John Campbell, 60, has been working in the film industry for 29 years as a grip and as a driver. In July, he was dropped from the industry health plan for the first time in his career, falling 7.5 hours short of the threshold needed to maintain eligibility.
He signed up for COBRA — at a cost of $692 per month — while he called around trying to get a single day of work. But with two strikes underway, it was not easy.
He is not alone — lots of veteran crew members are in the same boat.
“Here we are in our 29th year, 30th year, 35th year, and we’re still scrambling like the day we got into the business,” Campbell said.
SAG-AFTRA took to the picket lines on July 14, joining the the Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike for three months. Work had already been slow for a couple of months leading up to the writers’ strike. Much of the economic impact of the shutdown has been felt by “below the line” crew members.
“I’m trying to cope with this the best way I can,” said Bill Bridges, a 54-year-old grip who said that many of his bills are going unpaid. “I’ve been in film industry my entire adult life and I can’t get ahead.”
Crew members must work 400 hours in a six-month period in order to keep health insurance under the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans. A few are already starting to be dropped, but more could lose coverage if the strike lasts into the fall.
“Each month that the strike goes on, people aren’t making qualifying hours,” said Mike Miller, who runs the West Coast office of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. “So it’s going to increase every month.”
MPIPHP announced on Monday that workers will get credited up to 201 hours to meet their eligibility criteria. The plans took a similar step to maintain coverage during the COVID-19 shutdown.
The Entertainment Community Fund has been giving out emergency grants to workers. Through July 14, it distributed 1,000 grants totaling $1.7 million.
“A lot of people are really in dire straits,” said Annette Bening, the actor who chairs the fund. She noted that the fund provides mental health counseling and help with maintaining insurance.
The Motion Picture & Television Fund has helped about 500 people find alternate insurance, including Covered California plans. Bob Beitcher, the CEO of MPTF, said the impact is falling most heavily on the workers who make up the backbone of the industry.
“They are getting clobbered by this,” Beitcher said. “They are losing their homes. They are getting their cars repossessed. They are losing their health insurance. All the government backstops that were there during the pandemic are gone.”
On Friday, IATSE held a food drive for entertainment workers at its Burbank office. Cars snaked down the street and around the block, as drivers waited for more than an hour to collect a few boxes of vegetables, rice, beans and canned goods.
Ashly Covington, who has worked as a hand model, an extra, a stand-in and a photo double, was among those in line.
“All the background and photo double work — all of that has ground to a halt,” she said.
As a member of SAG-AFTRA, she voted for the strike, and said she believes it is critical to obtain key protections against artificial intelligence.
“I am so pro-strike,” she said. “Hand models will be one of the first shoved down that route if we don’t protect against AI.”
Bridges said many of the jobs available now are in commercials, but that the key grips who specialize in that area are getting flooded with messages from guys who are out of work. He said his phone has stopped ringing and he has not worked more than 30 days this year.
“This is an entirely new financial low for me. It’s bad. I’m afraid I’m going to lose my house and have my wife’s car repoed,” he said. “It’s horrible and it’s extremely depressing. I just don’t know what to do.”
Bruno Amato, an actor who has appeared on “Abbott Elementary” and “Yellowstone,” said he recently moved from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to save money on rent.
“It’s been a while already,” he said. “I don’t know if this strike is going to end next month or next year.”
He comes back to L.A. every week or two to walk a picket line.
Chephren Rasika, a grip for the last 29 years, said that business has been dead since January. Like a lot of older grips, he has back issues, and has gone on disability. He said his income has dropped from $15,000 to $20,000 per month down to $6,000.
“It’s not only a lifestyle change, it’s an everything change,” he said. “You have to conserve in ways you’re not accustomed to.”
Campbell said he had recently taken a year of disability to deal with a series of health issues, including a busted shoulder, a hip replacement and a hernia. Bridges also said he had a knee replacement recently, and is now on disability.
“It takes a toll on your body,” he said.
He said he would need 180 hours of work by October, or he too will lose his health coverage.
“Then I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do,” he said.
He said he recently ran into a friend whom he knew from working on “CSI: Las Vegas.” They were both out buying alcohol in the afternoon.
“We talked about the levels of depression,” Bridges said. “I know lots of guys it’s causing to drink more than they need to be.”
Campbell said he finally got a single day’s work in mid-July as a driver. But he was still wrestling with the bureaucracy to try to get his benefits restored, and had made numerous calls to the industry plan.
He said he hopes the writers and actors are able to get back to the negotiations with the studios.
“These guys are going to have to figure out what they’re gonna do,” he said. “If this goes to the end of the year, a lot of people are going to end up having left California because they can’t afford it anymore.”
Rasika agreed.
“Adults need to sit at the table and talk,” he said. “At some point, they need to hurry this up because people are suffering.”