As celebrities prepare for their red carpet close-ups on Sunday’s telecast of the 96th Academy Awards, another part of Hollywood is worried about putting food on the table, paying rent, and finding work to support their families.
It’s a tale of two Hollywoods — wealthy celebrities (and their highly paid teams of agents, managers, publicists, and lawyers) versus the blue-collar crew members without whom the stars would be posing in the dark.
“There hasn’t been any real work. The industry is not back,” one location manager recently told The Hollywood Reporter.
“I literally can count on two hands how many people I know that are actually working right now,” an out-of-work set decoration buyer said.
“It’s never been this slow. The economic situation for a lot of crew members in general has been worse than the pandemic,” another told Indiewire.
IATSE and the Teamsters — which represent the vast majority of “below the line” Hollywood workers — are currently negotiating with studios on issues including compensation, working hours, and artificial intelligence technology.
One possible outcome of the talks is another strike — the third in less than a year following 2023’s dual work stoppages by actors and writers that brought the industry to a historic standstill. The current contracts are set to expire July 31, after which a strike could theoretically begin.
The Teamsters recently struck a belligerent tone, saying the unions should commit to withhold their labor — and not grant an extension — if a deal is not reached by the deadline.
Both IATSE and the Teamsters endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, with IATSE doubling-down on Biden by endorsing him again for re-election.
The past four years have been anything but kind to blue collar Hollywood.
As Breitbart News reported, the precipitous decline in TV advertising is wreaking havoc on major Hollywood studios, resulting in budget cuts and layoffs. Households crushed by inflation brought about by the Biden administration are cutting back on spending as they struggle to afford basic necessities like food and energy. As a result, corporations are buying fewer commercials on TV.
The Walt Disney Company laid of 7,000 people last year amid a $7.5 billion reduction in spending, with another $2 billion in cuts in the works.
Other studios swinging the axe include Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global, and Amazon / MGM Studios.
The budget cuts have also impacted the number of TV shows receiving the greenlight.
FX’s research team recently tallied 516 adult-centric live-action scripted shows released in 2023, a drop of 14 percent from 2022 which had a record 600 series, according to a recent Indiewire report.
That represents the biggest drop in 20 years.
As a result, crew members who were once awash in job opportunities during the so-called “peak TV” era are now scrounging for work.
ABC’s Oscars telecast on Sunday will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, who has used his late-night comedy show to regularly bash Trump and his supporters.
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