Hollywood actors expected to strike and join writers on picket lines

Hollywood is the destination for all American movies and television shows and is situated in California. Hollywood has many tourist attractions, including the “Walk of Fame” and the Hollywood Sign. The once small Tinsel town gained popularity such that the whole American Film industry became Hollywood.Daeida Wilcox gave Hollywood its name.

They were created there by the numerous filmmakers who moved their business from New York in search of a more consistent climate for round-the-year film shooting and, of course, to escape fees imposed by Tomas Edison, who owned many patents on the movie-making process.

Hollywood hasn’t faced two strikes at once since 1960. Tens of thousands of Hollywood actors are preparing to strike after last-ditch talks between their union and streaming giants broke down around a major deadline.It is expected to be a mega strike that could take down whole hollywood and the joint move would see almost all US film and TV productions grind to a halt.

The main reason is that American stars are demanding better pay and increased safeguarding around AI rights, leaving Hollywood facing a second industry walkout amid the ongoing writers’ strikes.

Actors’ trade union SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) – which represents 160,000 performers – said it voted unanimously to recommend a strike after talks with Hollywood studios failed to reach an agreement. A vote will take place later on Thursday.

From Thursday, its members are expected to join screenwriters on picket lines.

Writers have been striking for several months, outside the studios of major streamers including Disney, Netflix and Paramount, over pay and work conditions.

“We are not confident that the employers have any intention of bargaining toward an agreement,” the committee said after Wednesday’s midnight deadline passed.

The strike could also extend to the UK and other countries where members of the acting union are active on film sets.

It would also prevent A-listers from promoting some of the year’s biggest releases.

But top actors have already made it clear that they are willing to strike to support their colleagues. In June, a letter from A-listers including Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence urged the union not to settle for a mediocre deal.

The strike by roughly 11,500 writers has sent late-night television talk shows into endless reruns, disrupted most production for the fall TV season and halted work on big-budget movies.

A walkout by SAG-AFTRA would shut down the studios’ remaining US-based productions and put more pressure on media companies to find a resolution. You have to make $26,000 a year to qualify for your health insurance and there are a lot of people who get across that threshold through their residual payments, actor Matt Damon said at a promotional event held for the film “Oppenheimer” on Wednesday. There’s money being made and it needs to be allocated in a way that takes care of people who are on the margins.

The production studios and streaming giants say they have put offers of “historic pay increases” on the table. But the actors’ union strongly disagrees and as a result, film and TV production is about to come to a crushing halt. It will remain dormant until a deal is reached, but right now the two parties seem very far apart.

While the US actors’ strike would not directly affect those working on Equity contracts here in the UK, British performers who were members of SAG-AFTRA and working in the US would be drawn into any striking action.

Will the Hollywood stars protest and be able to fulfill their needs or will everything be resolved and the hollywood can be saved?