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It is the 99th day of the Hollywood strike and small clusters of picketers are scattered along a busy stretch of road outside Universal Studios. The sun is blazing and everyone seems to be moving slowly except for a woman in dark sunglasses and a union T-shirt, who is dancing and whooping at passing cars. Some honk back at her in solidarity. Universal has been a hardship assignment for strikers. While the scene outside Netflix and Disney has been vibrant — especially so since members of the actors’ union joined the picket lines back in July — the marchers at Universal have had the air of the harassed.
The studio trimmed rows of ficus trees along one strike route, depriving the picketers of shade. At another studio entrance, sidewalks were walled off for construction work. Union members called this “strikebreaking”. Universal says the timing of the pruning and construction were coincidental, adding that it supports the unions’ “right to demonstrate” on its property. The unions pushed back in a massive show of strength, with at least 1,200 strikers flooding the streets outside the studio on August 4, but since then the small-scale pickets have returned, a reflection of the continued obstacles for the marchers.
“We’ve been experiencing real strikebreaking activity from Universal since probably day four, day five. I mean, the trees, the elimination of the sidewalks, excessive parking enforcement,” says Cheech Manohar, a writer and actor who is working as a strike captain. Despite the hassle, he seems to be taking it in his stride. Before moving to Los Angeles two years ago, Manohar was acting on Broadway in the musical production of Mean Girls. Then he landed a coveted spot on a television writers’ programme at Warner Bros, which led to a writing job on an HBO show.
Like others on the line, Manohar believes these historic strikes — this is the first joint work stoppage by actors and writers since 1960, when Ronald Reagan was head of the Screen Actors Guild — are essential to the survival of a way of life in Hollywood. “No one pursues a career in Hollywood thinking that it’s going to be smooth sailing,” he says. “But if action isn’t taken now, it won’t be a difficult career, it will be an impossible career. This is a really calculated ambush [by streamers and studios] against the lower- and middle-class writers.”
Along with other Hollywood writers, Manohar believes that the economics of the streaming revolution ignited by Netflix in 2007 has gutted the profession. Top writers and showrunners earn big paydays, but others are left earning far less. Weekly pay for writer/producers has fallen by 23 per cent when adjusted for inflation over the past decade even as studio profits have swelled, according to data from the Writers Guild of America. The majority of actors, meanwhile, earn less than $27,000 a year.
The drop in pay for writers is in part because seasons on streaming platforms are much shorter than in the days of traditional TV. There were also healthy royalties back then. Writers are fighting to get them back.
The old TV model meant Hollywood writers could make a good living in LA, maybe even a great living. But young writers and actors say they can barely afford to live there now. “I think a lot of people are very confused when they see A-list celebrities talking on the picket because they think, ‘Oh, millionaires on strike,’” Manohar says. “But, in fact, the strike isn’t for those people. It’s for the vast, vast majority that are struggling to even start their careers because the game is stacked against them right now.”
Soon, he and the others begin to pack up before the heat becomes too unbearable. But the strikes never really end for the day. I leave the Universal lot, and head back towards home. My wife and I bump into some neighbours who are sitting at an outdoor restaurant, drinking wine after a meeting with their fellow Writers Guild members. They are both still wearing their union T-shirts. Even after three months of the strike, they are optimistic that their perseverance will pay off.
That evening we are off to a movie screening in Hollywood. Our Uber driver is, of course, a striking Writers Guild member. He was working on a TV series that had just been picked up for a third season when the strike was called. Driving has always been there to help him make ends meet during his decade or so as a writer. Like the others I’ve spoken to, he thinks the strike will pay off for writers like him who want to be able to work at their craft full-time. He says the post-picket meetings in West Hollywood bars have made him feel part of a bigger community of writers.
In an industry that is still feeling the effects of one big disruption — streaming — and soon to be buffeted by another — AI — it is hard to say if the writers’ hopefulness is warranted. Yet it is clear that there is an energised new generation in Hollywood that is determined to push back against a system that they think no longer works. As I write, there is a whiff of optimism in the air as the writers’ union considers an offer from the studios, after agreeing to speak for the second week in a row. The tone is far less hostile than it has been in months. But whatever they achieve, the writers believe they have forged a bond in the creative community that wasn’t there before.
“One of the big silver linings to come out of this is that you realise just how tight knit the writing community is,” strike captain Manohar says. “And so the days on the line are hard, bodies are sore, but spirits are high.”
Christopher Grimes is the FT’s Los Angeles bureau chief
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