By Jui Bhatia, Co-Opinion Editor
46 days after the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike, the union reached a tentative agreement with media companies. Despite this win for the writers, the Screen Actors Guild American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike is still ongoing. As the strike drags on, it’s even more important to keep supporting the actors.
According to the WGA, the new terms reached are yet to be ratified. After ratification, the union will vote on ending the strike, after which writers will be able to start working again.
However, with SAG-AFTRA still on strike, most of Hollywood will still be shutdown, though fans can expect to see late night talk shows back on air. Additionally, a statement released by the WGA encourages writers to stand in sol- idarity with ac- tors, citing their importance to the industry.
SAG-AFTRA originally joined the strike to protest low wages. To qualify for SAG-AFTRA’s insurance, union members must make at least $26,000. Despite this low bar, only 14% of its members make enough to qualify.
Moreover, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is planning to use artificial intelligence to create likenesses of actors in productions, which means actors would forfeit rights to their likenesses being used in productions, making the strike more important and urgent.
Still, production companies do not seem ready to meet the union demands, even though they have been making record profits. According to Macrotrends, an investment research company, Disney reported more than $27 billion in profits over the last 12 months.
The proposed contracts for SAG-AFTRA would only amount to less than 1.7% of those profits, a figure the Disney CEO called “unrealistic” in an interview with CNBC.
With actors across the industry protesting with no end in sight, fan support is crucial, especially as the writers enter productions again. However, the fan perspective around the strike has been lukewarm. While it is reasonable to feel hurt or disappointed over the delay or cancellation of your favorite show, it is important to channel that energy toward the production companies instead of the actors.
The strike needs fan support now more than ever to keep the pressure on the production companies to persuade them to concede to the union’s demands. Supporting them can be as simple as rewatching your favorite shows to show the production companies that fans do want good writing and acting or donating funds to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA supported fundraisers.
Additionally, if you are starved for new content, you can always turn to independent production studios like A24 — behind movies such as “Aftersun” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — and Neon — behind movies such as “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” — that have been granted waivers by the union because they have agreed to meet the union’s terms. Supporting these productions shows bigger studios that not only are fans willing to support the union, but also that if smaller studios can agree to the union’s terms, so can they.
It is only by actually supporting the strike and following the terms of strike that we can get back to regular production of TV shows and movies. And in the meantime, make sure to look up some strike approved media to watch. You may even land a new favorite.
Jui Bhatia can be reached at [email protected].
