Latest in Actors Strike

Four New York film production veterans, spanning the perspectives of unions, vendors and city government, agreed that the looming IATSE strike threat will restrict shoots this year before a rebound in 2025. Tommy O’Donnell, President of Theatrical Teamsters Local 817, which represents workers in…

Cinema owners, studios and indie distributors gathering in Las Vegas this week for exhibition's biggest confab seek visibility into a theatrical landscape gut-punched by Hollywood strikes last year just as a post-Covid recovery was revving up. Production halted for months led to fewer releases on the…

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher called out the misogyny that dogged her in strike negotiations and coverage, saying it was "disgusting." She's opined on that before but remarks today met a particularly receptive audience at the annual gala of New York Women In Film & Television where she was honored…

Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel drew a standing ovation at the Dolby Theatre by capping off his show-opening monologue with a salute to below-the-line union workers. “We were able to make a deal because of the people who rallied beside us,” Kimmel said, alluding to those who picketed in support of WGA and…

ITV boss Carolyn McCall has detailed the potential for a post-strike “blip” as commissioning conversations are restarted with U.S. buyers, while the head of ITV Studios described generative AI as a “co-pilot for creatives.” Speaking after the publication of ITV’s full-year results, which saw profits…

EXCLUSIVE: Bad Wolf is adopting a U.S.-style pilot strategy on BBC drama Dope Girls by finishing episode one months before the rest so that it can be shopped at the London and LA TV Screenings. Jane Tranter, who co-runs the Doctor Who and His Dark Materials producer, said this is the first time the…

The boss of the Bectu union has urged British broadcasters to have an “open and honest conversation about what the future looks like” with the ailing freelance workforce, while revealing concerns over future U.S. strike action. Positing that the UK TV industry’s freelance community is currently at…

Hasbro fell short of Wall Street analysts’ consensus estimate for fourth-quarter earnings, blaming a 31% drop in 2023 entertainment revenue on the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The toymaker also disappointed the Street with its 2024 outlook, particularly an expected 7% to 12% drop in consumer products…

Lionsgate Television Chairman Kevin Beggs says a transformed marketplace has taken shape in the wake of last year’s dual strikes and waves of cost-cutting affecting many TV players. “They’re ordering fewer shows, and there’s a lot of focus on the budget levels of those shows and a little more…

Lionsgate posted better-than-expected earnings in its fiscal third quarter, even as the dual strikes of 2023 took a bite out of its television business. The company, which is poised to split into two separate publicly traded entities in the coming months, reported adjusted earnings per share of 27…

EXCLUSIVE: The U.S. studios are aware of the dangers behind “making a wholesale shift to AI,” according to the CEO of a leading artificial intelligence dubbing outfit that says its content has been viewed by more than 1 billion people in the past year. Jesse Shemen, who runs Papercup, was speaking…

Spend on UK film and high-end TV slid sharply to £4.23B ($5.3B) in the strike-hit 2023, according to the BFI’s latest annual stats. The figure was 35% down on a record 2022, the BFI said, while floating the silver lining of £4.3B being nearly level with 2019’s pre-Covid spend. There were other green…