What’s the deal with the strikes in Hollywood & why do they matter to the rest of us? LGBTQ+ actors weigh in
fiery speech from The Nanny herself, SAG President Fran Drescher—protesting against the major studios (including but not limited to Disney, Warner Bros., Universal, and Netflix) who refuse to meet their workers’ reasonable requests.Among the concerns are compensation rates, especially residuals—payment owed when a piece of entertainment is re-aired, sold in additional formats, streaming, etc…—which have remained stagnant while studio executive salaries have ballooned in the streaming media boom.There’s also the pressing matter of AI, artificial intelligence, which the studios have taken an interest in, indicating the evolving technology could be used to replace industry creatives—whether that be writing scripts, supplant the need for background actors, or beyond.Now, you may be wondering, “I’m not in the industry—why should I care?”For starters, with writers and actors on strike, scripted film and television simply can not be made (at least for the major studios being “struck”).
That means, until a deal is reached, no new projects can go into development, and even those that were currently filming are halted until further notice.
