As a longtime follower of Hollywood and its intricate labor dynamics, I am thrilled to hear about this upcoming documentary on SAG-AFTRA’s transformation over the past decade. Having witnessed the impact of union leadership changes and strikes on various industries, I can’t help but feel like a seasoned spectator watching the latest chapter unfold in the grand saga that is Hollywood.
The creators known for notable documentaries concerning casting directors and the #MeToo phenomenon are now focusing on a new Hollywood topic: the developmental journey of the performers’ union, SAG-AFTRA.
Filmmakers Tom Donahue (Director-producer) and Ilan Arboleda are developing a movie focusing on the evolution of a labor union, particularly from 2008 when the Writers Guild of America staged a strike against film and TV studios, and the Screen Actors Guild contemplated but didn’t carry out their own work stoppage. The narrative unfolds up until 2024, following the aftermath of the union’s significant 118-day actors’ strike. This movie is a summary of interviews that have been conducted over a ten-year period by these filmmakers. Furthermore, the project will delve into the union’s history and its longstanding struggle to establish a middle class for actors. They discussed this with The Hollywood Reporter.
Under their CreativeChaos vmg label, the movie-making group has utilized popular Hollywood storylines to portray broader stories on social issues in the United States. The 2018 film This Changes Everything delved into workplace gender inequality, and 2012’s Casting By focused on a female-dominated profession that often goes unacknowledged compared to other crafts. Their upcoming project aims to use SAG-AFTRA as a platform to talk about the decline of the American middle class, which they attribute to the weakening of unions in America, according to Donahue.
In 2011, filmmakers started working on their project following the Screen Actors Guild’s leadership overhaul after a failed attempt to authorize a strike by former president Alan Rosenberg. From there, Arboleda and Donahue conducted interviews with Rosenberg and his affiliated group, Membership First, as well as its opposing faction, Unite for Strength. The team subsequently documented the merger between the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists in 2012, according to Arboleda.
The filmmakers temporarily shelved their project while they worked on other films, but revisited it following the 2023 actors’ strike. Their intention is to portray how repeated rounds of contract negotiations led to a 118-day labor dispute and the influence that President Fran Drescher had on the union. Additionally, they aim to exhibit the impact of the emergence of “new media” (streaming entertainment) on performers’ rates and residuals. As for Arboleda, he finds resuming the project after such a long time beneficial, stating that “Time has worked in our favor, and surprisingly, the delay was almost essential to gain this broader perspective of the issue.
Drescher and the national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland have consented to speak with the filmmakers. According to a statement from Drescher, “SAG-AFTRA’s ‘Hot Labor Summer’ of 2023 is one of the most significant chapters in the history of the entertainment industry.” This is an essential tale that requires sharing. Crabtree-Ireland also stated, “Our struggle for our members served as inspiration for workers everywhere and is a story that deserves to be heard and echoed throughout future decades.
Earlier, the filmmakers conducted interviews with notable figures such as Ken Howard, Roberta Reardon, Ed Asner (who were former labor leaders), along with union insiders and observers like Michael Sheen, Amy Aquino, David White, Rebecca Damon, Matthew Kimbrough, David Prindle, and Jonathan Handel (a former journalist from Hollywood Reporter). The goal now is for the filmmakers to complete the project around mid-2026.
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2024-10-26 01:24