How Striking Hollywood Creators and Hotel Housekeepers Face the Same Obstacles

WGA members march in solidarity with striking hotel workers outside the Ritz-Carlton hotel in L.A. on July 3. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images.

The words that set Hollywood on its ear earlier this month weren’t from a script. Instead, they came from unidentified studio executives, who clearly laid out their plan for dealing with the more than 11,000 striking members of the Writers Guild of America.

“The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,” one executive told the news site Deadline. Added another, “It’s been agreed to for months, even before the WGA went out.” A third industry source called the tactic “a cruel but necessary evil.”