2023-08-05 15:09:30
Business owners linked to the entertainment industry in the United States have been affected by the Hollywood strikes, which for them is being worse than the pandemic. “We are in survival mode,” explains Adrianna Cruz-Ocampo, owner of the U-Frame-It framing business located in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, one of the areas most affected by the stoppage due to the great number of stores that provide services to productions.
Fourteen weeks have passed since the Writers Guild (WGA) went on strike, and three since the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) joined the movement, without reaching an agreement with the studios it represents. the Alliance of Film and Television Producers (AMPTP) for the realization of a collective agreement.
Among the requests that both unions demand is the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI), improvements in working conditions, as well as transparency on the part of the platforms regarding how the amounts of residual rights are calculated.
The approximate calculation of economic losses for the country is still around 4,000 million dollars (about 3,629 million euros), but the amount may increase if the conflict is not resolved by the end of August, as confirmed to EFE by the head of global strategy of the Milken Institute of California, Kevin Klowden. Although the members of the unions are beginning to feel the consequences of the strike, there are funds from foundations associated with the unions that can support them financially. But the affected businesses do not have any kind of support.
Their heritage is unprotected, some see their permanence threatened and the most disadvantaged have already had to close their doors. Pam Elyea’s History for Hire prop shop, which has brought movie sets like “La La Land” or more recently “Oppenheimer” to life, has had to lay off half its staff and has turned off the lights in its winery as one of the last resources to save on expenses and to survive the crisis.
Devoted entirely to film and television productions, Corri Levelle’s Sandy Rose Floral flower house keeps artificial peonies, sunflowers and lavenders intact in boxes and retains three of the nine workers who kept her shop cluttered daily by placing orders. Meanwhile, Cruz-Ocampo and her family are making efforts to diversify their clientele, despite the fact that 85% of their daily projects were related to the entertainment industry.
“Life has changed us and what has made it so difficult is that we were finally settling in after the pandemic and now we have a strike that has hit our businesses again, whose questions are more difficult to answer,” says Elyea, who started her business with her husband almost 40 years ago.
Saving on electricity, cutting staff and diversifying its clientele has not been enough. Some rentals of the premises reach 45,000 dollars (40,000 euros) per month, while businesses barely manage to generate 15% of their normal income. “During the pandemic there was a feeling that everyone was in the same boat, there was support from the federal or state government and payroll protection. Now these problems are very specific,” says Klowden. In addition, during the coronavirus lockdown, the productions were planning a gradual return to activities and that gave the owners hope.
And although SAG-AFTRA has currently issued special permits to independent projects whose production houses are not linked to the AMPTP, it is still not enough to undo the damage. “It’s time for Los Angeles County to step in. We are loyal businesses that haven’t gone elsewhere, we need help to keep going,” Elyea said.
The disappearance of businesses due to the strike not only supposes economic losses, but cultural and historical memory losses that could have repercussions in the industry. “If you lose a specialty service company with all of their expertise in the products that Hollywood wants, you lose that institutional memory, you lose those skills, and it’s hard to replace them,” Klowden explains.
From the specialist’s perspective, the AMPTP producers are waiting for the economic conditions of the writers and actors to worsen enough to force them to return to the negotiating table “in a weaker position”, but all they can achieve is a dangerous brain drain. “This little piece of the industry is a piece of history, it’s a very important part of Los Angeles, we can’t let it go from here,” says Remy de la Mora, sales executive for History for Hire.
For her part, Corri Levelle calls on the unions and the alliance to resolve their differences more quickly, and considers that this conflict is a reflection of the general situation the country is going through. “I think there are many problems to solve right now to achieve a more equal situation for actors and writers. I see it unfortunate that large corporations do not see it and do not want to share with others, it is something endemic in the country,” he indicates. .
To echo their situation and make their needs visible, one of the alternatives that 20 prop stores carried out was a garage sale to collect funds. On August 1, it was announced that the WGA would return to the negotiating table with the AMPTP on Friday the 4th, but so far there is no news.
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