I like to watch a film or tv show through to the end of the credits. It always felt to me like the equivalent of staying for the bows at a live performance. When you stick it out for the full credits, you also really appreciate the hundreds of people it takes to make a movie. All of those people are out of work right now because of the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. While there is definitely strong solidarity, there is also undoubtedly a lot of strain, particularly on those who are less visible. AP News ran an article highlighting several hairstylists, makeup artists, manicurists, and designers and how they are coping with the lack of work:
Makeup artist Linda Dowds has won an Oscar and is still anxious: “For three, four, five months before the writers went out, studios weren’t willing to greenlight projects, so many of us have been unemployed for a lot longer,” said Linda Dowds, a Los Angeles-based makeup artist in her 60s who has worked in film and television since 1987… In more than a dozen interviews, specialists in wardrobe, hair, makeup and nails said they feared losing homes and health insurance as they scurry for pivots. Even if the studios and streamers reach agreements with the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA sooner rather than later, it will take weeks for productions to ramp back up. Dowds, who shared an Oscar for her work on “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” said she’s in a “heightened state of anxiety” over the strikes. But she considers herself among the lucky. She spent years working back-to-back projects, allowing her to keep her health insurance for now through the Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild. “But that’s only sustainable for so long,” she said.
Hairstylist Kim Kimble can’t imagine doing anything else: “Hair is what I love,” said Kimble, in Los Angeles. “There’s really nothing else, you know. And I love this business, so it’s really hard to understand, ‘Where would I go?’”
Makeup artist Matin Maulawizada on how fees had already been slashed: The strikes have come after years of lessened pay for their work, he said. “I’m not exaggerating when I say we make one-tenth for the exact same job we did in 2005,” Maulawizada said. “If you worked with an A-list client you could easily make anywhere between $3,500 to $5,000 for a red carpet. Now you’re lucky if you get $500.”… A lengthy actors strike would be make or break for the 59-year-old Maulawizada. If it stretches into December, he and his partner, a teacher, will have to sell their house.
Manicurist Julie Kandalec is adding income with online teaching: [Kandalec] teaches entrepreneurial skills for beauty professionals online, a lucrative side hustle that’s helping sustain her. In addition, she works with brands and has maintained a network of contacts outside the Hollywood bubble. Still, she worries about making rent. “With the Emmys being pushed, just that alone is hard,” Kandalec said.
Costume Designer Whitney Anne Adams is becoming active in her unions: “Besides a small two-month project, I haven’t worked since November 2022 since the slowdown was already beginning last year.”… Adams, based in Richmond, Virginia, has been dedicating herself to union work, sharing information about grant programs and other resources. She belongs to two union locals, both affiliated with the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees and Motion Picture Technicians, Artist and Allied Crafts. It’s the same umbrella organization as union hair stylists and makeup artists. “We negotiate our contracts next year. We hope that the solidarity they feel from us now will come back at us then,” Adams said of the union workers currently on strike. “We all have very similar needs and we all work side by side. If they don’t get a fair contract it will be really bad for all of us in this industry.”
What really leapt out at me in this article was the multiple accounts, from various sources, on how studios were slowing down productions for months before the WGA strike began in early May. Even back in 2022 the AMPTP members were bracing for strikes. Why? I find this so curious. Were they already committed to not giving an inch in negotiations? Was it part of their long-con to bleed out the writers? My spidey senses are tingling, and I think it all points to bad faith actions from AMPTP.
I’m glad the other unions are negotiating next year—and the writers and actors must, must, must show up for their “below the line” colleagues. One actor I’m confident will stand with them is Jessica Chastain. Remember how she leaked to the press that she would skip the Oscars red carpet (on the night she was the frontrunner for Best Actress!) in favor of being inside the theater when the Hair & Makeup awards were presented? She didn’t have to, cause her threat scared the sh*t out of the producers. It ensured that the category was aired live, and her team for The Eyes of Tammy Faye won. Solidarity forever.
photos credit: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon, Getty Images and via Instagram
The AMPTP wanted the writers to strike so they could blame their bad financials and a need to reset their streaming business model on writers. They needed to pause, they needed to stop greenlighting so much, and now they’ll put the blame for that at the writers’ feet. What they didn’t anticipate was a full shutdown, and that’s largely due to IATSE honoring the picket line, and then SAG not wavering (well, after that first delay) and striking. The WGA owes a lot to IATSE and SAG, who were out there since day one supporting them. And the WGA knows it, is awed by it, and will pay it back in spades.
Producers and studios operating in bad faith and making things as painful as possible?
These are the people who chose to do things like break the law by stripping landscape trees they didn’t own so people on the picket lines would have zero shade in the blazing peak of summer.
So yeah, they were purposely slowing down work to make things as tough as possible on writers and performers and other creatives, their allies.
The inability of people across industries to earn a living wage is an actual crisis. I hope something positive comes from these strikes.
What worries me is that this is being published like this to pressure writers and actors, not studios and producers.
100%
I’m not sure why but it still shocks me so much that you need to have insurance to have healthcare in a country like the US. Greed knows no bounds.
It certainly sounds like the studios we getting themselves ready for the strike, almost as though they knew the negotiations were going nowhere.
In an interesting development here in the UK we’re now getting stories about he knock-on effect on our film industry but they are not centring (or necessarily even mentioning) the reasons behind the strikes. Funny that. The studios are definitely doing a big PR push.
The drop in rates for red carpets! That goes to show you the strength of unions. I can totally see why, with the explosion of red carpet events and social media meaning you can’t just roll out of bed for a lunchtime charity event in Beverly Hills. The studio marketing budgets obviously haven’t kept up. If the makeup unions included all studio paid makeup, not just on set, there would be a big difference.
Why are they now only making $500 when it was about $3,500 in 2005? Are there that many makeup artists out there now so it’s a simple supply/demand issue? Why are they now being paid so much less?
My friend hasn’t worked since her last job finished in Dec 2022. Definitely saw UK tv and film opportunities dramatically slow with very few projects green-lit… kept hoping things would change but it never did. The current strike means there’s no end in sight.