Hollywood is on strike. At least, it was until September 27, 2023. Writers Guild of America, aka WGA, went on strike to reach a negotiation for unfair wages. WGA joined the Screen Actors Guild of America (SAG) to end all writing, pitching, and promoting entertainment projects.
This situation has complex layers, but strikers knew exactly where to look. Social Media was the big driver of how public opinion moved these settlements. This is not the first time Hollywood has been on strike, and WGA and SAG social platforms show how much the public cared. Fortunately, famous actors were the face of the strike that television goers closely associated with. Shay Mitchell, cast as Spencer from the popular show Pretty Little Liars, posted on Instagram her picket poster reading, “Pretty Little Strikers” and even signed one of them as “A”. If you are familiar, “A” is the main villain all the characters in the show are trying to pinpoint. This was a creative way of getting dedicated fans’ attention from the 2010 teen drama. Shay Mitchel is still an influential figure on social media and used the nostalgic advantage she had.
Another big name associated with this strike is Fran Drescher, who played Fran Fine in The Nanny (my favorite). Drescher is the president of SAG-AFTRA and has been heavily speaking her voice to the internet. If you ever watched The Nanny, you can’t miss her voice. She is loud, relatable, and unapologetically herself. More Perfect Union posted her having a public meeting with Senator Bernie Sanders about Bob Iger’s, chief executive of Disney, ignorant comment on the writer’s strike. Iger called actors and writers on the strike “very disturbing” and “not realistic.” You could imagine the backlash, but Drescher responded, “just got off his private jet at the billionaire’s camp telling us we are unrealistic.” This post reached 45.2k views and had over a hundred reposts on Twitter.
The media did not take this lightly, and Disney felt this negative publicity. Following Iger’s comments, Disney posted a vice president for public affairs position for $337,920 to lead “a communications team to assist senior executives in preparing for media events” and “interviews.” In other words, they needed an expert in crisis communication. Furthermore, it was not helpful to hear his contract was being extended until 2026 while the writer’s wages were not qualified for health insurance. Disney needed help with their public perception and acknowledged that.
Public figures have used their platform to fight for a cause that needs public support to achieve their goal. Threads of this movement can be found by simply typing in “#wgastrike” or “#sgastrike.” These unions use social media in a material way to present to negotiators that people still do care for this industry and the creatives who make it happen.
By Jaiden Charles, Account Associate
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