The last major strikes changed the film business and fueled the rise of reality TV. The recent strike will likely help turn established actors into TikTok stars — and vice versa.
July 23, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. EDT
Strikers outside Netflix headquarters in Hollywood this month. (Sean Scheidt for The Washington Post) Comment on this storyComment
The historic double whammy crippling Hollywood could boost the creator economy, the wildly popular market of online influencers and video makers increasingly competing with industry giants for money, attention and cultural power.
The fast-growing cast of amateur and professional creators – chefs, comedians, models, musicians and many others – is already attracting tens of millions of fans on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, without relying on the resources or support of more mainstream mainstream media.
Now that American film and television production may be at a standstill for months, they are at the center of a major shift that could transform the entertainment industry and further blur the lines between traditional and digital fame.
Studios and producers are scrambling to recruit creators to fill a content gap, fueling tensions over the work of scabs and shifting narrative styles. But celebrity actors and writers are also less and less reliant on Hollywood, experimenting with new ideas on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Twitch to earn them lasting followings – if not steady paychecks – beyond traditional industry success.
The last Hollywood strike radically changed the media landscape, spurring the rise of unscripted content like documentaries and reality TV shows that were cheaper and easier to mass-produce, such as Cops in the late 1980s and The Celebrity Apprentice in 2008.
The ongoing strike by tens of thousands of actors and writers, Hollywood’s first double strike in 63 years, could have similarly far-reaching implications, potentially undermining Hollywood’s institutional advantages and spawning a new generation of stars.
In the past, YouTubers viewed online virality primarily as a way to break into established television or film appearances. But some are now making so much money selling sponsored content, merchandise, or monthly subscriptions that traditional entertainment, with its uncertain paychecks and relevance, can seem less appealing.
An upcoming Washington Post series exploring the industry of online influence and its impact on American culture, media and power.
Hollywood’s business model has rarely looked so precarious: Box office results, streamer subscriptions and advertising revenue have all declined. Striking actors and writers are also outraged by industry practices, from high managerial salaries and low residual payments to artificial intelligence techniques they fear could destroy their jobs.
The changing entertainment scene
The online creator industry, on the other hand, is booming. Analysts at Goldman Sachs Research said in April that the market size is likely to double in the next five years from $250 billion today, thanks to increased spending from advertisers, viewers and technology platforms looking to capitalize on YouTubers’ virality.
Data from market researcher Nielsen shows that streaming services have now overtaken cable and broadcast TV in US viewership, accounting for more than 37 percent of all TV usage nationwide. But the biggest streamer over the past month hasn’t been Netflix or Hulu, the data shows; it was youtube. More than 75 percent of American teenagers told the Pew Research Center last year that they watch Google’s video app every day.
Beyond Americans’ media consumption, from TikTok’s free video editing tools to Twitch’s frantic live streams, YouTube and other platforms have lowered the barriers to entry for people wanting to create their own content. This creative competition has resulted in viral hits and marketing deals, turning what was once an online hobby into a million-dollar revenue stream for the lucky few.
Studios and streamers will likely look to fill their release calendars with new deals for influencer content if the disruption lasts for months, said David Craig, a professor at the University of Southern California who studies authors and is a former film and television producer.
Although some cultural producers still think of them as “essentially brand ambassadors for advertising,” they’re actually a much broader and more complex class of cultural producers that occupies large chunks of people’s attention, he said. Hollywood is still the king of long, top-notch storytelling, he said, but “when that goes away next year, there’s less incentive for people to stay there to look at legacy content libraries,” and the industry “may start to realize that the only people left to do business with are the creators.”
Concerns that creators might spy an opportunity to encroach on Hollywood’s turf has prompted some writers and actors to post warnings about undermining the strike on TikTok, where legions of fans have begun punishing creators they believe are considering “strike jobs.” Franchesca Ramsey, a writer and actress who first gained popularity with her YouTube videos, said in a TikTok video earlier this month that any new studio deals would be viewed as a treason.
“If you’re a content creator or influencer and you have a desire to be an actor or a writer in the future, now is not the time to take a job because the rest of us are on strike,” she said. This is “considered a scab and would harm your career.”
