Hollywood’s Dirty Secrets Are Laid Bare on Social Media
Striking actors and writers are using platforms like Instagram to forge a connection with their public and air grievances that strip away the glamour of a creative career.
Damon Lindelof (left) and Frances Fisher (center) walk the picket line with WGA and SAG members.
Photographer: Chris Delmas/AFP
The Writers Guild of America will soon mark 100 days of its strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which includes industry majors like Walt Disney Co., Netflix Inc., Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. This would match a 2007 strike that unfolded at a time when digital media was just emerging as a worry for creative professionals.
The media landscape has been transformed in the intervening years: In 2007, Netflix was still mailing people DVDs, X (till recently Twitter) was barely a year old, Apple released its first iPhone and Instagram didn’t exist. The only reason I even remember that strike is because The Office halted midseason. This time, I’ve been on the picket line because my sister is a WGA member and I, as an author and journalist, have a vested interest in creatives being paid a fair wage and residuals for our work when it continues to generate revenue long into the future.