As the dual Hollywood strikes drag on with no end in sight, writers and actors are increasingly finding themselves in dire financial straits, with a growing number of striking workers reportedly facing evictions as they can no longer afford to pay rent. In certain cases, some have resorted to living in their cars.
Several charitable organizations that have been supporting striking Hollywood workers with grants said they are seeing housing difficulties impact actors and writers as well as blue-collar crew members, according to an account from The Hollywood Reporter.
Thousands of crew members ranging from lighting personnel to makeup artists have been forced into long-term unemployment due to the strikes.
For many non-celebrity actors, the strikes have been financially ruinous.
“The strike has had a massive impact on my housing situation. I worked one day in May, and since then all the work has stopped,” actor David Baach told The Hollywood Reporter.
“I’ve almost depleted my entire savings, and I haven’t been able to pay my rent the last few months. My building manager and property owners extended me a grace period due to the good social credit I had built up by doing some gardening and landscaping in our building’s common area. However, in early August, I received an eviction notice from the building’s management company taped to my front door.”
Leaders of two Hollywood charities — the Entertainment Community Fund and the Motion Picture & Television Fund — told the magazine that people are losing their homes due to the strikes.
“People are becoming unhoused, they’re being evicted from their apartments and they’re not paying their mortgages so eventually they will lose their homes as well. We’re talking to people who are living in their cars, in some cases with their families,” MPTF president and CEO Bob Beitcher reportedly said.
The MPTF is giving away $1,500 grants to striking workers but the amount doesn’t come close to covering monthly rent in a city as expensive as Los Angeles and its surroundings.
The actors’ and writers’ strikes against Hollywood studios show no signs of ending as the warring sides continue to dig in their heels on key negotiating points regarding streaming compensation and A.I. has brought TV and movie production to a virtual halt around the country, putting thousands of people out of work and damaging local economies coast to coast.
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