NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) –– The Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists strike is hitting home as New Orleans sees film and television productions come to a complete halt.
More than 2,000 union members make up the New Orleans film and television production workforce. Caroll Morton with Film New Orleans says we normally have 15 to 20 productions at a time, which keeps our six studios 100% booked, but with residual fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, production slowed.
“In 2021, we did $1,000,000,000 in the New Orleans region of film production. Last year we did a little bit under 900 million,” Morton said. Only one production was left before the strike, but now that number is down to zero.
At the forefront of this strike is a lack of residual payments, self-tape auditions, and the threat of AI undercutting job opportunities. SAG-AFTRA representatives say the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, representing major studios and streamers, was unwilling to make a fair deal, leading to the first strike alongside the WGA since the 60s.
The media outlet, Deadline, reported studio executives allegedly taking “a cruel but necessary” approach, with one executive saying, “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.” The AMPTP has publicly denied those claims.
Disney CEO, Bob Iger, called the strike “disturbing” as studios are also trying to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, those on the picket line pointed out Iger’s salary nearly doubled from 2020 to 2021, while their pay went relatively unchanged.
In the news conference announcing the strike, SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said this fight will not only affect people working in film and TV. “What’s happening to us is happening across all fields of labor by means of when employers make Wall Street and greed their priority and they forget about the essential oil contributors that make the machine run. We have a problem, and we are experiencing that right at this moment,” said Drescher.
Although out of work, the trade unions often have strike funds to keep them afloat in times like this, so they’re counting on outlasting the studios and reaching a fair deal.
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