Nothing to see here, just Hollywood grinding to a complete standstill. The WGA strike, that’s been happening since May, has now officially been joined by the SAG-AFTRA strike, with tinseltown’s union-supported actors joining their screenwriting colleagues in campaigning for better pay. However, while both strikes are necessary so everyone can be earning what they deserve, actress Rachel Zegler has stepped forward to discuss an unintended downside of the down-turn of production.
And no, it’s not that consumers may have a bit less content to watch for the foreseeable future. In an impassioned Twitter thread, Zegler — who’s been a fixture on the silver screen since her breakout role in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story in 2021 — championed the other members of a production crew who aren’t striking right now and yet also deserve to be remunerated fairly.
“‘Is anyone else thinking about below the line workers right now?’ Zegler wrote. ‘I am all for striking to get a fair deal for myself and my fellow actors but what happens to my tireless crew? The ones who are here before and after I leave? What happens to them? The more tedious this becomes the more infuriated I am that this industry remains wildly unfair to the people who work the hardest to keep it afloat. And spoiler alert: it’s usually not the people in charge.’”
Going on to highlight many of the types of people she’s talking about, including “tireless hair and makeup artists, costumers, camera operators, technicians, sound, prop masters, set decorators, productions assistants, craft service workers,” and many more, Zegler continued:
“Movies do not get made without thousands of people who love to make them. But love isn’t enough sometimes. They need to be able to pay rent and put food on the table.”
The 22-year-old star furthered her position by stressing that she 100 percent supports the actors’ strike, but that she hopes those who have the power to make this interruption to the workflow end sooner than later do so, in order to make sure that those who need movie productions to continue in order to live don’t suffer for long. As Zegler said:
“This strike affects them, too. And as we inch towards it with uncertainty, I hope we’re thinking of them… because we would be nothing without them. The strike is necessary. No one should have to prove the worth of the labor they provide. The success of our industry lies on ALL of us as a united front. but it’s important for me to share some perspective here. Below the line workers will suffer.”
Zegler concluded with the following tweet which summed up the complicated nature of the situation as it stands:
It’s fair to say Hollywood is in crisis point right now, with both writers and actors being on strike concurrently for the first time in 60 years. It may well get darker before things get brighter, then, but let’s hope those who are being negatively affected by the strikes and yet have no direct involvement in them continue to be considered.
Rachel Zegler will next be seen in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, releasing Nov. 17, 2023. She also stars in Disney’s Snow White remake, coming March 22, 2024.