Actors officially on strike, along with writers, putting Hollywood at a standstill

The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) is officially on strike, with actors joining the already striking writers.

There are about 160,000 actors who belong to SAG-AFTRA who are now on strike, along with the more than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America who have been on strike since early May. 

SAG-AFTRA voted Thursday to strike and then began the strike officially at midnight after the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers was reportedly "unwilling to offer a fair deal" following more than a month of bargaining. 

The Alliance represents major studios and streamers such as Amazon, Disney, Netflix, Paramount and Sony.

According to The Washington Post, both writers and actors desire higher compensation due to inflation and concerns about shrinking residuals. Fear of the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the industry is another major concern affecting the negotiations.  

Hollywood actor George Clooney spoke out Friday in support of the strike. 

“This is an inflection point in our industry,” he said, according to Deadline. “For our industry to survive that has to change. For actors, that journey starts now.”

According to CNN, it is unclear how long the strike will last, but a lot of movie and TV production is going to be halted, with the exception of independent movies. 

The president of Actors’ Equity, which represents stage actors and stage managers, encouraged her union's members to not participate in any struck work. 

“I cannot overstate how critical it is for members (and future members!) of to proactively and aggressively avoid breaking the @sagaftra strike,” President Kate Shindle wrote on Twitter. If you are offered work of any kind for an #AMPTP employer, don’t take any third party’s word for it that ‘it’s okay’ or ‘it’s not covered by the strike’…Call @sagaftra and ask whether performing the work in question will undermine the strike.”

The strike has support from the casts of movies going into distribution, such as the movie, Oppenheimer. The cast of that film left a London premiere early to “go and write their picket signs” in preparation for the strike.