Actor Karen Brown walks the picket line with fellow SAG-AFTRA actors and Writers Guild of America writers in front of Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, July 17, 2023.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Hollywood’s labor pool is taking a success because the dual strikes by actors and writers drag on.
The film, TV and music sectors shed a combined 17,000 jobs in August, “reflecting strike activity,” the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday morning.
In contrast, the U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs in the course of the month, spurred by growth within the health care, leisure and construction industries. It topped the 170,000 jobs forecast, in response to Dow Jones.
The job losses for the movie and sound recording industries underscore one effect of the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRAÂ strikes, which began in May and mid-July, respectively. Within the months since, several notable movies and shows halted or wrapped production early.
Hollywood’s massive work stoppage has also had a widespread effect on other sectors reminiscent of hospitality and real estate, costing California’s overall economy an estimated $3 billion thus far. Hollywood’s striking writers and actors are negotiating with legacy studios for higher pay as streaming and the specter of artificial intelligence affect their compensation.
Last month, writers’ union WGA said it received a recent proposal from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the body representing major studios reminiscent of Netflix, Disney and Amazon, to resume talks.
It got here after weeks of stalemate and slow progress.
