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What Happened The Last Time SAG & WGA Went On Strike Together 63 Years Ago
BY
GREG MACARTHUR
PUBLISHED 2 DAYS AGO
The first dual SAG & WGA strike of the 21st century has effectively shut down Hollywood, a simultaneous union effort that hasn't occurred since 1960.
The 2023 SAG & WGA dual strike marks the first time that the two Hollywood unions have protested simultaneously in over six decades. The Writers Guild of America is being joined in protest against major Hollywood studios such as Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros. as well as tech streaming giants Netflix, Apple, and Amazon. SAG-AFTRA begins their strike more than two months after the WGA started theirs, which will prohibit all 160,000 members from participating in new productions or promoting upcoming television and movie releases. The SAG-AFTRA strike affects everyone from Hollywood's biggest celebrity actors to lesser-known background actors.
The combined SAG and WGA strike will force all current productions to halt as of July 14, 2023 as writers and actors alike combat executive efforts to increasingly rely on AI technology for future films and television series. Writers who have been weary about the threat of AI-generated screenplays are joined in solidarity by actors who are concerned about having their likenesses used digitally without their authorization. While Hollywood has been completely upended after the COVID-19 pandemic virtually froze the box office for 2-3 years, major studios are looking for ways to retain their diminishing power and wealth but fail to consider the livelihoods of the artists it has depended on for well over a century.
The 1960 SAG & WGA Strike Shut Down Hollywood For 6 Weeks
The last time Hollywood was forced to exist at a standstill was during the 1960 dual SAG and WGA strike which overlapped for six continuous weeks. The writers had gone on strike on January 16, 1960 due to a conflict over residual payments. Their primary concern was about how studios unfairly sold the rights of their films to television providers after a theatrical release without properly compensating the writers of those projects. The Screen Actors Guild joined in the strike against Hollywood in March 1960 over related issues concerning residual payments for actors. The SAG at the time was led by former guild president Ronald Reagan, who authorized the vote to strike in February 1960.
Similarly, the current 2023 dual SAG and WGA strike shares a mutual concern regarding a major Hollywood shift in technology and output, with the previous concerns in 1960 about television essentially translating to the imminent fear of pervasive streaming services and AI technology. Both the 1960 and 2023 dual strikes effectively aim to ensure fair wages and proper representation of all actors and writers, who wish to maintain reasonable compensation and representation through yet another momentous technological shift in Hollywood.
The Simultaneous 1960 SAG & WGA Strike Halted Production On 8 Major Movies
The simultaneous 1960 SAG and WGA strike against the Alliance of Television & Film Producers (ATFP) halted the production of at least eight major motion pictures at the time. These include Jack Lemmon's The Wackiest Ship in the Army, Elizabeth Taylor's Butterfield 8, Gina Lollobrigida's Go Naked in the World, and Marilyn Monroe's Let's Make Love. Similarly to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, all members of the actors union were prohibited from working on any Hollywood production until a resolution was met. Some of the most prominent actors that were affected by the 1960 SAG strike include Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, John Wayne, Sean Connery, Bing Crosby, and Fred Astaire.
The 1960 WGA & SAG Strike Ended In Better Residuals & Rights For Writers & Actors
The 1960 WGA and SAG strike ended with better residual agreements and rights for both writers and actors. In many ways, the actors reinforced the writers' demands for guaranteed residuals that helped bring their strike to a more advantageous outcome. Of course, the SAG shared a common interest with the WGA at the time, similar to the current 2023 dual strike. The previous SAG concluded on April 18, 1960 with the ATFP agreeing to pay a one-time sum of $2.25 million, or roughly $23 million today considering inflation, to cover the implementation of the guild's healthcare and pension plans. The WGA protest continued for weeks after the conclusion of the SAG strike.
The WGA strike finally reached a resolution on June 12, 1960 that secured the first residual deal for writers of theatrical releases in the history of Hollywood. The writers were also able to secure their own funding from the ATFP for healthcare and pension plans as well (via WGA). Ideally, the 2023 dual SAG and WGA would repeat the history of the 1960 dual strike, with the actors' guild setting a new precedent that will ultimately benefit the writers' original interests. Since Hollywood will be forced to respond swiftly and drastically in order to save its 2024 productions and beyond, agreements must be secured in both the writers' and actors' 2023 strikes that ensure artificial technology will not take over their craft in an industry that has always focused on the pecuniary bottom line.
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