Animation and the Double Hollywood strike

This detailed description of the impact of the Hollywood double-strike as it relates to animation and other unions was written by Nilah Magruder and posted here with her permission.

"Lots of comments on Twitter about the Hollywood strikes and everyone's so passionate but also have not the first clue how unions work, and our unions in particular lol.

First thing, unions can't strike all willy nilly. That was how it happened back in the formative days of unions, but since then all the unions have signed agreements that they won't strike when the agreement is active. That means you have to wait for it to expire, then vote on a strike order.

WGA, DGA, and SAG-AFTRA's agreements were all due to expire within weeks of each other. That's why we can have this historic moment.

But there are dozens of Hollywood labor unions and their agreement expiration times are all spread out, probably one part making it easier on the studios so they don't have to negotiate them all at once, one part making it impossible for workers to all strike at the same time.

The Animation Guild's agreement expires in 2024. By then, the studios will likely have reached a deal with WGA and SAG-AFTRA. I can't imagine a strike lasting into next year.

When TAG negotiates, they probably won't have the power of other large labor unions to strike with them.

The current double strike has a chance to be very effective because of numbers. WGA and DGA both have around 20,000 members. SAG-AFTRA has 160,000 members.

TAG's membership is around 6,000.

When WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, it shuts down most productions in Hollywood, which are live-action. When TAG strikes, it will shut down only animated productions, which make up a much smaller percentage of Hollywood productions. It will not include heavily CG-animated productions like the MCU or Disney's recent remakes. VFX workers are not unionized. It will likely also only affect certain animated productions. I believe Disney feature and Nickelodeon are on separate contracts?

Still, this will effectively shut down most animated productions. If TAG strikes, it's not just writers, or just storyboard artists, or just designers that walk. TAG covers writers, artists, and certain production personnel. We'd all walk.

Back in the day, this was all you needed. A lot of animated studios were independent and if they lost their crews, they could not produce. It would force them back to the bargaining table.

Now, animated studios are just a small part of major corporations. Disney Television Animation is owned by The Walt Disney Company. DreamWorks and Illumination are owned by NBC/Universal. Cartoon Network/WB is owned by Discovery. A work stoppage in animation is a work stoppage in animation, but it does not impact the company's other operations. It does not shut down Hollywood.

I am not anti-strike, but there are a lot of variables in play. Rather, this current moment is extremely crucial for TAG, and it's why TAG membership has been so passionately supportive of the WGA strike (and now SAG-AFTRA). Whatever our big sibling unions get from the studios, we get even less. When we negotiate, the studios will tell us, "We only gave WGA and DGA this much, we can't give you more than that." We need the bigger unions to fight hard for better terms, bcuz it gives us room to push for more.

The WGA and SAG-AFTRA fight is a fight for all of us. They know it, we know it. If we lose ground here, we'll never get it back."