Film industry workers in Hawaii relieved at end of writers’ strike
By Diane Ako
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HONOLULU (KITV) — The Hollywood’s writers’ strike is over after nearly five months. Late Tuesday night, union board members of the Writers Guild of America approved a contract agreement with studios.
As of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, writers are free to start on scripts again. Manoa-based screenwriter Aaron Kandell said writers consider the contract terms a win.
“From what I’ve seen, it addresses all the systemic issues that have been driving down the value of workers in our and other industries and making it harder and harder to maintain sustainable careers. To put that in context, the deals the studios agreed to is currently valued at a collective $233 million a year, which is about the budget of a blockbuster film, but that’s spread over 11,500 writers in the WGA,” explained Kandell.
It’s estimated the 148-day strike cost the industry $5 billion. And it was very painful for many individuals, like Kandell.
“People have been hurting, people have been out of jobs out of work. I haven’t made any income since March. Big, giant blockbuster movies like Lilo and Stitch that had to shut down a week, two weeks before the end of that filming, and stunt coordinators and makeup and wardrobe people and lighting and gaffers and all these people have been off work,” he said.
Kandell and his twin brother, Jordan, are working on a new movie called The Three Year Swim Club, based in Maui. One strike is over and the other one is still ongoing – that of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists – but Kandell said he can still make a little progress.
“It allows us to kind of hit the ground running and start to build the pre-production into production. So while we can’t go and film anything yet, it allows us to do any punch ups and polishes of the script, it allows us to start to think about filming and locations,” he detailed.
Local actor Blaze Cosner, a member of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, says he’s excited to be a step closer to work again.
“As is, jobs are very scarce in Hawaii. When the strike happened, everything got put on hold. Acting has always been a big dream of mine and with the strike it’s put everything on pause,” he reflected.
Cosner is a personal trainer with his own business, so he said he was able to provide for himself during the strike. He cut back on spending or wasn’t able to pay back his loans as quickly, without paychecks from acting jobs.
Late-night talk shows will likely be the first shows to resume. Scripted shows will take longer to return, with actors still on strike and no negotiations on the horizon.
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