Can the show go on?

Image by Hollywood Reporter

In a seismic event, both the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) have gone on strike. Together, the two unions have been the beating heart of the entertainment industry; however, their united front now signifies a boiling point against the rise of unhealthy dynamics from film and television production companies. Specifically, the issues of artificial intelligence and underfunding by streaming platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, have been contributing to the lack of opportunities and health necessities for entertainment workers. While the strike has been making significant progress raising awareness of the issue, the public should be fearful as studio executives assert that their “endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,” (Deadline 2023). It's disgusting to find such a callous attitude prevailing.

This situation is troubling for anyone who appreciates the entertainment industry… which would most likely be the majority of us. In my own belief, industry leaders should prioritize the well-being of the individuals who breathe life into it, especially for a profession built upon vulnerability and creative expression, such as film and television. As an artist, I understand that an environment of support and compassion is vital to creating one’s best art. However, the noncompliance to bargain with strikers until they lose their homes has proven the industry's focus of profit over art. In an interview with NME Magazine, an esteemed actor, Ron Pearlman, expounds “When you co-opt something that deals in beauty and the human experience like film and television does, like any of the fine arts do, but it’s being run by people who only care about one thing and that is money, it makes for some very strange bedfellows” (Warner 2023) In other words: How are actors and writers supposed to find security and fulfillment from their art when their creativity is reduced to a mere commodity?

The saddest part of the issue is this realization that film executives, who maintain power and control over the industry, focus on making their wallets thicker instead of producing meaningful art. Obviously, this has always been a problem for anyone working in film and television. I mean, how many actors and writers pursue the craft solely for the dream of being rich and famous? However, it's upon the backs of the people in charge to establish a foundation of real, purposeful storytelling that actors and writers can feed off of. In granting them this, mutual respect can be drawn between the work being done on all sides. Ron Perlman states “We must all try to understand you have your value in giving us the resources we need to make content, and we have our value as storytellers because of the effect we have on people when we tell our stories beautifully and properly” (Warner 2023).