Dathan Trevino UTRGV- The film industry is at risk as the Writer’s Guild of America and the Screen Actors’ Guild are striking against big production studios.
UTRGV Theater professor David Carren said, “It’s very hard for now for writers and actors to make any kind of living, we’re talking about professional established writers and actors, we’re not talking about people who just started.”
Production studios such as Disney, Apple, Fox and more, have been accused of underpaying their writers and actors. Some even go as far as researching ways to replace them with AI, according to Wandavision background actor Alexandria Rubalcaba.
To counter, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are on strike until a deal securing better residual pay and AI restrictions is made.
David Carren added that this is the first time in decades the unions are striking together, leading the industry to big transformations.
“A big chunk of what you’re watching will be computer generated. Even perhaps the stories and many of the actors, the background actors, supporting players…It won’t be a really pretty industry; it’ll destroy employment for all these professionals,” said Carren.
For actors and writers, tv and film residuals are one of the main source of income. Residuals are given when episodes of shows or movies you worked on are shown after release.
Carren mentioned it is hard for professionals to make a living, especially when they are based on production cities like Los Angeles and New York— but it also affects individuals in the valley.
“I’ve gotten residuals for 13 cents and 43 cents, and residuals in cable are already pretty thin, but there’s no residuals on streaming at all.”
Although union members are striking for their future, do non-union members have anything to worry about?
Ceo and founder of RGV talent consulting, Brenda Patricia Garza said that as a non-union actress the strike does not affect her completely, but she does believe it’s beneficial how the strike pushes a narrative of how artists are being devalued at a rapid pace.
“No, we’re not engineers and no we’re not accountants, or we’re not anything in the oil fields, but you go to a theater to watch us… So, when this happens it’s not because, ‘Oh we want to be the bad guys’, it’s happening because we’re wanting as actors, as creatives, to be paid adequately and fairly.”
The unions are still on strike as of August 16 with no deal made. All writers and actors are still allowed to participate on selected productions such as a24 projects or any other exempted media work.
