Hollywood in chaos as actors join writers on strike

For the first time in 60 years, actors including Matt Damon and Margot Robbie are preparing to strike to support Hollywood screenwriters. See what it means for movies and hit TV shows.

Hollywood has been effectively shut down for the first time since 1960 with TV and movie actors joining screenwriters in a strike that suspends production of popular films and shows.

Some of the entertainment industry’s biggest names are expected to hit the picket line on Friday in the US after the strike – covering about 160,000 actors – comes into force at midnight local time (5pm AEST).

Margot Robbie said she would “absolutely” go on strike. Picture: Getty Images

The strike will also take actors out of promotional work for their new films and shows.

Australian screen star Margot Robbie, who is currently on a global tour spruiking the Barbie movie, said prior to the vote that she would “absolutely” go on strike.

“I’m very much in support of all the unions and I’m a part of (the Screen Actors Guild), so I would absolutely stand by that,” she said.

In London, the star-studded cast of the new Christopher Nolan blockbuster Oppenheimer walked out of the film’s premiere in solidarity.

In London, the star-studded cast of Oppenheimer – including Emily Blunt and Matt Damon – walked out of the film’s premiere. Picture: Getty Images

“This isn’t an academic exercise. This is real life-and-death stuff,” actor Matt Damon said.

“Hopefully we get to a resolution quickly. No one wants a work stoppage, but we’ve got to get a fair deal.”

The union representing the actors – the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists – walked away from negotiations over a split on key issues including royalties and the use of artificial intelligence.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said she was “shocked” by the way writers and actors are being treated. Picture: AFP

SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, best known for playing Fran Fine in TV show The Nanny, said she was “shocked by the way the people we have been in business with are treating us”.

“I cannot believe it, quite frankly, how far apart we are on so many things, how they plead poverty that they’re losing money left and right when giving hundreds of millions to their CEOs. It is disgusting.” she told reporters.

“We demand respect. You cannot exist without us.”

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates on behalf of the Hollywood studios, said it was “deeply disappointed” the actors decided to go on strike.

It argued it had offered “historic pay and residual increases” on top of a “groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses”.

Actors will now join Hollywood’s writers on the picket line. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

“Rather than continuing to negotiate, SAG-AFTRA has put us on a course that will deepen the financial hardship for thousands who depend on the industry for their livelihoods,” the alliance said in a statement.

Alec Baldwin took to Instagram to share with his 2.5 million followers the importance of the strike.

“As people outside the business may not know and those people in the business do know, the work of SAG-AFTRA is on behalf of the rank-in-file performers, the 95 per cent of people in the union who either, don’t make a living doing this or they barely make a living and work paycheck to paycheck,” he said.

“Only five per cent of people in this business are highly paid and make a good living doing this.”

The actor went on to congratulate SAG-AFTRA and lauded that it “gets tough” on salaries for all of its 160,000 members. Baldwin acknowledged that nobody wants a strike.

Yvette Nicole Brown, who only a day earlier had announced the Emmy Award nominations, posted a picture of herself holding a “SAG-AFTRA On Strike” sign on Instagram.

Jack Quaid, who was in “Scream,” wrote on Twitter, “If we must strike… then we shall striiiiiiiikeeeeeeeee!!!!!”.

Emmy and Grammy award-winning actor Cynthia Nixon wrote on Twitter that she was proud to stand with writers to “demand a fair share of the record-breaking profits the studios have been reaping from our labor for far too long.”

The @sagaftra strike has at last arrived. I am proud to be standing tall with the @WGAWest and @WGAEast as actors and writers together demand a fair share of the record-breaking profits the studios have been reaping from our labor for far too long.
We will win this! ✊🏻🔥🔥🔥✊🏻

— Cynthia Nixon (@CynthiaNixon) July 13, 2023

About 11,500 screenwriters went on strike at the start of May, halting production on TV shows and new movies while forcing late-night television talk shows to air re-runs.

The last simultaneous strike in 1960 – when Marilyn Monroe was still a big screen star – was fought over royalty payments from films sold to television networks.

HBO boss Casey Bloys predicted audiences would begin to notice the impact of the strike next year.

“At least through the end of 2023, we’re okay. Then into ‘24, it starts to get dicier,” he told Variety.

The New York Times reported that 80 per cent of the scripted industry had already been suspended by the writers’ strike, with the full shutdown likely to mean hit TV shows that were expected to return this spring would be delayed.

Disney chief executive Bob Iger criticised the unrealistic expectations of the unions, saying the strike action was “very disturbing” at what was “the worst time in the world to add to (the) disruption” caused by the pandemic.

Streaming platforms have recently suffered heavy financial losses, while also driving down traditional TV viewer numbers and cannibalising advertising revenue.

Originally published as Hollywood in chaos as actors join writers on strike