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IATSE entertainment union members call for strike authorization vote

Shawn Robbins, Boxoffice.com Chief Analyst, explains why thousands of TV and film workers are calling for a strike and what it could mean for Hollywood's biggest studios.

Video transcript

- A looming strike threatening to shut down TV and film production across the US. The union representing film and TV production crews now seeking a second strike authorization vote for a separate contract covering film and TV work in the rest of the country. And we did get a statement from the union saying specifically, "these issues are real for the workers in our industry and change is long overdue.

However, the explosion of streaming combined with the pandemic has elevated and aggravated working conditions, bringing 60,000 people behind-the-scenes workers covered by these contracts to a breaking point. We risked our health and safety all year working through the pandemic to ensure that our business emerged intact. Now, we cannot and will not accept a deal that leaves us with an unsuitable, unsustainable outcome."

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Let's bring in Shawn Robbins. He is boxoffice.com chief analyst. We've also got Yahoo Finance's Ali Canal joining in on the conversation. And, Shawn, you know, the timing of this is-- really couldn't be worse. If you think about the studios and these streaming services who are now just trying to get caught up with the production schedule that was delayed as a result of the pandemic, is this kind of the union, with that understanding, bringing the issue to these executives?

SHAWN ROBBINS: Right. And thanks for having me. It's great to be back. You're absolutely right. This is a challenging time, I think, in a lot of aspects. And this kind of adds another aspect to-- to what is essentially a very long recov-- sorry, a very long recovery period that's extending through all sectors of this industry.

And we kind of associate Hollywood with the big name actors and everybody making money, but we're talking about hundreds of thousands of workers that are potentially impacted by this return to work that's been, you know, underway for quite a while, but now, we're really hitting that that stride of-- of full productions back in stream. So-- and combined with the element of looking at the fact that studios are not-- not only trying to put movies out, but expanding their streaming content, this is-- this is new territory in a lot of ways, but it's also not the first time that we-- we've seen similar situations pop up.

ALI CANAL: Yeah, and Shawn, you know, I think it was 14 years ago, I remember that writers' strike, and I remember it specifically impacted one of my favorite shows "Grey's Anatomy," and we got a very shortened season for that. But, you know, it's interesting too, because we did recently hear from Disney CEO Bob Chapek. He said that the Delta variant surge, that's going to impact subscriber growth numbers, and now, we have this potential strike. So give us a sense of what specifically this means for that content pipeline and the potential bottleneck effect that we could see.

SHAWN ROBBINS: That's a great question. It's hard to say. I think we can only really speculate. And we can look at the historical, you know, precedence here.

You mentioned the strike about 14 years ago. That lasted about four months through the Writers Guild. And that-- that significantly impacted content distribution.

Because we've even seen-- I don't want to name names, but certain filmmakers and writers have certainly been outspoken over the years about how their work was impacted at the time, and even people who chose to continue to work really didn't have the resources they needed to make these productions happen. Now, apply that 14 years later in a world where movies, studios are trying to not only put movies out, but also, launch these streaming platforms at a very nascent time in their evolution. It-- it's really, I think, going to come down to a lot of factors.

There's also an element of public negotiation here, the social media factor which wasn't nearly as prevalent a decade and a half ago. There's a lot more support, I think, fostering because of that that community interaction. So in some ways, you know, it might be a positive to helping resolve this quicker than what happened 14 years ago, but who knows? It's really hard to say.

- In many ways, Shawn, we have seen this issue of, you know, revenue coming in from streaming really bubble to the surface over the last several months. You had the issue with Scarlett Johansson, of course, suing Disney, saying she was also entitled to the revenue that came in from the streaming of her movie. And now, you've got these un-- this union specifically saying, look, you've said for years that streaming was sort of this-- this emerging space, that it wasn't film or TV production. Now, we've seen the numbers from these streaming services. Is this just a matter of that public negotiation and seeking a little more clarity to say, yes, in fact, this is kind of the new dynamic in Hollywood?

SHAWN ROBBINS: It's very possible. You know, I think in the case of Scarlett Johansson, we're-- we're talking about a well-known star with a lot of clout, a lot of power within the industry to be able to come out and do that. You can kind of make the argument that this is what unions are there for. They represent many, many people and people that don't necessarily have the power to speak up and-- and push for change in the way that someone really well known is.

So that's really, I think, the point here. I-- again, it's hard to make a prediction on what's going to come out of all of this. But I think the-- I think the rallying support that's coming out of social media will really have an influence on this particular negotiation in ways that we haven't seen before. And certainly, what's-- what's going on with Disney and Scarlett Johansson, just to remain completely objective here, it's had an influence. I mean, I think that's easy and objective to say.

- Yeah, they're definitely big names that people watch and pay attention to any time you see a battle at that-- at that level. But this battle, too, I mean, not to be overlooked, we're talking about kind of far-reaching. Just showed kind of which pieces of production are involved in these talks, and it sounds like the timeline would be October 1 for the strike vote to happen. And, I mean, when you look at the backlog, how long do you think it would be if that does last, as you said, precedent there with the writers' strike, for months, what it might do for for some of these larger named films.

SHAWN ROBBINS: Yeah, it's-- I wish I had a solid concrete answer on that. We-- we can look at the four-month length of-- of that previous strike, which was very well covered in the media. I think something-- if that were to happen, hopefully, it doesn't, but if it were to happen, you could potentially see an impact on productions going into easily next year, which would really affect films and-- and streaming series that are slated to release as far as deep into the year, because these productions often last anywhere from a few months to a year or a year and a half, depending on the size and scope. If we're talking about big blockbusters, that that has a domino effect more than 12 months down the calendar at times.

ALI CANAL: And Shawn, you know, we've seen this worker revolution, not just in entertainment, but really, across all sectors, especially leisure and hospitality. And because the financial impact post-pandemic has been so great, we have seen some concessions. We have seen some greater benefits. So do you think the odds are high that we will reach a mutually beneficial agreement considering how much is riding on this decision?

SHAWN ROBBINS: You know, again, I sound like a broken record. It's-- I don't want to predict confidently here because it's very hard to speak for these organizations and these unions, but I think your point is very fair to bring up. And I think that's exactly what we've already seen over the past year.

We've seen this understanding from an industry that had no blueprint for how to tackle this kind of a challenge. I think that's still the case. I think the reality is everyone understands the pandemic is not over. Things are getting better, but we still have a lot to get through.

And my-- my hunch is that that will apply for some time to come, and especially with the understanding of we're talking about issues that relate to the pandemic, as well as ones that existed before the pandemic. This is an opportunity for both sides to really come to the table and solve a lot of issues at a time where that's really what we've had to come together and do as-- as a-- as a culture and as humans, for that matter, not even just an industry for the past year and a half.

- Yeah, no question. A lot of people hoping that there is some kind of resolution reached and it doesn't come down to a strike. Shawn Robbins, good to have you on today. Boxoffice.com Chief Analyst. And our Thanks to Ali Canal too for joining in on the conversation.