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Hollywood writers’ strike creates ripple effects across California's economy, ot...

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Hollywood writers’ strike creates ripple effects across California's economy, other states

Businesses that rely on the entertainment industry are beginning to feel pinched as film and TV writers stop work at Netflix, Disney, and other studios.

Writers' strike ripple effects starting to be felt
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Writers' strike ripple effects starting to be felt
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Akiko Fujita
·Anchor/Reporter
Sat, June 3, 2023, 5:47 AM GMT+9·5 min read

Roughly a month into the Hollywood writers’ strike, the standoff between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) remains at an impasse.

The financial impacts have already begun to reverberate across nearly every facet of the Southern California economy. From dry cleaners to restaurants and even the real estate sector, the work stoppage from 11,500 writers has jolted businesses that rely on income from the industry to make a living.

And a prolonged strike threatens to spread the impact beyond the region.

“With the increase in different kinds of filmed productions due to all of the new demand from streaming and film incentives being a great deal more robust now than they were in the last strike, the overall impact of the strike will be felt in places like Georgia, New York, and elsewhere in ways that it was more confined to California last time,” said Kevin Klowden, chief global strategist at the Milken Institute.

Workers and supporters of the Writers Guild of America protest outside Warner Bros. Studios after union negotiators called a strike for film and television writers, in Burbank, California, U.S., May 2, 2023. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
Workers and supporters of the Writers Guild of America protest outside Warner Bros. Studios after union negotiators called a strike for film and television writers, in Burbank, California, U.S., May 2, 2023. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

A 'longer, colder' strike

In North Hollywood, where Pam and Jim Elyea own a prop house called History for Hire, history feels like it’s repeating itself.

Their business has supplied props to movie productions for nearly 40 years, including the cameras for Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” and military gear for “Platoon.” The last time the WGA went on strike in 2007, the Elyeas delayed buying their own warehouse, using the money saved up to keep the business afloat instead.

Pam Elyea said this strike feels “longer, colder.”

“There's not a lot of other options for us," she said. "So what we do during this time when we're shut down is we work on our stock, we maintain it, but every week we're losing money. Every month we're losing money on this. And we really estimate the strike will at least go on to the end of September, possibly the end of the year.”

If the last writers' strike, which began in 2007 and ended in 2008, is any indication, a prolonged strike is likely to result in significant job losses and weigh on the region’s growth. The 100-day strike contributed to 37,700 job cuts and $2.1 billion in losses, according to a Milken Institute study conducted by Klowden. That accelerated the onset of California’s recession in 2008 in the midst of the subprime mortgage crisis that triggered the global financial crisis.

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