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| A bartender, a background actor, a shrink, a hair stylist—a psychic inventory of a city in stasis.  Illustration by Millie von Platen As the strikes by the Writers Guild of America and the actors of SAG-AFTRA have stretched through the summer, life is starting to get a little weird in Hollywood. Michael Schulman recently visited Los Angeles to take in the mood of the country’s entertainment capital, where major movies and awards shows have been pushed to next year, and the strikers are confronting “dread, restlessness, economic panic.” Here are just a few of the things he discovered: - Some strikers are relying on food banks and have been forced to take on “survival gigs as nannies, Uber drivers, dog-walkers, brand ambassadors,” while major actors are reportedly using the work stoppage to fit in plastic surgery before they return to set.
- One of L.A.’s most in-demand psychotherapists has noticed an asymmetry among his patients. Striking writers and actors talk constantly about the labor fight, whereas the executives he sees seem to rarely mention it. “They may just not be involved in the negotiation at all,” he says. “I suspect the other reason is that what the writers suspect is real: producers don’t think much about writers.”
- Netflix, whose robust cache of completed material has left it well positioned to endure in a content desert, has emerged as the major villain of the strike. “Writers and actors are worrying about paying their rent, taking care of their kids,” one former Hollywood executive notes. “And this giant company—wait a minute, this is actually working to their benefit? Psychologically, that’s just really galling.”
For more on the strike, read why TV writers are so miserable » | | | |
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Today’s newsletter was written by Ian Crouch. | | | |
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