I used to be a substitute teacher at one point, and that position is non-union. In my district, there came a time when teachers were on the razor’s edge of striking and were doing something called “teach to the rule.” No adjunct duties, no unpaid overtime (which is expected and necessary to manage a classroom teacher’s workload, I worked 60 hours a week as a classroom teacher and still couldn’t keep up). I followed the union’s rules even though I wasn’t in it, and left when the bell rang and did not do any adjunct duties like running detention. It might have seemed irresponsible, and it definitely put my job at risk, but to do otherwise felt like crossing a kind of picket line, and I just couldn’t. With the WGA and SAG-AFTRA both striking, I think a lot of us have wondered what the terms of the strike are, and how it affects other people in the entertainment industry who are non-union. Variety has a helpful rundown of all the different rules and exceptions. Film critics and entertainment journalists can still cover movies and TV releases, but they can’t interview actors. Actors can be on game shows or reality shows, and most influencer work shouldn’t be affected. Oh, and boycotting Netflix won’t help.
I’m a film critic. Can I review movies?
Absolutely. Critics are not on strike and are not obligated to stop reviewing movies or TV shows.
I’m an entertainment journalist. Can I cover movies and TV?
Yes. Entertainment journalists, whether they belong to a union or not, are not on strike. Even those broadcast journalists who are represented by SAG-AFTRA are not affected, as the strike relates only to the TV/Theatrical contract.
I’m an entertainment journalist. Will any actor talk to me about their project?
Probably not. That would be promoting struck work. They may talk about why they’re on strike though.
What if the actor wants to talk about their project and sets up the interview through their personal publicist and not through the studio?
That’s still not OK, according to SAG-AFTRA. (The WGA softened on this after a few weeks, but SAG-AFTRA has not.)
Should I boycott Netflix?
Neither the WGA nor SAG-AFTRA has called for a boycott of Netflix or any other platform, and it won’t make much of a difference if you do it on your own.
Can SAG-AFTRA members do reality shows or game shows?
Yes. The union has helpfully put out a document listing all the things that SAG-AFTRA performers can still do, including appearing on reality shows and game shows. They can also do commercials, video game work, talk shows, etc.
I’m an influencer. Can I promote movies and TV shows?
Here’s where it gets tricky. Most influencers are non-union and are not subject to any strike rules. But some of them do work under the SAG-AFTRA Influencer Agreement, or may want to someday. And those influencers have been asked not to promote struck work (i.e. movies and TV shows), either for pay or “organically.” However, if an influencer already has a contract to promote something, the union advises them to fulfill the obligations of the contract. They are also free to influence on any other subject.
It will be interesting to see if non-union influencers hold the line in solidarity. Many influencers get invited to movie premieres or other promotional events, and some do sponsored posts about upcoming films, though it’s less common. And it’s a blow to journalists, who truly can’t win right now. It does make me wonder if people will come up with creative workarounds. Gay Talese wrote one of the greatest celebrity profiles of all time, about Frank Sinatra, without once interviewing Frank Sinatra. Frank didn’t want to talk to Talese, or any journalist. He was in a stupendously bad mood at the time about turning 50 and didn’t trust reporters anyway. So Talese talked to everyone around Frank instead, over the course of 3 months. The result is a searingly accurate portrait of a complicated man. It wouldn’t surprise me to see journalists trying to write around celebrities who can’t promote their work. Something else I’ve been thinking about: there are certain unions–the railroad and dock worker unions come to mind–that have more power because if there’s no one to run the ports or transport goods, the global economy stops on a dime. Actors and writers don’t have that same level of leverage (to be clear, I don’t begrudge those other unions for using that leverage). It will take a few months before the studios start running out of new content. Given the bottomless greed of Hollywood execs, striking writers and actors are going to have a long road ahead of them, I fear. If you want to help union workers, you can donate to the Entertainment Community Fund.
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