Writers’ strike: UK film and TV workers forced to put homes up for sale due to US action
Out of work British film and TV crew members are being forced to put their homes up for sale as a result of the knock-on effects of striking writers and actors in the US.
Philippa Childs, the head of entertainment union BECTU, said some people are considering changing career.
“I’ve had people saying to me they’re having to sell their house, their cars, we had one of our representatives the other day say she was going to leave the profession because she’d had enough,” she said.
As a result of more than two months of A-lister industrial action, some of the UK’s busiest sound stages are now more like ghost towns.
Elle Moore, 24, an experienced production assistant, has struggled to book any jobs.
“I’ve basically gone from two years of work, to on-off work for summer, to in the last six weeks no work at all. There’s just no work to apply for.”
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Production assistant Elle Moore
With more than two-thirds of the UK’s total film spend coming from the US, the impact of striking Hollywood writers and actors – taking on the studios over issues including AI and repeat residuals – has been severe.
Graham Webb, managing director of construction specialist 4Wood, said: “It’s absolutely brought large parts of the industry to a grinding halt and straight after COVID, that’s difficult.”
Specialists in high-end TV and film, they have relied on theatre and live events to make up for lost work.
Side hustles like providing set storage are a vital revenue stream.
“When it goes quiet and people are fighting for less and less work in the marketplace, that’s unsettling for everyone,” Mr Webb added.
Graham Webb, managing director of construction specialist 4Wood
Fewer projects mean fierce competition to book jobs on British projects that can still shoot and some workers are reporting certain production companies are taking advantage of the situation to undercut established pay rates.
Ms Childs of BECTU added: “The industry shouldn’t be exploiting the situation and they should be paying rates people deserve.”
More than 30,000 people have signed a petition urging the government to consider a furlough-type scheme for those who have been impacted severely because of the precarious nature of the contract work they do.
Ms Childs said: “Our message to the government is they need to put some mechanisms in place for when things are tough because otherwise they’re going to lose skills they desperately need.”
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But the government has said it has no plans to introduce an income replacement scheme, steering freelancers instead to the help already available to delay tax payments to HMRC through its Time to Pay scheme.
Anecdotally, Sky News spoke to multiple highly skilled film and TV workers who said they were now taking temporary work as delivery drivers or in bars just to cover their mounting bills.
For the 100,000 people, employed directly and indirectly in British film, the uncertainty of how long the strikes will last is a terrifying prospect.
Taylor Swift has revealed the release date for her new album, The Life Of A Showgirl.
The pop megastar announced her 12th studio album earlier this week but didn’t give many details.
Now, in social media posts and an appearance on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s sports podcast, Swift revealed just what fans can expect from the new album.
Taylor Swift and boyfriend Travis Kelce on the New Heights podcast. Pic: New Heights
The Life of Showgirl, written during the European leg of her record-breaking Eras tour, will be released on 3 October.
It consists of 12 songs, including the title track that features pop star Sabrina Carpenter.
The full track list is:
1. The Fate Of Ophelia
2. Elizabeth Taylor
3. Opalite
4. Father Figure
5. Eldest Daughter
6. Ruin The Friendship
7. Actually Romantic
8. Wi$h Li$t
9. Wood
10. Cancelled!
11. Honey
12. The Life Of A Showgirl (featuring Sabrina Carpenter)
Long-time collaborators Max Martin and Shellback, two Swedish producers who worked with Swift on some of her biggest hits, joined the pop star for this album.
Within four hours of posting the full podcast episode on YouTube, it had already gathered 4.7m views.
The cover of Taylor Swift’s newly announced album. Pic: Republic Records
The back cover of Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album The Life Of A Showgirl. Pic: Republic Records
‘The hardest-working star in pop’
The album follows last year’s The Tortured Poets Department, which was released during the Eras tour.
That tour, with shows on five continents and in 51 cities, raked in more than $2.2bn (£1.62bn) and was the highest-grossing tour of all time.
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“This album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour, which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant,” Swift said during her podcast appearance.
Sky News culture and entertainment reporter Gemma Peplow said after her globe-trotting tour and a swathe of re-releases over recent years, the new album cemented Swift’s reputation “as the hardest-working star in pop”.
Disgraced US film producer Harvey Weinstein is to be tried for a third time in a sexual assault case.
A jury in New York could not reach a verdict in June against the 73-year-old who was accused of raping actress Jessica Mann, and a mistrial was declared.
Judge Curtis Farber has said he wants the new trial to happen before the end of this year.
The same jury found Weinstein guilty in June of sexually assaulting former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and not guilty of assaulting Polish former runway model Kaja Sokola the same year.
Weinstein will be sentenced for the guilty verdict in Ms Haley’s case on 30 September.
He denied all of the charges. Throughout the retrial, his lawyers insisted the sexual encounters with his three accusers were “transactional” and “consensual,” and labelled the women as opportunists.
Weinstein was originally convicted of rape and criminal sexual act by the same court in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison for the crimes.
Last year, however, New York’s highest court overturned the conviction, prompting Weinstein’s retrial this summer.
Weinstein was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood – the co-founder of film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company, who produced films such as the Oscar-winning Shakespeare In Love, Pulp Fiction, and The Crying Game.
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In 2017, a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him propelled the #MeToo movement.
Some of those accusations later led to criminal charges and his convictions in New York and California.
Before the retrial, Weinstein was also serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty of rape in California in December 2022. He has also denied this charge.
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