for writers and 57 for actors.
Monday, September 4th
Happy Labor Day! SAG-AFTRA Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland wrote a guest column for Variety in which he pushed studios to negotiate.
Meanwhile, Chris Keyser posted this great video on WGA's strike website.
Sunday, September 3, 2023
17,000 Hollywood jobs were lost in August due to the strikes.
SAG-AFTRA and WGA have both announced that they have teamed up with Worx Printing and have set up official stores for their swag merch. We're talking T-shirts, hats, tank tops, tote bags, coffee mugs and Donald Trump's mugshot.
SAG-AFTRA volunteers organized in a food pantry in LA.
Friday, September 2, 2023
Writers have now been on strike for exactly four months, entering its fifth.
SAG-AFTRA will hold a strike authorization vote for Video game performers.
Friday was day 50 of the SAG-AFTRA strike and day 122 of the WGA strike.
Tuesday, August 29, 2023
The cast and writers of Breaking Bad have reunited outside of Sony.
Late Night hosts have been hitting the Spotify in support of the strikes.
Monday, August 28, 2023
Late-night writers hosted a picket outside TV City. James Corden sponsored an ice cream truck for the event.
Wednesday, August 23, 2023
WGA negotiations update. The AMPTP is trying to make the writers cave. The WGA promises more details tomorrow.
- Update (Friday, August 25, 2023): Here is the WGA's more detailed breakdown, released Thursday.
Saturday, August 19, 2023
WGA, SAG-AFTRA and AFL-CIO will be holding a National Day of Solidarity on Tuesday.
Actor and stuntman Bill Yarbrough has been elected to SAG-AFTRA's national board by a single vote in Nashville. He is the first member of Team Dunbar to be elected. Maya Gilbert-Dunbar is running against Fran Drescher in SAG's 2023 elections.
Friday, August 18, 2023
WGA negotions update. The guild and the AMPTP will meet again "next week."
The WGA has been awarded the Humanitas Voice of Change Award. Out of respect to striking LA hotel workers, the awards were announced via The LA Times.
The picket lines proudly welcomed WAP. Get your mind out of the gutter. "Striking writers and actors are free to shake their asses and flaunt their front-facing privates," organizers said, "But that's not the WAP we're talking about. It's actually honorees of the TV Writer Access Project. I know it's less sexy, but hey, Megan Thee Stallion is expensive."
IATSE Locals 44 and 80 have picketed in solidarity for Local B-192 (a.k.a. theme park workers) at Universal. They helped strikers beat the heat with a canopy filled with drinks, coolers, and mist fans. Meanwhile the International Cinematographers Guild (IATSE Local 600) have also bene picketing in solidarity.
Latin(a/o/x/e) actors held a "Latino Actors and Writers Unite!" rally at Warner Bros. Featured were Edward James Olmos, Al Madrigal, Calderon Kellett (One Day at a Time reboot), Luisa Leschin (George Lopez, Everybody Hates Chris),
The Roseanne/Conners cast and writers reunited, including John Goodman, Sara Gilbert and Michael Fishman, and writers Bill Walker and Joel Madison. There was one notable absence, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Other than that absence, Lecey Goranson (Becky) and Ames McNamara (Darlene's son Mark) were in New York. Ironically, despite the big absence, Tom Arnold was there.
“Without the writers, we have nothing. I salute them every day,” Goodman said. “I know they’re overworked and underpaid and they deserve a bigger piece than what the studio overlords are willing to give them.”
“When [Bob Iger] says we’re striking at the wrong time, then you know it’s the right time,” Arnold said.
Monday, August 14, 2023
It has officially been one month since SAG-AFTRA went on strike. The actors are on day 32 while writers are on day 105.
WGA-covered productions filmed in the U.S. will no longer be granted SAG interim agreements.
Friday, August 11, 2023
WGA-AMPTP negotiations meeting update, straight from WGA themselves.
Having previously expressed anti-strike sentiments, Stephen Amell has relented and hit the picket lines in New York. Meanwhile, his Arrow co-stars reunited in Burbank.
The SAG-AFTRA strike has GONE NATIONAL! (See video.) The Presidents of the Producers Guild of America (not to be confused with the AMPTP [Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers], which represents the studios and streamers) have also appeared on the picket lines. The producers are not currently striking.
Recent strikers include Elliot Page, Sam Rockwell, Michael Shannon, Awkwafina, SNL alum Vanessa Bayer, Billy Crudup, Lara Flynn Boyle, Camryn Manheim, Jennifer Grey, George Lopez's wife, Wendie Malick, Patricia Clarkson, Jason George, Jack Quaid, Jason Alexander, Annette Bening, Tate Donovan, Richard Gere, Melina Kanakaredes, F. Murray Abraham, Julianna Margulies, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Bacon & Kyra Sedgwick, Sara Gilbert, Leslie Ann Warren, Jeri Ryan, and robot dog G4t0.
Thursday, August 10, 2023
The WGA and the AMPTP will officially resume negotiations tomorrow.
Internet influencers and content creators (None I've heard of yet) have signed a pledge that they will not scab during the strikes. They have set up a website called https://laboroverlikes.com/ that was launched Tuesday.
Wednesday, August 9, 2023
The WGA strike has reached day 100 with no end in sight. The guild calls it a "milestone of shame."
SAG has once again clarified its interim agreement.
Young Sheldon stars Iain Armitage and Wallace "Inconceivable" Shawn reunited at the picket lines. Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons have also showed up.
