News

It’s unclear how it would work. No one knows what it would cost. And it’s anyone’s guess whether it will ever actually happen. But in the days since Donald Trump floated the seemingly crazy idea of slapping tariffs on foreign-made film and TV productions, something unexpected has started to happen in Hollywood: befuddlement has turned into murmurs of approval — at least in certain corners of the industry.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen this kind of divide,” says Diego Mariscal, an IATSE member who runs Crew Stories, a popular online forum for below-the-line workers. “People I’m talking with are saying, ‘At least Trump’s doing something. When’s the last time a president even tried?’ He’s creating a conversation.”

That conversation, like so many sparked by Trump, is sorting itself along sharply drawn class lines. While the executive class is almost universally...

In April, actor Miki Yamashita says she received a health diagnosis that requires surgery to remove non-cancerous tumors. That’s when the performer, who has appeared on Cobra Kai and voiced a character on The Lion Guard, began the race to attempt to qualify for her union’s health insurance plan by June 30. If she earned enough on eligible projects or worked a sufficient number of days by that time, she could be covered by the plan at the end of the year, when she says she needs to undergo the medical procedure.

But meeting the plan’s requirements was going to be tougher than usual to accomplish. For nearly four months of her qualifying period, her union, SAG-AFTRA, was on strike against film and television companies, and Yamashita was barred by union rules from working on many projects. In the months following, production didn’t fully rebound in the...

The leader of the American Federation of Musicians proclaimed that Hollywood labor is “in a new era” as dozens of members of various entertainment unions came to the doorstep of studio labor negotiators in support of the start of his union’s contract negotiations on Monday.

As an early drizzle that morning turned into driving rain, members of the Writers Guild of America, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE and Teamsters Local 399 rallied in front of the Sherman Oaks offices of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers with picket signs, and a few umbrellas, in hand. To AFM’s chief negotiator and international president Tino Gagliardi, this kind of unity for musicians was unlike anything he’d seen in his time in union leadership. “We’re in a new era, especially in the American labor movement, with regard to everyone coalescing and coming together and collaborating in order to get what...

It’s been 97 days since members of the Screen Actors Guild went on strike against the Hollywood studios and streamers, demanding a better contract and asking the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for protections against artificial intelligence as well as an increase in residual payments. As actors near the 100-day mark, they’re disappointed the studios walked away from the negotiating table last week and don’t seem wanting or willing to reach an agreement, allowing the entertainment industry to get back to its regularly scheduled programming.

On...