Posts tagged Hollywood
Editorial: Against the Hollywood bailout
October 1, 2026 // The greatest job decline after Covid was in 2023, before Hollywood’s chief competitor, the U.K., expanded its film subsidies. That was the year of the industry’s “double strike,” when actors and writers simultaneously walked off studio lots for months. Hundreds of projects were delayed or outright canceled as filming rolled to a halt, costing the entertainment industry billions of dollars. When studios finally signed contracts to end the strikes, they had to accept unions’ core demands, ballooning their compensation in perpetuity. Is it any wonder they have looked to film elsewhere? The proposed federal tax credit would bail out the union workers who bargained for more than they were worth. It would subsidize almost all labor costs — for employees and contractors, both pre-production and post-production — of film crews, animators, special-effects artists, writers, actors, and even producers and directors. There are no limits on eligible compensation, so taxpayers would pick up a good chunk of the salaries of Christopher Nolan and Tom Cruise.
Hollywood unions split: DGA, IATSE seek settlement while WGA fights to block Paramount-Warner merger
August 17, 2026 // Citing Hollywood’s already struggling production economy, two influential industry unions have jointly called on Paramount Skydance Chairman David Ellison and California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta to settle their antitrust fight. The Directors Guild of America and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees — which represent a combined 200,000 union members — are turning up the political pressure to resolve the clash over the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, which has already carved deep divisions throughout the industry.
SAG-AFTRA Comes Out Against Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger
July 30, 2026 // SAG-AFTRA is the third major entertainment union to go public with its resistance to the deal, with the Writers Guild of America long being vociferously opposed and on July 14 filing a lawsuit to block the merger. Earlier this year, the Teamsters also slammed the deal, urging the Department of Justice to block the transaction (which the department of course did not, ultimately, do) unless worker protections were put in place.
AFL-CIO president aims to unionize 2 million workers in 5 years
June 9, 2026 // To get there, Shuler said the labor movement would turn out an additional 2 million voters to the polls this November along with 50,000 "trained election protectors." Shuler was addressing a crowd of hundreds of union members on the first day of the labor federation's national convention in downtown Minneapolis. The convention, which happens every four years, brings together representatives from 65 unions covering all sectors of the American economy, from Hollywood actors to Pittsburgh steelworkers.
CA Post Editorial Board: ‘Unite Here’ needs to unite, here, to make World Cup a success
June 8, 2026 // The union, which spent piles of cash on the recent primary elections, wants to exploit the World Cup to flex its political muscle. It’s top demand has nothing to do with its contract with the stadium, or with FIFA, but is rather just a complaint about immigration enforcement. The union wants employees to be able to walk off the job if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is operating at the venue. That’s an insane demand. Essentially, the union wants illegal immigrants to be able to work at SoFi — jobs Americans, want and deserve. The unions also wants its members to be able to skip work virtually at will, whenever they decide that ICE is some kind of threat.
Hollywood unions, workers push back against Paramount-Skydance deal
June 8, 2026 // The event, held at Lumiere Music Hall, marked the first stop of a three-city "Main Street vs. The Merger" campaign organized by advocacy groups, industry workers, and the Writers Guild of America.
Op-ed: George F. Will: It’s graduation time for disappointed little Lenins
May 11, 2026 // Disgruntled Starbucks workers embraced the United Auto Workers union, which they soon despised as too tepid about rectifying all injustices everywhere. Scheiber says the UAW now represents “roughly 100,000 higher-education workers” — graduate students and non-tenure-track faculty. Their numbers and grievances are growing faster than those of autoworkers. Many Starbucks workers agitating for unionization were berating the company for an inadequate commitment to LGBTQ rights. Then, on Oct. 7, 2023, they fell in love with Hamas. One organizer wore a sweatshirt emblazoned with a portrait of Karl Marx. An Apple store employee, who blamed her declining mental health on “the job” and “the stress of unionizing,” became, Scheiber writes, so “desperate” she sold her two $150 tickets to a Beyoncé concert. An employee at a Baltimore-area Apple store: “I had to get rid of Hulu” (a subscription-streaming service).
Writers Guild West Staffers to Lose Health Coverage Soon Amid Strike
April 1, 2026 // WGA West staffers can be covered by the Producer-Writers Guild of America (PWGA) Health Plan, the same plan that is offered to the Hollywood union’s members. Staffers accrue coverage on a month-to-month basis as long as they work 31 hours per week the previous month. Staffers unionized with the Writers Guild Staff Union (WGSU), who have been out on strike since Feb. 17, say they learned on Tuesday that they will lose eligibility starting Wednesday.
Why SAG-AFTRA’s 2026 Contract Talks Matter for Los Angeles and the Business of Hollywood
January 29, 2026 // Artificial intelligence looms as perhaps the most complex issue on the table. Advances in voice replication, digital doubles and performance synthesis have raised concerns that actors’ likenesses could be reused without meaningful consent or compensation. Astin characterized AI as an immediate labor issue rather than a speculative one, particularly in a market like Los Angeles, where background performers, day players and voice actors form a large part of the workforce.
Hollywood Guilds Make Historic Push to Unionize YouTube Content Studio Theorist Media (Exclusive)
November 17, 2025 // A new organizing drive from the Motion Picture Editors Guild and the Writers Guild of America West strives to make inroads in the exploding creator economy. The labor groups are attempting to unionize Theorist Media, the digital media production company behind popular YouTube channels like The Game Theorists, The Food Theorists, The Film Theorists and others, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.