Member-only story
The Hollywood Superstrike is This Year’s Summer Blockbuster
Drama, suspense, action: Hollywood Superstrike has it all.
In California, problems are compounding: San Francisco is suffering, a statewide energy crisis is brewing, and Silicon Valley is laying-off tech workers right and left.
As for Hollywood, things are getting ugly.
After actors joined the striking Hollywood Writers Guild earlier this month, the situation snowballed quickly. The plot is taking a turn for the worse as the days heat up and the strike drags on.
“Hollywood Bosses Are Trying to Scare Striking Workers Into Folding,” huffed Josh Gondelman for The Nation on July 18, 2023. “They won’t win.”
“The studios are ramping up a campaign of fear in an effort to spook writers like me into taking a bad deal,” continued Gondelman. “But we’re not going to fall for it.”
At issue: “Hollywood Studios’ WGA Strike Endgame Is To Let Writers Go Broke Before Resuming Talking In Fall,” as reported by Dominic Patten for Deadline on July 11, 2023.
“The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,” one unnamed studio executive reportedly told Deadline.