Makeup artists, set decorators, props suppliers and other workers across Hollywood gathered outside of City Hall in Los Angeles on Thursday, pushing government officials to offer more assistance amid the actors strike.
The below-the-line workers — joined by actors, writers and directors — called for an increase to unemployment benefits, as well as for Gov. Gavin Newsom to intervene in negotiations, with the aim of pressuring the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers to stay at the bargaining table and make a deal with actors in order for them to return to work.
“We’re out here, because we felt like six months without work is something the government should pay attention to,” said Farah Bunch, a makeup artist with International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 706 who helped organize the rally. “People are losing their whole livelihoods.”
The gathering started at noon just as the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA were scheduled to return to negotiations.
The below-the-line workers — joined by actors, writers and directors — called for an increase to unemployment benefits, as well as for Gov. Gavin Newsom to intervene in negotiations, with the aim of pressuring the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers to stay at the bargaining table and make a deal with actors in order for them to return to work.
“We’re out here, because we felt like six months without work is something the government should pay attention to,” said Farah Bunch, a makeup artist with International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 706 who helped organize the rally. “People are losing their whole livelihoods.”
The gathering started at noon just as the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA were scheduled to return to negotiations.
- 10/27/2023
- by Winston Cho
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A pair of below-the-line workers have scheduled a rally for September 27 in Los Angeles in hopes of persuading City Hall to get more involved in the ongoing labor dispute.
“Government leaders pay attention! We are gathering to demand change now!,” according to a social media post announcing the rally. “We are demanding help from our government after 5 months of no work. People are losing their pensions, their homes, their health insurance, everything. It’s time to say Enough! Get involved, mediate a fair deal, raise and extend Edd. Hopefully, the talks on this coming Wednesday will be productive and we won’t need to rally. But if they fall apart, like they have every time, we’ll need this rally more than ever. We can not sit around and hope for a resolution anymore, it’s time to take action people’s livelihoods are at stake.”
The rally is planned...
“Government leaders pay attention! We are gathering to demand change now!,” according to a social media post announcing the rally. “We are demanding help from our government after 5 months of no work. People are losing their pensions, their homes, their health insurance, everything. It’s time to say Enough! Get involved, mediate a fair deal, raise and extend Edd. Hopefully, the talks on this coming Wednesday will be productive and we won’t need to rally. But if they fall apart, like they have every time, we’ll need this rally more than ever. We can not sit around and hope for a resolution anymore, it’s time to take action people’s livelihoods are at stake.”
The rally is planned...
- 9/19/2023
- by Lynette Rice
- Deadline Film + TV
More than 10,000 people are hoping their signatures on a petition will eventually result in higher unemployment benefits for out-of-work crew members and vendors who have been impacted by the strike.
The change.org petition was started by Farah Bunch, a makeup artist who wrote a column for Deadline in May about the strike’s impact on below-the-line workers. She was working on the reboot of Frasier for Paramount+ when the WGA hit the picket line.
“Crew members and vendors in the entertainment industry have been forced out of work for over two months with no end in sight,” Bunch says on the petition. “With SAG now on strike we are facing financial ruin with no opportunity to work. Edd benefits max amounts of $450 a week are not even close to paying something a person can live off of, when an average one bedroom apartment rents for $2,800 a month. We need...
The change.org petition was started by Farah Bunch, a makeup artist who wrote a column for Deadline in May about the strike’s impact on below-the-line workers. She was working on the reboot of Frasier for Paramount+ when the WGA hit the picket line.
“Crew members and vendors in the entertainment industry have been forced out of work for over two months with no end in sight,” Bunch says on the petition. “With SAG now on strike we are facing financial ruin with no opportunity to work. Edd benefits max amounts of $450 a week are not even close to paying something a person can live off of, when an average one bedroom apartment rents for $2,800 a month. We need...
- 7/20/2023
- by Lynette Rice
- Deadline Film + TV
Editor’s note: Farah Bunch has worked as a makeup artist in film and television for more than 25 years. Her credits include Will & Grace, Man with a Plan and the Oscars. She is currently working on the reboot of Frasier for Paramount+.
Let’s start by saying that I, like the huge majority of my fellow crew members, support the WGA if they strike to get fair compensation. We below-the-line members would just like to be considered in the conversation. I believe what the writers are asking for is more than fair, but I know we will be the ones left in crippling debt after the smoke clears, with no celebration dance at the end for us.
There will be winners, but we are guaranteed to be losers.
WGA supported the IATSE strike that almost happened last year. However, in that strike, we weren’t fighting just for money.
Let’s start by saying that I, like the huge majority of my fellow crew members, support the WGA if they strike to get fair compensation. We below-the-line members would just like to be considered in the conversation. I believe what the writers are asking for is more than fair, but I know we will be the ones left in crippling debt after the smoke clears, with no celebration dance at the end for us.
There will be winners, but we are guaranteed to be losers.
WGA supported the IATSE strike that almost happened last year. However, in that strike, we weren’t fighting just for money.
- 5/1/2023
- by Farah Bunch
- Deadline Film + TV
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