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Acteursstaking infographic
Graphic shows issues in Hollywood actors strike.
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Acteursstaking Hollywood

By Duncan Mil

July 14, 2023 - Hollywood actors have joined a strike by screenwriters in the industry’s most extensive shutdown in 63 years, demanding a fairer split of profits and protection from artificial intelligence (AI).

The twin strikes will add to the economic damage from the writers’ walkout that started May 2, delivering another blow to the $134 billion U.S. movie and television business. Hollywood has not faced two simultaneous strikes since 1960

Both SAG-AFTRA -- Hollywood’s actors’ union, representing 160,000 film and television actors -- and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are demanding increases in base pay and residuals from streaming television, plus assurances that AI will not replace their work.

The strike by roughly 11,500 WGA members has sent late-night television talk shows into endless reruns, disrupted most TV production and halted work on big-budget movies.

Both unions are in dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Fran Drescher, former star of The Nanny and the president of SAG-AFTRA, said AMPTP’s responses to the actors’ concerns had been “insulting and disrespectful.”

“We are the victims here,” Drescher said at a press conference on Thursday. “We are being victimized by a very greedy entity.”

Hollywood studios have seen their share prices nose-dive and their profit margins shrink as viewership for cable and network television and box office returns have collapsed in the wake of the explosive growth of streaming entertainment.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 14/07/2023; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Getty Images, Universal Pictures
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