The Hollywood Strike Has a Long and Unexpected Reach
The walkout by actors and writers is a reminder of how labor actions in one corner of the economy can have ripple effects elsewhere.
The screenwriters and actors strike is uniquely disposed to a prolonged standoff.
Photographer: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg
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Doomsday recession predictions are no longer in vogue, but investors are still hyper-attuned to any signs of a slowdown in industrial demand. So it might seem troubling that Herc Holdings Inc. reported its biggest quarterly earnings miss since 2019 this week. But the shortfall had little to do with the Bonita Springs, Florida-based company’s primary — and still robust — business of renting truck loaders, pavers, scissor lifts and other tools to construction and manufacturing customers. Herc gets a decent-sized chunk of its roughly $3 billion in annual revenue from film and television sets, and the screenwriter and actor strikes have wiped out that business.