- The Hollywood writers' strike got a boost when actors joined the picket lines in July.
- Writers and actors have had contentious negotiations with streamers and studios over issues like wages and AI.
Hollywood has been ground to a virtual halt by simultaneous actors' and writers' strikes, marking the first time in more than 60 years that both guilds have organized a labor action against the studios.
On May 2, the Writers Guild of America and its more than 10,000 scribes called a strike after failing to reach an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the trade association that represents Hollywood companies like streamers, networks, and studios.
In July, after a month of its own negotiations with the AMPTP, SAG-AFTRA also called a strike, resulting in its more than 160,000 members withholding their labor from the Hollywood companies, too. A state of near-paralysis has taken hold in the entertainment industry this summer, with no clear end in sight.
Late night television shows went dark immediately after the writers hit the picket lines, and countless more shows, films, and other projects have been shut down or closed their doors in solidarity with members of both striking unions. Meanwhile, thousands of writers and actors have turned out into the streets of Los Angeles and New York City to demand better protections from the studios around issues like wages, staffing, and the rise of artificial intelligence.
One glaring example of the dual strikes' impact is the dearth of stars and writers at the major fall film festivals, which set the stage for the Academy Awards race. That's because both unions' rules prohibit members from campaigning on behalf of new projects, though projects made by companies that aren't part of the AMPTP are excepted.
"I'm proud to be here, to be a visual representation of a movie that's not part of the AMPTP," Adam Driver, the star of Michael Mann's "Ferrari," said in August at the Venice Film Festival.
Consumers haven't noticed big changes on their screens since the studios and streamers had banked some fresh content, but that will change as the broadcast fall TV season kicks off with a reality-packed schedule — and without new episodes of popular shows like "Abbott Elementary."
And public sentiment appears to be building on the side of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA. Seventy-two percent of Americans sympathize more with writers than with the AMPTP companies, according to an August Gallup poll, which also found that 67% of Americans sympathize with the actors over the studios.
Insider has been covering the major developments in the course of this game-changing story for Hollywood. Here's a look at what's driving the strikes, and how they could leave a lasting mark on the entertainment business.
Why are Hollywood writers and actors on strike?
SAG-AFTRA and the WGA are striking over a variety of issues — some separate, some shared — but both groups are demanding changes in compensation and protection against the encroachment of AI on their crafts.
Writers are also looking for minimum staffing requirements for writers rooms on series, while actors want to change the rules around self-taped auditions.
Driving both groups' demands are the changes to the entertainment industry ushered in by the streaming revolution: Shorter TV seasons, fewer and smaller residual payments, and other structural shifts that have made it hard for working actors and writers to make a living.
"You have to wake up and smell the coffee," Fran Drescher, SAG-AFTRA's president, said of the studios in July as the actors announced their strike. "We demand respect and to be honored for our contribution."
The threat of generative AI is an issue of paramount importance.
Writers worry that AI could supplant their role in generating new scripts. Actors fear that it could digitally replicate their likenesses and drive some groups, like background actors, into obsolescence — a notion the studios have denied.
Read more about the issues and demands driving the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes:
- Why Netflix, Max, and Paramount+ series stars are bringing their 'war' over pay and AI to Hollywood companies
- Hollywood writers outlined their primary reasons for striking and vowed to keep striking for "as long as it takes."
- Writers behind the Paramount+ series "iCarly" told Insider why they were heading to the picket lines, with showrunner Ali Schouten decrying Hollywood studios' "corporate greed."
- A writers' strike is bearing down on Hollywood. Here's how Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, and other streamers are armed for a work stoppage.
- At the heart of both strikes are the same fears underpinning change in almost every other industry: the unstoppable incursion of AI into our workplaces, including Hollywood.
When will the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes end?
Labor Day has come and gone without any significant progress in talks between the two camps. The writers' walkout has now outlasted the the previous the 100-day WGA strike of 2007-8, which cost the California economy roughly $2 billion. In early August, one expert estimated the toll of this year's dual strikes at $3 billion for the state.
A controversial story published in July by the trade publication Deadline, based on unnamed sources, suggested that the studios were planning to stall as long as possible. "The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses," an anonymous "studio executive" told the outlet.
In a statement to Insider following the Deadline article, an AMPTP spokesperson insisted that's inaccurate. "These unnamed people are not speaking on behalf of our companies who are committed to reaching a deal and getting our industry back to work," the spokesperson said.
But for many writers and actors the comments became something of a rallying cry. Likewise, when Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC in July that the guilds' demands were not "realistic," Drescher and others criticized him — and by extension, his fellow studio heads — as out of touch. Iger walked back some of his comments on Disney's August earnings call, but damage was done.
Hopes were raised later in August when Iger — together with Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairman Donna Langley, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav — sat down with WGA negotiators. But after the meeting yielded no progress, the AMPTP released the terms of its most recent offer, which the WGA called "neither nothing, nor nearly enough."
Read more about why the strike could go on and how it could end:
- Actors told Insider they're battle-ready and will outlast the studios that are 'trying to kill our industry.'
