Why Hollywood’s Actors and Writers Have Gone on Strike
What’s really at stake here?
Screen Actors Guild members and supporters during a rally in Times Square in New York, US, on Tuesday, July 25, 2023.
Photographer: Stephanie Keith/BloombergMovie and TV productions have come to a nearly complete stop in Hollywood. Both the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America are on strike, with the latter having halted work for the major studios over three months ago. What brought the industry to this point? What do the two opposing sides want? And how do these strikes fit into other labor actions that we're seeing this summer? On this episode, we speak with Lucas Shaw, entertainment reporter at Bloomberg and the author of the Screentime newsletter, as well as Josh Eidelson, a labor reporter for Businessweek and Bloomberg News, about what's going on with the strikes right now, what both sides are looking for, and the prospects of a resolution. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.