NY.- American actors and screenwriters on strike to force an improvement in their working conditions, they cried out on Tuesday against the “corporate greed” of Hollywood producers in a legislative session in New York City, where symbolic support for their unions was approved.
Leaders and representatives of the Actors Union (SAG-AFTRA) participated in the session and the Writers Guild of the United States (WGA), who have been in a historic joint strike for weeks after neither managed to renew their collective agreements with the Alliance of Film and Television Producers (AMPTP).
New York, one of the world capitals of film and television, is suffering due to that work stoppage, since the sector generates some 81,000 million dollars, according to a 2021 Mayor’s study cited in the event. However, most of the 185,000 jobs it provides are very low-income.
Nearly a dozen workers from both groups offered testimonies about the precariousness they face in a multimillion-dollar profit sector revolutionized in the last decade by streaming content and generative artificial intelligence, changes that they consider threats.
They were led by the actress Fran Drescher, national president of SAG-AFTRA, who led a demonstration and in the room lamented that show business, so “idealized” in the history of cinema, has become a “business without a soul, of greed and lack of respect for the artist”, for which he blamed the AMPTP.
“The AMPTP has changed the business model so radically that we demand a new contract structure: we cannot survive with the old residual model,” he said, about the compensation artists receive every time a streaming service sells the rights. from a production to a new market.
The example of that problem was given by two actresses: one was featured in projects for HBO and Netflix and said that in a film seen by 2.2 million people her residual income was $200, and another was featured as a child in an old Hollywood movie. Disney and ensured that no one in the children’s cast ever charged in that concept.
“AMPTP’s manic corporate culture of greed must stop. The benefits of the sector and doing things well for the workers do not have to be mutually exclusive, but can go hand in hand as we define what the new meaning of success is,” said Drescher, who called the strike 18 days ago.
Regarding the scriptwriters, Erica Sala, a television scriptwriter, told with a tired face and dark circles under her eyes after 91 days on strike how the changes in the sector make it increasingly difficult to “lead a middle-class life”, especially when the studios They “find ways to pay less” and downsize.
“We are fighting for better wages, but also for the mere survival of our industry,” declared the young woman, who lashed out at Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav and other big producers who do not take their demands “seriously,” and to the once asked them to return to the negotiating table.
The legislators who chaired the session of the Civil Service and Employment Committee, Carmen de la Rosa and Amanda Farias, successfully voted on two resolutions that mainly expressed support for the actors and scriptwriters in their negotiations with the AMPTP for fair agreements.
Just today, New York State Auditor Thomas DiNapoli sent letters to Hollywood producers – including Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Warner Bros. – encouraging them to settle with the unions over the risks to those accounts. companies and, therefore, for the local economy, according to local media.
