As Gov. Gavin Newsom steps in to help all sides of the strikes that have hobbled Hollywood, businesses that depend on the industry to survive continue to feel the impact.With productions shut down, her business has essentially vanished. She said it's even tougher to maneuver than in the pandemic.
"At least during COVID, everybody was part of it," she said. "We were all trying to go through this together. There were government funds, there was unemployment, there were loans that you could get at a really, really reasonable rate, and we don't really have any of that now.
However, York said both Newsom and senior members of his administration have been in touch with all sides as the two strikes stretch deeper into the summer blockbuster season."There are funds available for actors and crewmembers but all of the concentric circles of business that are affected by this, we get nothing," she said."We're kind of going through COVID with no help," she said. "We could really use the support.
The last time the writers went on strike more than a decade ago, the 100-day work stoppage cost the state's economy an estimated $2 billion. The economic hit could be even bigger this time around now that actors have joined the picket lines. The strikes come after Newsom signed a state budget that included a more than $31 billion deficit in part because of a slowdown in the tech sector, another one of the state's key industries.
The writers have been on strike since May, and the actors joined them earlier this month. Both unions have concerns about how they will be paid in an age where fewer people are paying to go to the movies or watch cable TV in favor of streaming services. And they are worried how the rise of artificial intelligence will affect the creative process of how movies and TV shows are made and who is paid to make them.Copyright © 2023 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.