How the rest of Hollywood is affected by the writers and actors strikes
As the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes continue, other Hollywood jobs are paused indefinitely, but support for strikers is still strong.
Ebony Star Parson, a makeup artist who lives in Atlanta, planned to start working this week on a new season of the BET sitcom “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne.” The scripts were finished before Hollywood’s screenwriters went on strike in early May, she said, so the crew was cleared to start shooting.
But on Thursday, after thousands of screen actors went on strike, Parson learned that production on “House of Payne” was shutting down. The show’s producers told Parson and her colleagues to drop by the set and pick up their makeup kits. It was lights out for the time being.
Parson said she fully supports the film and television actors on the picket lines fighting for better base compensation, safeguards against the use of artificial intelligence and other protections. But she is also confronting the painful prospect of an immediate future without steady employment.
“We stand in solidarity with our talent, because they are the reason we are able to work. But we are also impacted here, so it’s bittersweet,” Parson said. “We understand why it’s happening, but we are hurting. We are taking a hit.”
She does not have another job lined up, and she is still trying to come up with an “action plan” in the event the SAG-AFTRA strike drags on through the end of the year. She is praying for guidance.
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