Boston welcomed Elizabeth Warren and Tom Bergeron. Bergeron held up a 1-cent residual with a 6-cent stamp. "They could have Venmo'd me the damn penny. They could have Larry Curly Moe'd it to me. America's Funniest Home Videos don't pay for themselves."
Saturday, August 5, 2023
Read the WGA announcement about yesterday's meeting.
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
According to Deadline, the WGA and the AMPTP are working on some kind of deal on Friday.
Meanwhile, Fran Drescher on NBC's Today Show says SAG is prepared for 6 months, but that "I don't have a crystal ball."
Sean Penn is tearing AI a new asshole. Speaking of assholes, Stephen Amell has pissed off his co-stars by saying that he opposed the strike. He's since tried to walk back his comments.
Striking actors are allowed to attend LA Comic Con in December.
NYC has passed two labor resolutions, which will now go to the full City Council.
Seth MacFarlane has donated $1 million to the Entertainment Community Fund.
Monday, July 24, 2023
Matt Donnelly of Variety asks, Why have very few A-listers joined the picket lines? That's a good question. There has been no sign (no pun intended) of, for example, Millie Bobby Brown, John Goodman, most of the cast of Stranger Things, Jennifer Coolidge, the Hollywood Chrises, Bryan Cranston, Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Arnold Schwarzenegger, some British actors, Christopher Lloyd, Jenna Ortega (who's working on an independent film for A24), Jeff Daniels, Steve Carell, Bozo the Clown, Barney the Dinosaur, Jack the Ripper and a host of others. (Update: Bryan Cranston has since hit the picket lines and called out Bob Iger and AI by name.)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sandra Bernhard and Jack Black have joined the picket lines. AOC asks "How many yachts does David Zaslav need?"
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson donated a historic sum of money to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, which will help "thousands" of actors during this difficult time. "Mostly I want Urkel to get a sandwich and Kel to get his orange soda," Johnson says.
Friday, July 21,2023
As the SAG-AFTRA strike hits the one-week milestone, British actors have finally hit the picket lines. Namely Daniel Radcliffe, Brian Cox and Emily Blunt. There are some complication with The UK's acting union, Equity, and UK labor laws, which are "draconian" and the most restrictive in the Western world.
Thursday, July 13, 2023
SAG-AFTRA will officially strike as of noon PT today Friday.
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
The Hollywood unions -- IATSE, Teamsters, Hollywood Basic Crafts, DGA, WGA East & West -- have released a joint statement in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA ahead of their imminent strike:
“ | As the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) continues negotiating for a contract that respects their indispensable role in America’s motion picture and television industry from the studios, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), Teamsters, Hollywood Basic Crafts (Hollywood Basic Crafts (Teamsters Local 399, IBEW Local 40, LiUNA! Local 724, OPCMIA Local 755 and UA Local 78), the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), and the Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) extend our unwavering support and solidarity.
Hollywood must be a place where every worker, on-screen and off, is treated according to the value their skills and talents command. While the studios have collective worth of trillions of dollars, billions of viewers globally, and sky-high profits, this fight is not about actors against the studios, but rather about workers across all crafts and departments in the industry standing together to prevent mega-corporations from eroding the conditions we fought decades to achieve. We recognize the actors have taken the step of voting in favor of strike authorization, arming SAG-AFTRA leadership with the authority to call a strike if the studios do not address performers’ unique priorities. As their current agreement is set to expire on July 12, 2023, we call on the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to immediately acknowledge the contributions of performers and negotiate a suitable contract with their union. We will reiterate: Together, our solidarity is not to be underestimated. The Hollywood Unions and Guilds stand more united than ever. In solidarity, Matthew D. Loeb International President, IATSE Lindsay Dougherty Motion Picture Division Director & Western Region Vice President, Teamsters Hollywood Basic Crafts, Chairperson Michael Winship President, Writers Guild of America, East Meredith Stiehm President, Writers Guild of America West Lesli Linka Glatter President, Directors Guild of America |
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Tuesday, July 11, 2023
SAG-AFTRA has agreed to a federal mediator in it's labor dispute with the AMPTP, but citing an "abuse" of trust, Wednesday's deadline still stands. That being said, the writing's on the wall -- there's no way there *won't* be a strike.
Fran Drescher has been criticized for attending Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda in Italy instead of focusing on the strike. Also in attendance was American Horror Story line-crosser Kim Kardashian.
Monday, July 10, 2023
Here are the rules for the SAG-AFTRA strike:
- Actors must walk away from all film and TV productions.
- Absolutely no promotion, including social media, press junkets, photo shoots, etc.
- Actors are allowed, but discouraged, from attending San Diego Comic-Con, provided they don't promote anything.
- Any pre-deadline press junkets must include a disclaimer.
- Independent productions may be exempted, so long as they follow a SAG-AFTRA interim deal and are truly independent -- i.e. no AMPTP studios, streamers, or distributors are attached.
The Writers, actors and other unions have joined together for a flash mob... and a hilarious Kenan & Kel-related picket sign.
Hollywood strikes news archive:
- Most everything that happened during Uncyclopedia writers strike
- Uncyclopedia writers end strike after 146 days
- Blackdick removed from Saw X
- Why haven't B-listers joined the SAG-AFTRA strike?
- Scab workers hired on to produce content for UnNews
- Uncyclopedia writers go on strike (2023)
- State of the Union Address affected by Writers' strike
- Uncyclopedia writers strike enters fourteenth week
- Writers' strike expands to the interweb
- Uncyclopedia writers go on strike
- Writer's Strike means no new TV shows