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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and we'll wrap it up today by opening up the phones for a check-in with actors and writers. As your strike against the Hollywood Studios drags on, how are you making ends meet, and how do you see this ending? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. If you are a member of the unions, or if you are a worker in the industry who's otherwise impacted by the strike, call in to share how you're making up for the loss in wages. Tell us how you're making ends meet at this moment, and tell us how you see this ending. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
It's been over four months now since the Writer's Guild of America went on strike with support from SAG-AFTRA coming a bit later. That is a long time to be out of work. We're inviting you to give us a report from the front. Let the rest of the listening public know what you're going through, know what you're doing, and how you think this should end, and if there's a particular compromise in the face of the new economics of the TV and film business in general that you think is warranted. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
Striking writers and actors, anybody else out of work in the biz as a result of this dispute, 212-433-9692. Now, back in July an article on Deadline cited anonymous executive saying studios were willing to let the stripe last, "Until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses." That, of course, emboldened the union to stay the course, but maybe that was in the short term. How are you making it work? Are you returning to an old job, maybe, out of the biz, teaching, whatever. 212-433-9692. Are you doing what some are calling survival jobs, gig work to help bridge this gap?
Some of you writers might have stopped working in the middle of a project back in May when the strike began, and not a lot of employers are flexible enough to let you get back to writing when the strike ends. Did you pick up a retail job, a restaurant gig, substitute teaching, whatever it is? Has anyone taken out a strike loan? This, as I understand it, it's an interest free loan provided by the Writer's Guild to those in financial need. There's also the Humanitas Groceries for Writers efforts. If you don't know about that, those handout grocery cards. Did you get something like that? Writers, actors, others in the biz affected, how are you making ends meet here four months later, and how do you see this ending? 212-433-WNYC. We'll take your calls right after this.
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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now to your calls on how you're making ends meet if you're out of work because of the dispute that includes the SAG-AFTRA and Writer's Union strikes four months old now. 212-433-WNYC. Deborah in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Deborah.
Deborah: Good morning, Brian. I'm a camera operator in New York. One thing I keep reminding people as I go through these events is that the IA contract is up in July of 2025. We start negotiating in a year. Whenever this is settled, we are not far behind having to do this all over again. I keep reminding people to go to the Entertainment Community Fund, get a solid second revenue stream in so we can survive what we need to survive, because this is not done when we're done with the writers and the actors.
Brian Lehrer: Yes, the union IATSE may be next.
Deborah: Yes.
Brian Lehrer: Deborah, thank you very much. Keith in Mohegan Lake, you're on WNYC. I think along these same lines. Hi there, Keith.
Keith: Yes. What I've always understood about being an IA member is that you always need to have a plan if there's not work. I hope that all of the IA members out there are helping themselves to do laborer work, doing work in whatever craft they know to adapt to the real world, because it's expected that our negotiations are going to be dicey. The producers are not being complicit with getting wages that are fair and substantial for the writers and to the actors, and I don't think they're going to include us as well. Thank you.
Brian Lehrer: Keith, Thank you very much. Lars in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Lars.
Lars: Hi, Brian. I'm a SAG-AFTRA member. Before the pandemic, I was making enough as an actor to qualify for health insurance, which meant I was making enough that I only had to do gig work here and there in between gigs and in between paychecks. Since the pandemic, I'd lost my health insurance over the pandemic. There's a lack of work because it's based on wages. Since then, I've been working full-time doing my survival work as a bartender for catering companies.
I tell people that the reason why I'm striking is that I've already had to go to outside the industry to make ends meet before this strike has happened, because we're already there. I think the point is that the [unintelligible 00:06:14] is still behind on, that these days they don't realize we have nothing to lose. We've already lost all the ways that we working class actors can make a living doing this, and this is why we're on strike.
Brian Lehrer: How do you see it ending?
Lars: I'm cautiously optimistic. I think in the new year when all the backlogged movies have gone through and been released, and when they see that the shows that they're putting on this fall, the reality shows don't get the same ratings as shows that have good acting, good writing. I think they're going to finally see that combined with the public sentiment, which I've been enormously grateful for, just getting unanimous support for this strike. I think they're going to finally see that these are bad business decisions, because I think they've been trying to reframe this.
What we're asking for is basically the same pay that we've gotten from traditional media. I've done a Netflix show. I've shown up. It's the same set as any other TV or film set. It doesn't feel the same. You get paid the same. It's when the residuals come in, that's when it's different. Then the residuals drop to a trickle when a show you've done has gone from broadcast and syndication over to streaming. What they've done is saying, "Okay, this is a new world. We're going to pay you a new way." It's like, no, this is the same product. Just because it's on a different platform doesn't mean we should get less for the same work.
Brian Lehrer: Lars, thank you. Thank you very much. Boy, this is a tough spot. Citing that Deadline article again, the studio's position is to let the strike last until union members start losing their apartments as that article said. The union's willing to strike until they see if this new television season, which is starting now, has such a big drop off in audience, and therefore, advertising revenue that the studios cave. Man, it sounds like everybody's all dug in. Shannon in Park Slope, you're on WNYC. Hi, Shannon.
Shannon: Hey, Brian. Thanks so much for having me on your show. I listen every day and this is the first time I've gotten through.
Brian Lehrer: Glad you're on.
Shannon: Thank you. I'm a nurse practitioner and an actor, and I own a small psychiatry practice in the city, and we're offering reduced fee for people who are out of work on strike because this is ridiculous. It's been months and it's not okay. Lots of people I know are struggling and already at the point where they have to worry about losing their place.
Brian Lehrer: What are the reduced price or free services that you're talking about?
Shannon: It's for therapy and psychiatry, and my website is MetroNP. I'm a television and a film background actor who's also not doing that right now. I went back to school years ago to become a nurse practitioner, and so now I'm merging the two and trying to see if people need services and we can help.
Brian Lehrer: Very nice. Shannon, thank you very much. Janine in Northern Virginia, you're on WNYC. Hi, Janine.
Janine: Hey, Brian. I've been an actor since forever. A member of SAG and AFTRA and Equity, which is the theater union since 1993. I'm a private chef as well. I moved during the pandemic to Northern Virginia in the DC area Theater, and I've been doing actions down here. Two weeks ago, my student loan debt got forgiven for acting conservatory. That was up to 56,000 got forgiven. I'm in a much better place. I can live off of my savings from the pandemic while I'm down here taking care of my elderly dad and doing actions. I've gone back to doing theater down here in the DC area.
As an actor, you have to always have multiple income streams, of things that you love in addition to acting. They tell us that in conservatory. What I love about the strike is that family members who've disrespected my life as an artist for years, finally have an idea of what I've done for over 30 years. It matters to actually have a little bit of family respect, even if you're not getting an Oscar, because it takes a community to tell stories. That is the wonderful thing.
Brian Lehrer: I know other artists of various kinds in that position. Janine, thank you. Joshua in Brooklyn is going to get our last word. Joshua, we have 25 seconds.
Joshua: I'll just quickly echo what Shannon and Lars were somewhat saying in terms of this being an inflection point, underlining the fact that the irony about the question of gig work is that we're in the business of losing our jobs. What the strike somewhat underlines is that this is a structuralist dangerous industry as is, and we need support if we're going to make it viable moving forward.
Brian Lehrer: Joshua, thank you very much. There you go. He certainly summed up the main message we heard from the callers. Even in normal times, most people in that biz have to have gig work ready to go on a spot basis, and now it's extreme. Thanks for listening to The Brian Lehrer Show today. Thanks for your ears. Thanks for all your great calls as always. Stay tuned for All Of It with, yes, it's Allison, she's back.
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