On March 4, Hollywood's major crew unions began negotiating their health and retirement benefits with studios and streamers, with Hollywood Teamsters Director Lindsay Dougherty saying, “We will strike if it it is necessary” during the negotiations. But some members of the Los Angeles-area crew say that following the writers' and actors' walkout in 2023, there doesn't appear to be much work to stop if their own shutdown is called.
Caught in a sharp industry contraction amid Peak TV's demise, crew members describe an anemic return to production after strikes, exacerbating problems for those who already had far fewer opportunities to work in 2023.
“There was no real work,” said one Los Angeles-based stage manager, who was out of work for seven and a half months during and after the strikes. “The industry is not back. What's back are a few items that are being picked up or need to restart from items that were shut down before May.
Adds a set decoration buyer who has been unemployed since March 2023: “I can literally count on two hands how many people I know are actually working right now. It is now. In January, it was even less.
According to FilmLA President Paul Audley, whose office tracks production data in the Los Angeles area, so far this year, the volume of permits and filming days is down 14.3% from to the levels of the same period in 2023. (Audley notes, as do several sources for this story, that production fell in early 2023 before the strikes, making it an atypical benchmark.) However, in February, the office of cinema has seen an increase in activity on commercial filming days and feature film filming days. “But what we saw was quite small-scale production. We haven’t seen the big movies yet or indeed a lot of the TV series – it’s just starting to come back,” says Audley. Some of the major projects that were filmed in the Los Angeles area in February include Peacock's Bel AirABC 9-1-1 and Netflix Selling the Sunset.
Dougherty, whose union represents drivers, stage managers, casting directors and other crew members, says 42 productions are currently underway with his local's crews. Meanwhile, in busier years like 2022, the union saw well over 100 projects at the same time of year. Production levels typically increase as pilot season gets into full swing, she adds, but it's unclear what that period will look like this year: “Everyone is waiting to see what the new normal is, knowing that there is a contraction in the industry. and knowing that the streaming bubble has burst and studios and production companies are spending less money than they have in recent years.
Several team members observe that the projects that come back tend to be TV shows or projects that were in the middle of filming or about to film before the strikes. “This is either a series that had already received the green light before, or a series that was already in production at the time of the strike. That’s really all we see,” says props designer Alicia Haverland (Hell's Kitchen, The Masked Singer).
In New York, at least one measure of filming activity is at relatively normal levels. The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, which tracks permits through its office for films, television shows, commercials, music videos, student films, and documentaries filmed on public property (but does not keep a record eye on filming on private property, such as studio soundstages) reports that as of January 2024, 88 projects with permits were in production, compared to 77 in 2023, 102 in 2022 and 75 in 2021. Among the major projects underway in January were CBS' final seasons. The equalizer and NBC Law and order SVU, while Paramount's sequel Smile, Smile Deluxeand the Netflix limited series Day Zero also started shooting. “We see New York's film and television production industry getting back to work after the work stops from last year,” said Mayor’s Office Commissioner of Media and Entertainment Pat Swinney Kaufman.
Yet workers feel business is slow, even in New York. Eric Klein, veteran New York City scout (Cat person, Young adult) believes there is “definitely a little slowdown” in the city, he said, with a number of members of his union – Teamsters Local 817 – out of work. A New York-based set dresser took a temporary job outside the industry and worked a few days as a production assistant when job opportunities were scarce in the field. “It was disappointing because I can't wait to go back,” this person said. “I know a lot of people in my position who eventually left (the industry) after a few months. Maybe I still have a little hope, but I don't know.
Overall, production activity was down at the start of the year, according to Alex LoVerde, co-founder and CEO of production tracking service ProdPro. His company found that globally, the number of live-action scripted film and TV projects filming in January represented a 19% decrease from 2023 and a 26% decrease from 2022. ( The data only includes projects with budgets above $10 million, and excludes pilots.) In the United States, the decline was even greater, with filming for these projects down 24 percent from 2023 and 38 percent compared to 2022. When speaking with his trading partners about the state of production, he says: “I would like to say that we all share a very strong concern about the emergence of a new normality of restricted content spending.
This slow build-up compounded the hardships that crew members began to experience during the strikes. Haverland lived in an RV with a partner for two months in the fall to save money, before moving into an apartment very different from her situation before the strike. “This whole situation has completely changed my life,” she says. “I went from a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with a pool to a condo in Canoga Park. This is a huge change.
Mental health is also an issue for some. A storyboard artist who regularly speaks to his peers in his field says he sees “major anxiety, stress and depression.” You go to bed at night and feel stressed and you wake up in the morning and feel stressed. This person adds: “We sit here and say, 'We don't deserve this.' We weren't even on strike.
The decor buyer highlights the mental toll the situation is having on her and her partner, who also works in the industry. “At this point, nothing else matters except the mental anguish and crisis mode we wake up in every day. And there's not enough deep breathing or therapy to help with that because we're kind of going through depression right now. It's absolute torture.
Is there any hope for the months to come? FilmLA's Audley predicts that feature films will likely need an additional two to four weeks to start, based on typical start schedules. The good news, he adds, is that the California Film Commission has just announcement he granted tax credits to certain major projects, such as that of Disney The Mandalorian and Grogu, which could help boost employment in the industry. But overall, “it's a really difficult year to predict because there's still a lot of uncertainty in the air and real questions about where production in 2024 will be located around the world.” It’s not yet resolved,” he said.
Meanwhile, the still underemployed crew members are waiting for a break. The screenwriter says: “I just want people to understand what cinema workers go through. » They add: “The strikes have ended and we are still crushed. »
This story first appeared in the March 6 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.