For the first time in more than 60 years, both the Screen Actors Guild, also known as SAG-AFTRA, and the Writers Guild of America are on strike at the same time. The actors’ union is made up of more than 160,000 film and television actors, with nearly 4,000 in New England.
Both groups are fighting for better pay and improved working conditions, including agreements limiting how artificial intelligence will be used in the industry. Actors and writers say streaming has upended the industry, and many actors haven't gotten their fair share of its success.
“Our contracts have not kept up with technology at all,” said Jessica Marie Rockwood, a background actress who has worked in the New England area for more than two decades. “The same amount of work is being put in, but the compensation just hasn’t really kept up with the technology.”
Productions across the country, including here in Massachusetts, could be halted because of the strikes. Only non-union productions or those that receive waivers will be able to continue production.
Rockwood said that guild actors in New England have benefited in recent years from the Massachusetts film tax credit, which was created in 2006 and offers tax incentives for film productions to film in the state.
According to the Massachusetts Film Office, there are currently four productions underway in the commonwealth. At least two of those are not directly affected by the strikes: “ Urban Ed,” a non-union independent feature film produced by Emerson College faculty member Nerissa Williams Scott; and " Fakes," another non-union feature film scheduled to shoot this month. GBH News could not immediately confirm details about the two other productions currently in development, "The Greatest Ever" and "Blue Hawaii."
Guild actors will suffer without work during the strike, Rockwood said, but she supports the action because of its potential future impact.
“This is something we need to concentrate on now for a better future for our union,” she said.
In the short term, union actors may be able to turn to advertising commercials to support themselves during the strike, Rockwood said. Guild actors may also be able to find work on independent productions.
Rockwood hopes that both the actors’ and writers’ strikes lead to more pressure on studios to negotiate with their workers.
“At this point, you’re going to have all the actors unavailable, the writers unavailable, and then where do you go from there? We’re hoping it'll kind of push things in the right direction, if it does — amazing. If not, a lot of us are going to struggle, a lot of us are going to suffer,” she said.
Williams Scott, who is also the CEO and lead creative producer of That Child Got Talent Entertainment, based in Boston, agrees the actors and writers could have a difficult time during the strikes. She said numerous studios “have made mention that they are simply going to wait the actors and writers out. … Meaning once the union members have no more money, they [the studios] will get what they want. It’s really sad.”
Still, Williams Scott is hopeful that this could be a turning point for the industry.
“When artists stand together there is no telling what will happen. We as artists are a direct reflection of society,” she said.