- Actors and writers are encouraging people to help by donating to their emergency funds. Here's how you can show SAG-AFTRA and WGA members that you support them as they hold the line.
- Every Hollywood company is having a terrible summer except Netflix, whose global content machine will help it ride out the actors' strike: 'They just aren't worried.'
What shows are canceled and how are the networks and streamers affected?
An overwhelming number of productions have closed up shop during the strikes, and stalwarts of network TV, like late-night comedy shows, have also gone dark.
But viewers may wonder why they still saw new shows debut on networks and streamers this summer. Films and series are produced months — and sometimes years — before they make their way to audiences, and Hollywood anticipated possible strikes, with distributors stockpiling months' worth of programming to stave off a content drought and retain viewers. Their stores of new content won't last forever, but the studios and streamers hope they've banked enough material to minimize disruption for consumers.
Unscripted programming — think game shows, dating competitions, singing and talent showdowns, and popular franchises like "The Real Housewives" or "The Kardashians — is an area poised to boom.
Reality TV doesn't rely on union members to produce, which is why this format also thrived during the last writers' strike. This time, a number of companies look set up to exploit the unscripted gold rush.
Read more about how Hollywood companies prepared for the strikes:
- Check out some of the nearly two dozen reality reality TV companies — that have produced shows like "The Kardashians" and "Queer Eye" — which stand to benefit from a boom in unscripted content
- Why Apple TV+ could be hit harder than Netflix, Disney+, and other streamers by the writers' strike
- How Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, and other streamers are armed for the writers' work stoppage
- Sure, if the studios' stockpile of content runs dry while the strikes are on, we may have less to watch for a while. But Insider's Chris Johnston lays out why this could be a golden opportunity to catch up on hits from recent years that you might have missed.
Getting a job in Hollywood right now: Is anyone still hiring?
Even though the companies say they are prepped for a long haul, the strikes come as they're facing a multitude of challenges. By midway through the year, entertainment companies had slashed more than 15,000 jobs, the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas told Insider. In August alone, 17,000 jobs were lost in the motion picture and sound recording industry, "reflecing strike activity," according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For many jobseekers, Hollywood is really starting to feel like a desert.
Hiring for creative roles is broadly on hiatus with so many productions shut down. Employees in all capacities of development and production have been hit — not just writers, who are foregoing paychecks by striking, but also on-set workers of all stripes.
Hopefuls looking to break into the industry told Insider it feels impossible to get a job right now. One avenue for newcomers has been to try to carve out roles for themselves as social-media influencers, and studios are contracting young talent from platforms like Instagram and TikTok to shine a light on their content.
But influencers with aspirations to join the actors' union one day must tread carefully not to break its rules — and many high-profile figures in the creator economy have already said they won't do work for Hollywood's struck companies.
Read more about how the strikes have affected workers hoping to break into Hollywood:
- How the writers' strike is crushing Hollywood's next generation, as job-seekers face 'skyrocketing' debt, crumbling hope, and endless hours 'just doom-scrolling LinkedIn'
- An assistant at Netflix — who created a popular newsletter as a 'blueprint' for young people trying to break into Hollywood — outlined why many of her fellow assistants share the same fears as actors and writers.
- Even as studios tap influencers, the practice is raising questions about running afoul of the unions. Here's why influencers considering using the strikes as a stepping stone should seriously reflect on the bridges they might be burning.
- 'We are casualties of this': A film influencer with 470,000 TikTok followers on scrambling to take second jobs, making up for lost income, and facing online hate as Hollywood's strikes drag on
- A TikToker with 861,000 followers faced online backlash after attending a movie premiere early on in the actors' strike. Here's how he's pivoted his content and sponsorship strategies to make money.
Which companies are embracing AI in entertainment?
Even with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA fighting hard to stop the relentless march of tech and AI, it's unlikely these forces will disappear even when the strikes end and new deals are in place.
It seems far more likely that Hollywood companies will continue to embrace the efficiencies, cost-cutting opportunity, and storytelling potential of these tools.
As the space matures, companies are innovating new ways to automate famous actors' voices, digitally resurrect deceased talent, and even use algorithms to anticipate which movies will crush it at the box office — and which are just doomed to get crushed.
These pressures set the industry up for a long-term battle as a generations-old business model is remade by Wall Street and Big Tech.
Read more about how AI is disrupting entertainment and which companies are leading the way:
- AI is disrupting Hollywood, and one investor sees huge potential in startups harnessing data to identify valuable IP for TV and film.
- 11 startups developing AI to disrupt Hollywood and scoring hundreds of millions in VC and private equity funding
- We've gathered 18 pitch decks that have helped media and tech startups nab millions in funding to disrupt entertainment — check out how these companies are positioning themselves.
This article was originally published in July and has been updated.
Do you work in Hollywood? Are you a writer, actor, or professional at a network, streamer, or studio? Contact Insider's Hollywood reporters with your stories: Reed Alexander can be reached via email at ralexander@insider.com, and Lucia Moses can be reached at lmoses@insider.com.