A couple of months ago, screenwriters went on strike, bringing professional screenwriting to a halt. Then last week, the (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) SAG-AFTRA Hollywood actors went on strike. As a result, film and TV production has completely stopped. These strikes will affect you as an author more than you realize. But the strikes are also an opportunity for savvy authors.    What does the Hollywood strike mean for authors?  To understand the strike, we need a bit of context. This strike is not typical for several reasons. First, the last time both the screenwriters and actors were on strike was in 1960. At that time, the president of the Screen Actors Guild was none other than Ronald Reagan. Before he was a politician, he was a union boss!  AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) Second, major Hollywood studios want and even need this strike to take place. Normally, a labor strike is bad for the company. But in this atypical situation, the strikes may save the studios.  What does the strike do to the studios? The problem is Hollywood decadence. Studios are spending so much money to make movies that they are losing money on most of the films they release. For example, in 1980, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Arc had a production budget of $20 million. If we adjust that sum for inflation, it would be about $74 million in 2023.  Do you know how much the most recent Indiana Jones film cost to produce? Would you guess… * $150 million (2 x the original) * $225 million (3 x the original) * More. Would you believe Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny cost roughly $300 million to produce? That is four times the budget for a movie that was not as good as the first one! With $300 million, you could build 10,000 single-family homes, a new hospital, or a new power plant! But in Hollywood, they spend $300 million to make a 2.5-hour-long movie. That’s roughly $2 million per minute. By the way, those totals do not account for marketing costs, which could be an additional $200 million. That is Marie Antoinette’s level of decadence. No wonder the SAG-AFTRA president referenced storming the Bastille in her speech.  Last week, Disney ceo-bob-iger-on-linear-tv-disruptive-forces-are-greater-than-i-thought.html">CEO Bob Iger more or less admitted this when he said Disney had to get its cost structure under control. That’s corporate-speak for layoffs and pay cuts. When a company loses hundreds of millions of dollars on the movies it releases, a labor strike, which ceases production, actually helps the company. The strike essentially plugs one major money leak.  While the strikes will stop the financial leak, major studios will continue to make money on all the old movies and TV shows they have already produced. Disney still makes money from Raiders of the Lost Arc even though production wrapped 40 years ago.  How Streaming Effects the Strikes