Dramatically escalating a bitter labor battle that has already brought Hollywood to a virtual standstill, thousands of striking film and television actors took to the streets on Friday to fight for better pay and job protections in an industry that has been upended by the rise of streaming.
On picket lines outside more than a dozen studios and production facilities in Los Angeles and New York, including the Warner Bros., Disney and Sony lots as well as the headquarters of Netflix and Amazon Studios, actors held aloft signs and chanted in unison alongside Writers Guild of America members who walked off the job in May.
As temperatures rose throughout the morning in Los Angeles, so did the number of picketers from SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union.
Sonja Roden, 50, who has appeared as a background actor on shows such as "Westworld" and "Castle," was among those who gathered outside the Disney lot in Burbank. While the union's starry A-listers often grab the spotlight, Roden stressed that the majority of her fellow SAG-AFTRA members are just trying to make a living wage.
"A lot of people don't realize that the people who make the millions are a very small percentage of the actors in the industry," she said. "The rest of us are literally living paycheck to paycheck. And we need to be paid fairly. We're working sometimes 10- to 16-hour days and barely making minimum wage."
The SAG-AFTRA work stoppage began at midnight after weeks of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the major studios and streamers, failed to yield an agreement on a new contract.
The labor action marks the first time actors have gone on strike against the film and television studios in 43 years. The industry has not seen a joint strike by actors and writers since 1960, when Ronald Reagan was leading the Screen Actors Guild and a different disruptive technology — television — was at the heart of the dispute. (SAG merged with AFTRA in 2012.)
The protests represent a show of strength on behalf of SAG-AFTRA's 160,000 members, 98% of whom voted in June in favor of a strike authorization, as they push the AMPTP to address what they describe as the erosion of their livelihoods caused by Hollywood's shift toward streaming.
Like writers, actors have seen their pay decrease due to shrinking residuals, shorter TV seasons and longer hiatuses. Actors also have raised concerns about the prospect of studios and streamers using their likenesses without their consent thanks to rapid advances in AI.
Studios and streamers have countered that they are facing their own financial headwinds, as the film business struggles to return to its pre-pandemic health and TV viewers continue to drift away from network and cable programming toward streaming and other digital distractions, shrinking profit margins, dampening share prices and forcing widespread layoffs.
In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger called the actors' demands unrealistic and ill-timed. "We've talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges that we're facing and the recovery from COVID — which is ongoing, it's not completely back," Iger said. "This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption."
In a statement released Thursday, the AMPTP touted the offer the group had made to actors, including what it said was the highest percentage increase in pay minimums in 35 years and a "groundbreaking" proposal for AI protections. "A strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring our TV shows and films to life," the AMPTP said. "The Union has regrettably chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the industry."
Picketing outside Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, Brian Konowal, who has been a character actor for 30 years and currently has a recurring role on the Paramount+ Western series "1923," said the shift to a streaming business model has hurt performers like him.
"There are shows that are streaming globally 24 hours a day and no one wants to reveal the metrics and compensate people for what they're worth, whether they're actors or writers," Konowal said. "There's just a big squeeze on the middle. Whether you are a guest actor or give five lines, we're all supporting the bigger actors, and it's just gotten harder and harder."
In a press conference on Thursday announcing the strike, SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher delivered a fiery speech that channeled such frustrations, shaking her fist as she blasted what she regards as the greed of the studios and streamers. "I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us," Drescher said. "It is disgusting. Shame on them."
Actor Brian D. Mason, 38, who recently appeared on an episode of the Amazon series "Bosch," said hearing Drescher's speech compelled him to come out.
"It made me emotional — it was so passionate and so real, " said Mason, who joined the Sony picket. "There's been so much happening in the past few years. It's easy to remove yourself from the hard issues, but they're here and it's not going to change unless we do something and take a stand. Artists need to be paid. We need to be appreciated."
Thomas Ryan Best, 46, who has worked as a background actor on the HBO comedy "Barry," said he was worried about studios scanning actors' faces in order to use their likenesses in perpetuity with AI.
"I saw that happening on sets two to three years ago," Best said. "I never did it. I always shrink away whenever a [production assistant] or someone tried to grab me for that, but there's only so much you can do as a person with no pull."
With production on the vast majority of scripted content now halted, a protracted shutdown is certain to cause further economic pain throughout the industry and the wider Los Angeles economy, hurting not only those who work directly in film and TV but also the many others who help service the entertainment industry, including drivers, dry cleaners and caterers.
Konowal said he understands such financial hardship well because he already sees it all around him in his peers in the acting community. "I know lots of people who moved out of L.A. because they just can't make it work," he said. "I'm not asking anyone to feel sorry for me for the life chosen. But I joke that I work awfully hard not to work."
(Los Angeles Times staff writers Stacy Perman, Anousha Sakoui, Jonah Valdez, Yvonne Villarreal and Jen Yamato contributed to this report.)
