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.
Angelina Jolie says although she appreciates being an artist, she would prefer for her legacy to be “a good mother” and to be known for her “belief in equality and human rights”.
The Oscar-winning actress stars as Maria Callas in the new Pablo Larrain film about the opera singer’s life.
Pic: StudioCanal
She has called Maria “the hardest” and “most challenging” role she has had in her career and put months of preparation into immersing herself into the world of opera.
Jolie, who recently reached a divorce settlement with actor Brad Pitt, told Sky News: “To be very candid, it was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out.
“So, the challenge wasn’t the technical [side of opera], it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
The biopic combines the voice of the Maleficent actress with recordings of Maria Callas.
Jolie believes it “would be a crime to not have [Callas’] voice through this because, in many ways, she is very present in this film”.
Who was Maria Callas?
Born in New York in 1923, Maria Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants who moved back to Athens at the age of 13 with her mother and sister.
After enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, she made her professional debut at 17 and went on to become one of the most famous faces of opera, travelling around the world and performing at Covent Garden in London, The Met in New York and La Scala in Milan.
Callas’s final operatic performance took place at Covent Garden in 1965 when she was 41 but she continued to work conducting master classes at Juilliard School, doing concert tours and starring in the 1969 film Medea.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Maria focuses on the artist’s final years in the 1970s when she moved to Paris and disappeared from public view.
She died on 16 September 1977 at the age of 53.
Pic: StudioCanal
Jolie on changing motivations as an actor
Maria follows the life of an artist fully consumed by the art she creates and even remarks that “happiness never developed a beautiful melody”.
Reflecting on her own life in the spotlight, Jolie said she noticed her own career motivations change over the years.
“There’s this kind of study of being human that we do when we create, and we communicate with an audience because our work is not in isolation – it’s a connection.
“I think when I was younger, I had different questions about being human and different feelings and now as I’ve gotten older, I understand some things and now I have different questions.
“It’s a matter of life, right? And so maybe that’s interesting that this now is a character really contemplating death and really contemplating the toll of certain things in life that I, of course, couldn’t have understood in my 20s”.
Jolie at the New York Film Festival in September with three of her children (L-R) Pax, Zahara and Maddox. Pic: AP
A family affair
Two of Jolie’s children, Maddox and Pax, took on production assistant roles during the filming of Maria and witnessed their mother perform opera for the first time in public.
She says the film allowed them to create new experiences together and for her children to see her approach to playing a difficult role.
“Everyone in my home, we all give each other space to be who we are and we’re all different.
“I’m the mom, but I’m also an artist and a person and so my family has been very kind and gives me their understanding. They make fun of me, and they support me and just as you’d hope it would be.”
She adds: “When you play somebody who is dealing with so much pain, it’s very important to come home to some kindness.”
Maria is in cinemas now.
Tom Holland’s dad has confirmed his son’s engagement to Zendaya – revealing how the 28-year-old meticulously planned the proposal.
Zendaya, also 28, sparked engagement rumours when she attended last Sunday’s Golden Globes wearing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.
Neither star has publicly addressed the rumours but Tom’s comedian father, Dominic Holland, has now confirmed the pair are set to wed.
He wrote in a post on his Patreon account: “Tom, as you know by now was very incredibly well prepared. He had purchased a ring.
“He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter.”
“Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear,” he added.
Zendaya arrived at the Golden Globes with a noticeable piece of new jewellery. Pic: Invision/AP
Dominic also noted that while most men worry about being able to afford an engagement ring, he suspects his actor son was “more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller”.
Tom and Zendaya met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, when they played the titular hero and his love interest MJ, respectively. Their romance was confirmed in 2021.
In his post, Tom’s father admitted fears over whether being in the spotlight could put a strain on the couple’s relationship.
He wrote: “I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.”
“And even though show business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention […] yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union.”
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Zendaya rose to fame after landing a role in Disney sitcom Shake It Up, and became a household name after starring in Euphoria.
Holland – who has starred in three Spider-Man films opposite his now-fiancée – made his stage debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008.
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