At least 160,000 film and television actors represented by Hollywood’s largest union, SAG-AFTRA went on strike on Friday, July 14, 2023.

The actors’ strike adds celebrity weight and shows solidarity with the 11,500 film and television writers represented by the Writers Guild of America who have been on strike since May 2, 2023.

Both unions are pushing for increases in pay, better residuals on streaming content, and assurances that studios will not replace their services and talents with AI creations in the future.

Picketing will take place outside eight major studios, including Amazon, Disney, Warner Bros., Netflix and Sony.

Major narrative films and serial television already in production will be shut down and significantly affected by the tandem strikes.

U.S. film and TV productions have ground to a halt.Reality television and ‘docu-series’ or ‘unscipted’ contestant-based shows are expected to fill in the massive gaps in new content on streaming services until the strike is resolved.

The Emmys and other red-carpet events will have to be canceled, rescheduled or significantly scaled back without the participation of actors and writers.

Negotiations between the unions and major studios have fallen apart in recent days, with studios arguing that the entertainment industry is still suffering fallout from the pandemic.

“How they plead poverty, that they’re losing money left and right when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them!“’ SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher, said Thursday with the announcement of the strike.

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