A dozen of Hollywood’s highest-paid stars, from George Clooney to Meryl Streep, have each donated $1 million or more to help out-of-work actors as their strike approaches its fourth week, according to their union’s philanthropic foundation. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) strike, as well as another strike by film and television writers that began in May over pay and the threat of artificial intelligence, have effectively halted US film and television production. The Hollywood “double strike” of writers and actors has lost the entertainment business and the California economy millions of dollars per day, as well as the striking workers’ income.
A-list celebrities, like Clooney and Streep, as well as Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, as well as Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Oprah Winfrey, and others, have each contributed $1 million or more to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s actors’ assistance fund. According to a statement, the nonprofit foundation has raised more than $15 million in the last three weeks to assist “thousands of journeymen actors” facing financial difficulties. “The entertainment industry is in crisis and the SAG-AFTRA Foundation is currently processing more than 30 times our usual number of applications for emergency aid,” Courtney B. Vance, the foundation’s president, said in the statement.
Since the strike, movie productions have been halted, premieres have been canceled, and events like the Emmys have been pushed back
The organization’s aid program is intended to “ensure that performers in need don’t lose their homes, can pay for utilities, buy food for their families, purchase life-saving prescriptions, cover medical bills, and more,” according to Vance. While some performers are well compensated, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher claimed this week that 86 percent of the union’s 160,000 members earn less than $26,500 per year, according to The New York Times. Since the strikes, movie productions have been halted, glamorous premieres have been canceled, and events like the Emmys have been pushed back since actors are prohibited from promoting TV shows.
The unions’ demands have centered on higher compensation in the streaming era and the threat that artificial intelligence poses to members’ careers and future livelihoods, while studios say they must cut costs to cope with economic pressures. While the writers’ union appears to be returning to bargaining on Friday, performers continue to be at odds with big studios such as Netflix and Disney, which are represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). “We have not heard from the AMPTP since July 12 when they told us they would not be willing to continue talks for quite some” time, SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland told trade outlet Deadline this week.