However, many in the industry believe the strike will further encourage traditional entertainers to become artists themselves, giving them the opportunity to use social media to pursue and fund independent projects, secure greater ownership of the product and profits, and exhibit sides of their personality and creativity that they hope will secure an audience that will outlast each and every production.
Since the strikes began, Paul Scheer, an actor, writer and director known for his TV roles on The League and Veep, has been investing more time on FriendZone, a Twitch channel where he and comedians like Rob Huebel tell jokes and perform skits for large digital audiences.
When Scheer launched his first Twitch channel in 2020 after the pandemic crippled Hollywood, it proved so successful that he and Huebel hosted a two-part comedy game show there called Celebrity Yard Sale, which won a sponsorship deal from Hyundai and became a hit.
“We had over a million people watching for two hours every day. That was better than a lot of television,” he said in an interview. “I love that just because we are in a moment where our industry is on pause doesn’t mean we have to pause. We can make our own stuff.”
Several actors said they anticipate their social media accounts could become a lifeline after traditional work has dried up. Brian Morabito, a New York actor whose comedy videos have garnered over 600,000 TikTok followers, said he plans to double merchandise sales during the strike and ramp up production on TikTok and Instagram Reels.
Others are reconsidering which company offers the best rewards. Sarah Pribis, an actress who has been working in New York for more than 15 years and has built an engaged audience on TikTok, said that while she still gets paid acting gigs, the money she makes as an artist has consistently exceeded her acting earnings over the past six months.
“I’m seeing actors using the internet right now, even though they don’t usually produce content, and that’s really powerful stuff,” she said. “Hopefully they’re like, ‘Oh hey, I’ve got a voice here, maybe I can turn this into something that makes me money.'”
Adam Rose, a TikTok star with more than 4 million followers who has been a member of the Actors Guild since he was 9, said he and other YouTubers have turned down appearances for TV shows and films during the strike and found the change refreshing. “I can devote more time to online video,” he said, “because I’m not on set and not working on location for auditions and selfies.”
Other YouTubers have called on their followers to consider unions their allies. Reece Feldman, a TikTok creator who makes videos about TV and movies, said in a video Monday that his 2 million followers should show solidarity with the Writers Guild of America, which he hopes to one day join. “We have so much more in common with the 170,000+ people who are currently on strike than with the studio executives who are just hoarding millions,” he said.
TikTok and YouTube as alternatives
A decade ago, Hollywood viewed the world of online creators as a sideshow, and after a disastrous attempt in the early 2010s to squeeze digital talent into typical acting and presenter roles, the two industries increasingly developed parallel spheres of influence with distinct stars and styles.
However, the changes in entertainment habits brought about by the pandemic and the growing influence of YouTubers have seen major Hollywood players increasingly harness the power of TikTok and YouTube. Many studios are now creating buzz for their films and series through partnerships between creators and accompanying podcasts, such as the podcasts sponsored by HBO for “Succession” and “Game of Thrones.”
In 2021, a year after Netflix told shareholders in a letter that TikTok’s “amazing” growth demonstrated “the fluidity of internet entertainment,” the company launched a short-lived, TikTok-like video feature called “Fast Laughs” and signed a multimillion-dollar deal with one of its greatest creators, Addison Rae. And to make internet waves, Scott Seiss, a TikToker who went viral with his posts about an angry Ikea employee, appeared in a trailer for Universal Pictures’ horror comedy Cocaine Bear last year.
In recognition of the blurring lines between Hollywood and the internet, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, known as SAG-AFTRA, allowed creators to join in 2021 through what it calls the “Influencers Agreement.”
The union recently told its founders to oppose any work promoting “struggling” companies or content and to report any new brand sponsorship deals through an online form. Non-union influencers who worked for one of the target companies during the strike would not later be accepted as members, it said.
It’s unclear how many influencers have joined the union, which deals with a studio trade group, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, rather than the online platforms where creators make most of their money. (AMPTP represents more than 350 companies, including Amazon, whose founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post and whose interim CEO Patty Stonesifer is a member of Amazon’s board of directors.)
But Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, national executive director and chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, said the guild is working to use the strike to recruit more creators into its ranks, both for this strike and what he says is coming industrial action with the tech giants, including companies like Apple and Amazon, which are interested in both traditional entertainment and the creator economy.
