Current:Home > MyHollywood strikes taking a toll on California's economy -FundGuru
Hollywood strikes taking a toll on California's economy
View
Date:2025-04-17 05:24:44
Los Angeles — Hollywood scribes met with studio executives Friday for the first time since the Writer's Guild of America went on strike just over three months ago.
The more than 11,000 film and television writers that make up the WGA have been on strike since early May. In mid-July, they were joined on the picket lines by the approximately 65,000 actors in the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, SAG-AFTRA, a move that has shuttered nearly all scripted Hollywood production.
It marks the first time since 1960 that both guilds have been on strike simultaneously. The economic impact has been especially heightened in California, where film and television production accounts for more than 700,000 jobs and nearly $70 billion a year in wages, according to the California Film Commission.
- Impact of Hollywood strikes being felt across the pond
"We are really fighting for the rights of the people who are working and living in the city," Burbank Mayor Konstantine Anthony told CBS News. "And that's really who I represent. I didn't get voted in by studios."
Anthony is also an actor along with being mayor of Burbank, which is home to several studios, including Disney and Warner Bros.
"If people aren't coming to work, if people are on strike, they're not spending money at their local grocery store," Anthony said. "All of those secondary industries are greatly affected by the loss of that income."
That includes Alex Uceda's catering company, which feeds Hollywood production crews.
"At the end of last year, we were working like 10, 11 jobs every day," Uceda said. "It drops to maybe one or two jobs now."
Uceda, who estimates he has lost about 70% of his business in that time, has had to lay off nearly half his employees since the WGA strike began.
Several big stars — including the likes of Oprah, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep and Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson — have each made donations of $1 million or more to the SAG-AFTRA's financial assistance program.
"I beg all the people from the studio, please, please make it happen, you know, for the good of everyone," Uceda said.
Both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are negotiating separately with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the group that represents all the major Hollywood studios. Among the most hotly-contested issues for both groups are residuals from streaming services and the use of artificial intelligence.
Earlier this week, the WGA informed its members that Carol Lombardini, AMPTP president, had reached out and "requested" Friday's meeting "to discuss negotiations."
"I think it's hopeful, because it's been crickets, it's been silent for a long time," SAG-AFTRA member Chad Coe told CBS News of Friday's meeting.
Paramount Pictures, one of the studios involved in the negotiations, and CBS News are both part of Paramount Global. Some CBS News staff are SAG-AFTRA or Writers Guild members, but their contracts are not affected by the strikes.
- In:
- Hollywood
- Economy
- Writers Guild of America
- Screen Actors Guild
- Strike
- California
Jonathan Vigliotti is a CBS News correspondent based in Los Angeles. He previously served as a foreign correspondent for the network's London bureau.
TwitterveryGood! (59223)
Related
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- Congress honors 13 troops killed during Kabul withdrawal as politics swirl around who is to blame
- James Earl Jones remembered by 'Star Wars' co-star Mark Hamill, George Lucas, more
- iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, Airpods: What's rumored for 2024 Apple event Monday
- Former longtime South Carolina congressman John Spratt dies at 82
- It's the craziest thing that's ever happened to me. Watch unbelievable return of decade-lost cat
- Why Jenn Tran Thinks Devin Strader Was a “Bit of a Jackass Amid Maria Georgas Drama
- Black Eyed Peas to debut AI member inspired by 'empress' Taylor Swift at Vegas residency
- Arkansas State Police probe death of woman found after officer
- The Latest: Trump and Harris are set to debate in Philadelphia
Ranking
- Backstage at New York's Jingle Ball with Jimmy Fallon, 'Queer Eye' and Meghan Trainor
- ‘Appalling Figures’: At Least Three Environmental Defenders Killed Per Week in 2023
- Dolphins' Tyreek Hill being detained serves as painful reminder it could have been worse
- Alanis Morissette, Nia Long, Kyrie Irving celebrate 20 years of 3.1 Phillip Lim at NYFW
- Appeals court scraps Nasdaq boardroom diversity rules in latest DEI setback
- When does 'The Voice' start? Season 26 date, time and Snoop Dogg's coaching debut
- Mark Hamill, LeVar Burton and more mourn James Earl Jones
- Kentucky shooting suspect faces 5 counts of attempted murder; search intensifies
Recommendation
Who are the most valuable sports franchises? Forbes releases new list of top 50 teams
MTV VMAs: Riskiest Fashion Moments of All Time
Why Gabrielle Union Thinks She and Dwyane Wade Should Be Posting Farts After 10 Years of Marriage
Diddy ordered to pay $100M in default judgment for alleged sexual assault
FACT FOCUS: Inspector general’s Jan. 6 report misrepresented as proof of FBI setup
15-year-old North Dakota runaway shot, killed in Las Vegas while suspect FaceTimed girl
Southwest Airlines under pressure from a big shareholder shakes up its board
Jon Snow's sword, Jaime Lannister's golden hand among 'Game of Thrones' items up for grabs