Hollywood grinds to a halt on first full day of joint actors’ and writers’ strikes

The Sag-Aftra president, Fran Drescher. Actors and writers began picketing outside four locations in New York and eight in Los Angeles. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA

The first full day of a strike by Sag-Aftra had an immediate effect on Hollywood, as the industry ground to a halt over a contract with producers that would cover such wide-ranging issues as compensation and the future of AI in film and television.

Whereas the writers’ strike, which has seen the guild’s nearly 20,000 members out of work since early May, promptly shuttered late-night variety programs and writers’ rooms and delayed release dates for many film and TV shows, a simultaneous strike by Sag-Aftra’s 160,000 members has the potential to bring Hollywood to a full standstill.