Actors, allies march through Hollywood as strike rolls on
As the writers and actors strike drags on, SAG-AFTRA hosted a solidarity march and rally in Hollywood that filled the street with striking workers on Wednesday.
The march began at 9 a.m. at Netflix, one of the companies receiving much of the blame for the conditions that led to the strike, and concluded with a rally outside Paramount Studios, the union said in a news release.
“Today we’re taking Hollywood, marching from Netflix (1456 N Van Ness) to Paramount (5433 Melrose)! Let’s show them the strength of performers!,” the union said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Writers Guild of America encouraged members to “Join our union siblings in @sagaftra as we march from @netflix to @paramountplus!,” the union said on X.
The WGA, which has been on strike for 134 days, and SAG-AFTRA, which has joined the picket lines for 61 days, have paralyzed much of the production of movies and television shows.
“Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner told KTLA that he was “surprised” at how long this strike has lasted and emphasized how hard the unions’ members are being hit by the lack of work.
“It’s really bad. It’s really hard after COVID. People are taking other kinds of jobs,” he said.
Actress Justine Bateman said she hopes some legacy studios will break off from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to make their own deals with the unions, allowing production on those projects to begin and putting people back to work.
“Right now, they’re negotiating in a way that you’d negotiate with somebody you don’t want on your film,” she said.
The unions’ actions have played a major role in what some are calling “hot labor summer,” which also has included strikes or the threat of strikes by nurses, Los Angeles city workers, hotel workers and UPS employees.
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