It’s been 118 days since screen writers went on strike to protest for better pay and treatment in the entertainment industry.
As streaming services have been on the rise since the pandemic, more people are resorting to Netflix or Disney + instead of the Discovery or Freeform channel. While the strike was happening, filming for many major shows such as “Stranger Things,” “Cobra Kai,” and “Abbott Elementary” stopped entirely. The Screen Actors Guild strike just recently ended in early November, but the writers’ strike ended just over a month before that, in late September.
I love watching my favorite shows and movies, and yes I was really sad when they were put on hold for a few months, but I also recognized the seriousness of this strike and why it was so important. On late night shows like Saturday Night Live, screen writers write out and plan all of the skits ahead of time for the episode.
Those same writers that put in so much work for the skits were not being paid nearly enough money for their hard work. So, they decided to go on strike and campaign for better pay and working conditions. A lot of famous actors and TV personas also decided to join the fight, even though the strike didn’t really affect them, mainly because of their heavy financial stability.
Notable actors such as Adam Sandler and Jeremy Allen White joined the picket to help advocate for liveable wages for members of the entertainment industry.
However, the strike started to affect them also. So much so, the actors also went on strike for compensation. It wasn’t really the big-name actors that we all know; it’s the smaller scale actors and actresses who go from show to show in small roles in hopes of making enough money to support themselves and even possibly their families. Actors mainly joined the writers on
strike in demand of more protection for their jobs and salary.
This is mostly due to the fact that in recent years, streaming of shows and movies has become incredibly popular. Yes, being able to binge watch your favorite shows for hours on end without commercials on Netflix and Disney Plus is easy to enjoy and forget about regular television. However, watching media this way instead of on regular television, severely cuts pay for actors and actresses that rely on this profit for basic living needs.
Both actors and writers alike are equally as relieved with the new deal that has been reached with the AMPTP. The hardships they went through during the strike portrayed such a passion that brought such a big result back for the SAg and WGA. For one aspect, any actor with a speaking role will recieve an immediate sevent percent pay raise, and two more pay raises in the coming years.
However, now that the union has reached a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, actors who highly rely on their earnings will be put at ease with this immense pay raise.
They will earn a bonus if a project they are part of earned significant views on streaming services, and one other significant bonus is for relocation; if an actor has to move for a project, they will receive a bonus.
