In the absence of an agreement with the studios, the actors could join the writers' strike in Hollywood

“Everyone should be paid for their work.” Sequined dress, brushed hair and lipstick, Amanda Seyfriend supported striking screenwriters from the Met Gala red carpet on May 2. The interpreter of Elizabeth Holmes in the series Theranos, said without filter his consideration for this underpaid profession in Hollywood. A month and a half later, Hollywood was bogged down in a strike launched by the East Coast and West Coast Writers Guild of America, the two main screenwriters' unions. The conflict is likely to extend today to the actors.

More and more actors are supporting the strike, including Colin Farrell, Sean Penn, Elizabeth Olsen, Brian Cox and even the Cannes Film Festival jury. The Screen Actors Guild (SGA-AFTRA), a union which represents 160,000 actors, consulted its members on June 5 and 98% of them declared themselves in favor of the strike.

Union president Fran Drescher initiated hostilities. This “authorization to strike” (which is not a call for a strike) is a “message of strength and solidarity” vis-à-vis the screenwriters, she explains in a press release released last week. The strike even seems necessary for Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union's chief negotiator, as the profession and its issues are changing rapidly. “As we enter what could be one of the most important negotiations in the history of the union, inflation, dwindling residuals due to streaming and Generative Artificial Intelligence threaten the ability of players to earn a living if our contracts are not adapted to reflect the new realities”, he judges in the same press release.

The negotiations between the unions of the studios (the AMPTP) and those of the actors, began Wednesday, June 7. The Screen Actors Guild has demands substantially similar to those of screenwriters: better remuneration and a fairer sharing of profits with studios, especially those of streaming.

In the absence of an agreement, the profession could go on strike. If it were still possible for certain productions to continue filming – a strategy adopted by the series The Rings of Power for its second season in production – a strike by the actors would sign the cessation of productions. The actors' three-year contract will expire on June 30. If no solution is found by then, the participation of actors in the social movement will be inevitable.

The hypothesis of a strike is all the more likely since the screenwriters' union, already around the negotiating table, has no intention of putting an end to the social movement. “We are still as far from the mark,” said screenwriter Greg Iwinski after the first proposals from the studios, deemed too unambitious. “People are worried. Many believe that the strike will continue until the end of the year,” producer Ted Hope, who has been working since the 1980s, told The Hollywood Reporter.

The screenwriters deplore the lack of consideration of the studios for their profession, and the poor remuneration that goes with it. Over the past ten years, it is estimated that their salaries have fallen on average by 4%, while studio profits have increased by 39% over the same period, thanks in particular to the rise of streaming. The profession also deplores ever more precarious working conditions. According to the union, the profession has become almost "totally freelance", with the explosion of mini-series and the reduction in the number of long productions, such as Games of Thrones or Grey's Anatomy.

The only glimmer for studios is that directors shouldn't take part in the social movement. Their union has just obtained a salary increase of 0.5%, an extension of filming periods and the supervision of the use of artificial intelligence. They should also get a percentage of streaming revenue.

Hollywood had not known such a strike movement since that of 2007-2008, which was spread over a hundred days and had completely paralyzed Hollywood. Losses for the sector had been estimated at $2.1 billion. A colossal figure, which could be even more important today, with the introduction of streaming in the sources of income of the studios. In the meantime, dozens of highly anticipated blockbusters remain on hold – Stranger Things, The Last of Us, Emily in Paris – with no prospect of filming resuming.