Most of Hollywood is at a standstill while members of the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild are striking against the studios and streaming services. Besides projects that have obtained waivers to continue working through the historic strike, work has come to a halt not just for writers and actors; the impact has spread far and wide for production crew members across the industry.
A dozen camera operators, stage managers, post-production editors, and production assistants who spoke to Rolling Stone said they support the union members’ strike and stand behind their fights for fair contracts, but they are also financially struggling to pay their bills, are worried about securing enough working days this year to earn healthcare benefits, and are also generally concerned about the future of the industry. Despite the president of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) reaching out to the WGA on Tuesday to request a meeting to discuss negotiations again, the below the line crew members who spoke to Rolling Stone said they’re nervous the SAG-AFTRA strike will keep them out of work until next year, which will be debilitating for them on personal and professional levels.
There are ramifications for people in the entertainment industry beyond the people striking, one Atlanta-based crew member said, pointing to those in the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), a North American union representing 168,000 technicians and craftspeople in the world of entertainment that reached a tentative deal with AMPTP to avoid their own strike.
“The biggest thing people are missing is the strike is not just affecting these two unions. Obviously they’re the ones on strike and they’re the ones on the picket lines, but it is a full industry-wide issue,” they said. “A lot of people forget about IATSE and all these other people who work on set and how it affects them. Everyone’s job is very important on set and there are people out of work besides SAG and WGA. It’s widespread and is really affecting people.”
One longtime camera operator who works in Los Angeles said that everyone they know is not working “unless it’s on reality-competition shows.”
“There just isn’t much happening. It’s been a strange and slow year all around,” they said. “Rumors were flying around in January, February, and March that a lot of production companies were not ordering any new series in anticipation of the strike, they weren’t greenlighting any projects. Even before the strike, people have been hurting pretty badly and not working at all.”
Crew members said they’ve started working at their local grocery stores, restaurants, and Target to supplement their income. A lightning technician based in Atlanta said they never thought they’d have to go back to serving tables at local restaurants since they’ve been in the business for so long, but they needed to pick up another job because they’ve dipped into their savings more than they anticipated this year.
“You’re tightening your belt in a lot of ways because obviously the longer the strike goes on the scarier it’s going to get,” one assistant director said. “We won’t really know when the strike ends, even when people step back to the negotiating table it’s going to take months for deals to go through and productions to hire again, so my partner and I are going to start thinking about if we need to take out a personal loan to float ourselves.”
Crew members’ savings accounts are dwindling and many also won’t be able to secure healthcare, which is a point of concern for those who will have to pay out of pocket for their prescription medications.
“It’s definitely very scary,” one Chicago-based production assistant said. “We are having to dip into our savings, which is something we never wanted to do. The part-time jobs are meant to alleviate that, it just helps us not dip in as much, but we still have to do it.”
“I’m in a position where I’m forced to decide whether I should pay my Wi-Fi bill or my energy bill this month, and I shouldn’t be in this position,” one production assistant said. “And it’s really ironic that I’m still paying for streaming services every month when I’m not working right now because of them.”
Another camera operator based in New York City said they’re used to not working as much during the summer months because a lot of TV shows go on hiatus, but the anticipation of not being able to book jobs in the coming months is looming over them and their family members they support.
“It’s a significant concern for my family,” the camera operator said. “If I don’t work 40 more hours this year, I can’t get healthcare for me or my kids, and then my kids can’t get braces. I have another kid going to college in a couple of weeks and this has all added to the stress of that.”
Everyone who spoke to Rolling Stone said they’ve felt the slowness of production all year in anticipation of the strikes. One camera operator who’s worked in the industry for three decades said they’ve seen a major shift in the last couple of years prior to the recent strikes, noting that they think “the nature of the business is changing.” They said they’ve seen budget cuts across the board and there’s been less emphasis on the quality of work they’re putting out and more focus on “just doing it cheaper.”
“Whatever economic engine was driving these reality-competition shows, award shows, and live specials seems to not have the same amount of money going into it anymore,” they said. “I don’t think there’s as much concern or care about the finished product as there used to be. It’s more, ‘Let’s get this done.’ What we used to do in ten days we’re now doing in six days, instead of using 15 cameras we’re using ten. The ratings for award shows and live specials just aren’t getting the ratings they used to get. Everybody’s watching TV in 30-second clips on TikTok, who cares about a three-hour award show?”
Surviving the working conditions in the pandemic was already a hurdle, according to a longtime camera operator who’s worked in daytime television, on game shows, and on live events. They said their IATSE union is “trying to make accommodations” for its members, but they’re still recovering financially from the impact of the Covid pandemic.
“They really strung themselves out financially into their funds to accommodate for catastrophic events during the pandemic and we’re right back there now again,” they said. “It’s certainly frustrating that a whole workforce is just waiting around for other people to decide other things, and coming off of everything we’ve already been through in 2020 and 2021 it’s pretty disheartening. I heard someone say the other day that for every actor out of work there are about 15 crew members who aren’t working. It feels pretty substantial how many people aren’t working.”
The camera operator added that it’s been disheartening to stop working this year after rebounding from the hardships of filming, and not filming, during Covid. “We all survived the pandemic, we came roaring back ,and just as everyone’s getting back into a rhythm it’s like, pump the brakes,” they said. “You could see it coming throughout the year. This year did not start off as strong as years past. It seemed like there was a big order on game shows because studios were getting ready for a potential holdout. I think everyone was kind of getting ready for the long haul.”
Crew members who work across the country, including cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Atlanta, are anxious about the way the strikes will continue to hit their wallets, and the longer they’re out of work, the more some of them are considering leaving the business altogether. It’s sparking an existential crisis for some who are questioning whether or not they want to work in such a tumultuous industry.
“It’s hard because I’ve been doing this for twenty-plus years in some form, but I think at this point everyone should have a separate career possibility or be open to leaving the industry if another opportunity presents itself,” one camera operator said. “I find myself thinking, ‘Should I go back to school? Should I put more focus into my side gigs?’”
While some are preoccupied with the scary nature of being out of work, others remain hopeful that union members will reach a deal with the studios that brings people back to TV and movie sets. In the meantime, these same crew members have come to terms with the fact that there’s not much they can do besides support SAG and WGA members, lean into their side hustles, and look for work where they can.
“If there’s less work out there, there’s less work out there. There’s not much we can do about that,” one camera operator said.
Searching for a new full-time job outside of production would mean leaving the entertainment industry entirely, and despite the hardships they’ve experienced this year some say they’re not ready to give up on their Hollywood dream just yet.
“This is something I’ve worked on for over a decade and I’ve worked really hard, love my job, and you don’t want to give up on it just because of this situation,” one stage manager said. “Strikes are inevitable; they’re going to continue to happen. It’s happened before and it will likely happen again in the future. That’s the power and nature of being in an industry of unions. This is your right as a union member to do this.”
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August 03, 2023 at 06:33AM
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The Hollywood Strike Has Been Hell for Crew Members: ‘It’s Very Scary’ - Rolling Stone
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