Sidney Raskind, a YouTuber known as “Sidneyraz” with 4 million TikTok followers, told influencers in a video Tuesday that his union membership helped him get health insurance and a pension, and encouraged them to consider joining even if they never wanted to be a traditional actor because it would help “legitimize this profession in ways you never thought possible.”
“We’re producers, we’re actors, we’re editors, we’re everything,” he said in an interview. “This is a great opportunity for internet influencers to actually be a part of something bigger and better.”
Josh Cohen, co-founder of Tubefilter, a media company focused on the creator economy, said that the us-versus-them mentality that Hollywood pits against digital creators has become less controversial over the years, and the two sides are collaborating on different platforms in hopes of gaining audience and prestige.
Liz Hannah, a prominent screenwriter and film producer, said many in the industry don’t see Hollywood and the creator economy as mutually exclusive opposites. “One influences the other, and they both serve different purposes,” she said. “I don’t go on TikTok to watch The Bear, but I go on TikTok to watch people talk about The Bear.”
Creators generally offer a very different product to Hollywood, relying less on highly produced stories and more on colorful or imaginative snippets of life. Nevertheless, the content is very popular because it is available quickly, free of charge and easily. It’s particularly captivating for young audiences that the media has long fought to capture: Parental control app Qustodio, which tracks users’ screen time, said in a report that children spent an average of nearly two hours a day on TikTok and another hour on YouTube for the past year.
Unlike large studio productions, most creators work alone or in small teams, and are typically funded in small installments from advertising deals, viewers, or the platforms themselves. Many operate like independent media companies, planning and creating content, tracking viewership metrics, and negotiating brand deals in hopes of competing in a crowded marketplace.
YouTubers can only make a fraction of what similar artists could make from studio work, and many of them can’t afford to create content full-time. Despite efforts to unionize in recent years, technology company creators are generally treated as freelance contractors who are not entitled to social security or healthcare.
Many creatives are exhausted by the stress and demands of constant production. The relatively few very successful YouTubers make their money through paid partnerships with fashion brands, energy drinks, and other companies, or through subscription platforms like Patreon and OnlyFans.
Strikes of this magnitude often leave a lasting impact on the industry. The last strike by the two actors and writers in 1960, when the industry’s biggest disruptive factor was television, led to a deal brokered by SAG President Ronald Reagan that gave actors payments, called residuals, if their films were licensed for the small screen.
The recent major Hollywood strike of 2008 injected rocket fuel into the once-niche genre of reality TV — and in some ways, into the creator economy itself. By swapping professional actors for real people, these productions helped lay the groundwork for influencers by showing how individuals outside of mainstream celebrity could captivate audiences and achieve fame.
Reality shows, in turn, are likely to benefit from the strike: SAG-AFTRA has said crew members on these productions can continue working as they are subject to a separate contract, the Network Television Code, which covers talk shows, game shows, soap operas and other non-prime-time television shows.
But the strikes are still in their infancy and it’s unclear how consumer viewing behavior will change, as today’s streaming media landscape is markedly different from the linear model that once dominated American screens.
The strikes also won’t zero out new content. Streamers have produced so many new movies and TV shows that haven’t been released yet, and they can rebrand and reintroduce older titles to fill that gap. Productions filmed abroad such as the Netflix hit “Squid Game” and HBO’s “House of the Dragon” are also not being held up by the strike in the USA.
An exceptionally long strike or boredom with the status quo could push viewers even more to use their phones. But Jonathan Handel, an entertainment and technology advocate who has represented the acting profession, said he suspects worries about the death of old-fashioned TV and film are grossly overstated.
He believes that the creator economy, like the video game industry, another dominant entertainment medium, will not displace Hollywood but instead will usher in a new era of crossover hits, such as the hit game The Last of Us, which became a hit HBO show.
Crabtree-Ireland, chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, said the guild doesn’t see the Hollywood and YouTuber communities as that different and expects the gap will only narrow.
“The talent and skills required to be successful as a content creator are greater than ever,” he said in an interview. “Whether people are consuming content in more traditional forms or in newer formats, the key lies in this unique element of human creativity. Every [creative] makes something special, whether it’s being shared on YouTube, TikTok, Reels, or in a film.”
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