What the Screen Actors and Writers Strikes Mean for Austin

On pause: Even completed films like Richard Linklater's Hit Man are facing challenges in the simultaneous SAG-AFTRA/WGA strikes (Courtesy of Detour Filmproduction)

If there's been a single defining image of the ongoing strikes hitting the TV and film industries, it's been banners held by picketing actors and writers in New York and Los Angeles. But as a major and growing production hub, Austin is feeling the effects of this fight for sustainable wages in film and TV.

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the union that represents screen actors, began their industrywide strike on July 14, joining the Writers Guild of America walkout that started on May 2. "It's impacted everything," said Austin Film Commission Executive Director Brian Gannon, but it's had a particular impact in Austin. TV production in shows like the CW's Walker was slowing for the summer hiatus, and commercial shoots were scaling back due to the intense heat making outdoor filming untenable, but the expectation was that the industry would come back faster than ever due to a record increase in funding for the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program. "It was celebration, then this put pause on everything immediately," Gannon said. "A lot of people were on unemployment and were getting ready to get back to work. So it's a blow, but a lot of them are union members and want something that's going to last for decades." However, the strikes aren't just affecting actors and writers, but everyone involved with a production, "from [production assistants] to producers to lumber yards to hotels to grips, everyone who has a contact with the industry is affected."

The roots of the strikes lie in the last rounds of contract negotiations between the guilds and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, an industry alliance consisting of major motion picture studios like Paramount, Sony, Universal, Walt Disney, and Warner Bros.; TV networks including ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC; and streaming services such as Netflix, Apple TV+, and Amazon. The agreements set baseline pay and working conditions: However, the current contracts did not cover residuals for the then-nascent world of streaming rights, and actors have seen their wages decimated over the last decade. What the AMPTP brought to the table when contracts came up for renewal this year did almost nothing to redress the situation.

However, that's only the beginning of the problems, as actor rates have been obliterated by industry changes and inflation. On top of that, concerns have been raised about studio proposals to use the likenesses of actors in perpetuity – raising the nightmare scenario of performers being replaced by digital extras with their faces.

AI is a similar concern in the writers strike, with the very real concern of writers being replaced by prompt-generated scripts, but again that's just the beginning. The position of writers has been dramatically degraded since their last major contract negotiations in 2007, with traditional writers rooms reduced to minirooms, where writers are expected to produce scripts and rewrites with little or no pay, all with no commitment that the show will be produced.

Union leaders fear that the current situation and the AMPTP proposals will make careers in the arts untenable – a future that some executives may relish. As WGA West negotiator Julie Plec put it bluntly during this year's ATX TV Festival, "There's a room full of folks who want to see union labor go away."

However, the strike does not mean the entire film and TV industry has completely halted. There are commercial shoots that are still ongoing, but those are all non-union "and that's a very small part of the industry," Gannon said.

Yet not all films are AMPTP productions, so SAG-AFTRA is providing interim agreements to eligible independent productions. They can then proceed with production, as long as they abide by the terms set out in the union's negotiating position. Aaron B. Koontz of Austin-based Paper Street Pictures, explained, "That's why they're calling it an interim agreement, not a waiver." He is working on one of the over 100 productions now approved and is waiting to be assigned a SAG rep for applications for two more. However, his biggest project – upcoming supernatural horror Shelby Oaks – is in limbo. It's in the final stages of post-production, including the all-important automated dialogue replacement, when actors re-record their lines. "We need the actors in, but we are not a priority project because we are not in production," Koontz said. He understood prioritizing the paperwork for eligible films that were either in production or just about to start, "but we're trying to finish this film in the next month."

Even completed films are being hit by the strike. Just as film festivals were getting back to normal post-pandemic, now they face a fall with no actors or writers in attendance. For example, former Austinite Glen Powell is headlining Richard Linklater's upcoming Hit Man, which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival. As the film was independently produced and financed, producers are currently seeking an interim agreement that will allow some cast members to attend the premiere.

Director Morrisa Maltz gained SAG approval for her cast and crew to promote her film, the Austin Film Society-backed The Unknown Country, as well as to start production on a new project using the same cast. The process was also relatively simple for her because productions don't come much more independent. She said, "They asked, 'What's the production company? Let me look it up.' Well, the production company is Morissa Maltz LLC – it's just me. So then they really tried to fast-track it, because a single-person LLC is nothing to do with the AMPTP."

However, promotion can only happen for films opening, and the release calendar could get sparse if studios starts holding titles back. Speaking confidentially, one PR rep said that because they represent films rather than individual actors, they had not seen any real impact yet. However, if the strike continues and studios begin to delay release dates, that could change quickly.

So what happens if the guilds and the AMPTP reach a deal tomorrow? Speaking anonymously, one producer said that films should be able to spin back up pretty quickly. However, episodic shows are a different matter. Due to the structure of TMIIIP, the state is more attractive to TV than films: Most are currently on hiatus anyway, and because they tend to think in years rather than weeks or months, they will keep their leases on soundstages. But since writers will not be working on struck projects over the hiatus, it will take them longer to bank enough scripts to get back on track.

"It's going to be very busy when everything's resolved," Gannon said, noting that every production will be scrambling to get back into production. "They're like airplanes circling an airport, waiting for the storm to pass."