A Toronto production assistant whose income dried up because of Hollywood strikes lost his housing and ended up living in his car. A New York set dresser slipped out of sobriety amid the stress. A New Mexico assistant director fell into deep depression and took his life.

They were among the hundreds of thousands of U.S. and Canadian film and television crew workers who were unemployed for up to 10 months because of strikes called by actors and writers, leaving a trail of evictions and family disintegration.

Crew members rallied to help one another and charities pitched in during the writers strike that began May 2 and ended in late September, and the actors strike that started in July. The actors reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday.

“The actors and writers are getting a lot of publicity but the crews are the collateral damage of the strikes,” said Lori Rubinstein, executive director of mental health charity Behind the Scenes.

Crew members lost health insurance and broke into retirement funds. They saw relationships collapse and became isolated and depressed as, month after month, they went without pay and lost the rush of 70-hour work weeks creating shows that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, according to union leaders, counselors and over a dozen crew members Reuters interviewed.

  • @[email protected]OP
    9•1 year ago

    The Directors Guild of America wasn’t on strike.

    Neither was the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.

    • @SheeEttinEnglish
      34•1 year ago

      Maybe they should have been, in solidarity. And use their strike funds to pay bills.

    • @utopianfiatEnglish
      29•1 year ago

      And yet these unions aren’t going to blame strikers for the strike. Framing it as collateral damage from the strike as Reuters has chosen to do is explicit union busting.

    • Flying Squid
      8•1 year ago

      Okay? I’m not sure what that has to do with what I said.

      • @[email protected]OP
        -5•1 year ago

        Because Joe Bufalino, a first assistant director who committed suicide, was in the Directors Guild of America.

        And the unhoused Toronto production assistant who was taken in by location manager are both in the International Alliance of Stage and Theatrical Employees.

        • Flying Squid
          6•1 year ago

          How is that the fault of the strikers?

          • @[email protected]OP
            -1•1 year ago

            I never said it was.

            You said “they” needed a stronger union, and I took that as you referencing the crew members who were affected but not part of the SAG-AFTRA union.

    • queermunist she/her
      0•1 year ago

      Gee maybe they shouldn’t be siloed off in their own unions when they all work in the same workplace.