2023 saw the longest strike for SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), beginning July 14 and ending November 9, a period of 118 days. It followed the beginning of the 2023 Writer Guild of America strike, lasting 148 days. Actors, actresses, writers, and crew members were not able to participate in promoting, filming, creating or engaging in new contracts to work on many new or current productions. This did not impact most small budget films or films they were already contracted to work for as most of these small budget films did not involve SAG-AFTRA members.
Many of us felt the impact regarding our entertainment and social media presence but its economic impact is significantly more astounding. The combined strikes came with a loss of 45,000 jobs and it is estimated that Southern California alone lost $6.5 billion in revenue. This includes supporting small businesses, local restaurants, hotels, Air BNB locations, production accounting services, and non-guild members who supplemented their income by being an extra. Imagine that impact across the country and worldwide through the long reach of the U.S. film industry. Crew workers were hit hardest by both strikes. Many were forced to part with their homes and retirement savings to survive the strikes as one compounded the other and kept many out of work beyond the strike ending dates as projects needed time to gain their equilibrium. Although picketing was mainly held in Los Angeles and New York (with small pauses for wildfire smoke safety concerns), this impact was also felt in Cleveland.
As a firm involved in production accounting, along with work related to the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Incentive, Diamond CAS, a division of Pease Bell CPAs, was also impacted. Its initial impact involved pre-production during the Writers Guild strike, but swiftly moved to production with the inclusion of the SAG-AFTRA strike. Without writers to create screenplays and without talent and crew to film, the industry hit a decided lull. Favorite TV shows paused and upcoming movies delayed their releases, its effects to be felt in the upcoming summer movie season.
Back in Ohio, since the strike, several new projects have been green lighted, evidenced by the number of Ohio tax incentive applications recently filed, allowing Diamond CAS' Motion Picture team to be well positioned in accommodating a film production's needs.
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