Author of the article: Washington Post Reis Thebault, The Washington Post
Published: Jul 31, 2023 • Last updated 10 hours ago • 9 minute read
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LOS ANGELES — Josh Hooks piled cleaning equipment into his pickup truck. Rubber gloves, bathroom brushes, a vacuum cleaner held together by duct tape, all props for a role he hoped he would never need to play again: An out-of-work actor struggling to pay his bills.
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Just a few months ago, the 43-year-old felt closer than ever to his Hollywood dream. He had landed parts in several television shows and a Lifetime movie. He had a supportive agent and a little momentum. Then came the strikes, first by writers and then by actors, which shut down the industry, stalled his career and forced him to pick up odd jobs like tidying apartments for friends.
Article content “We are all just scrambling to keep our heads above water,” Hooks said. He is one of many thousands. Despite the sparkle that is synonymous with Tinseltown, most of the actors working in America’s dream factory do not earn enough to live. Instead, they take on side gigs, known bleakly as survival jobs, to fund their Hollywood hopes. These dire conditions are at the heart of the historic double strike, a work stoppage the unions hope will usher in new protections for actors and writers during a time of rapid change.
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But until they are resolved, the strikes also mean less work for people like Hooks. And there have been ominous signs that they could stretch on for some time. An anonymous studio executive recently told the entertainment news outlet Deadline that “the endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.” For Hooks, that threat is not just rhetoric. One of his bank accounts is overdrawn by $320, and his other one has just 35 cents. His credit card debt is mounting, collection agencies call every day, and he is desperately trying to cobble together enough money to pay rent on his studio apartment in West Los Angeles.
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This is not the life he imagined when he moved here from a small town in Georgia in 2009, following the path of so many others who have been drawn to the Golden State by promise of celebrity. “The glitz and glamour is what the general public sees,” Hooks said. “The reality is anything but.”
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‘Just out there scraping by’
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The dual strikes have highlighted a vast and growing inequality in Hollywood. According to the actors union, known as SAG-AFTRA, about 80 percent of members make less than $27,000, while some studio bosses pull in more than $100 million a year. The dominance of streaming has led to shorter television show seasons and shrinking residual payments. On top of those shifting economics, the emergence of artificial intelligence has threatened to replace human labor altogether, redefining what the Hollywood dream could look like for future generations of aspiring stars. “It is an existential strike,” said Steven J. Ross, a historian at the University of Southern California and an expert on Hollywood labor issues. If artificial intelligence is widely adopted, “those creative workers may never work again in the industry they love. They are striking to save their careers and their ability to make a living.”
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The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, a trade group representing the studios in the negotiations, said the demands from writers and actors are unreasonable, an overreach that will hurt an industry still reeling from the pandemic. The strikes, which have already taken a toll on the local economy, could cost California billions, a blow that would be particularly painful after the state reported an estimated $32 billion budget deficit. This week, the office of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) offered to help broker a deal between the studios, the writers and the actors, a sign that state leaders are concerned about the ramifications of a prolonged work stoppage. Meanwhile, the striking workers are already feeling the effects. The Entertainment Community Fund, an organization founded more than 140 years ago to provide aid to professional artists, has seen a massive increase in people seeking assistance.
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In Los Angeles, the number of grants distributed per month tripled in May, when the first strike began. Since then, the fund has given out $2.3 million, or about $1,800 per person, said Keith McNutt, the western region director of the organization. The timing is especially hard on actors, who may have been out of work for months or years during the pandemic, wiping out their savings, McNutt said. “So many people are middle class, just getting by paycheck to paycheck.” “It is a very uncertain life,” he said. “And the sad thing is because the public only knows the famous people, they think everyone who is an actor is doing well. But the vast majority of people are really just out there scraping by one job to the next.”
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Hooks grew up in rural Southern towns in the 1980s and 1990s. He played college baseball, tended bar and watched his friends take jobs at factories. All along, he wanted to be an actor, but it took him years to admit it and even longer to commit.…