Billy Porter said the ongoing writers’ and actors’ strikes have forced him to make difficult financial decisions.
“I have to sell my house,” the 53-year-old Pose star, who lives in New York City, told the Evening Standard. “I don’t know when we will return [to work].’
Billy, who is in England pursuing his music career, explained: “The life of an artist is still check-to-check until you make a hell of a lot of money, which I haven’t made yet.”
He said two of his upcoming projects have been shelved as Hollywood continues to stand still.
“I was supposed to be in a new movie and TV show starting in September. “None of that is happening,” the Emmy winner claimed.
Difficult decisions: Billy Porter says ongoing strikes by actors and writers have left him no choice but to sell his house; seen in July 2023
“I have to sell my house,” the 53-year-old Pose star told the Evening Standard. “I don’t know when we will return [to work]’; seen in pose (2020)
Billy didn’t mention either project by name, but IMDB has listed him as a lead actor in the upcoming James Baldwin biopic.
“So to the person who said, ‘We’ll starve them until they have to sell their homes,’ you’ve already starved me.”
That last flourish may have referred to a Deadline article in which an unnamed Hollywood exec said, “The endgame is dragging things out until union members start losing their homes.”
Another insider called the strategy “a cruel but necessary evil.”
Representatives from the writers met with studio executives last week for talks, but no agreement was reached.
The economic impact is being felt particularly hard in California, where a majority of SAG-AFTRA’s 160,000 members live.
According to the California Film Commission, the film and television industry provides more than 700,000 jobs and approximately $70 billion in annual wages.
Georgia, which has a strong film production industry, was also affected by the strike.
According to CBS News, film companies in the South generate at least $3.5 billion in annual wages and more than 46,000 jobs.
Artistic life: The Pose star, 53, said the strike was affecting his financial well-being. “The life of an artist until you make a hell of a lot of money, which I haven’t made yet, is still check to check.”
Music: Billy was in London to promote his music career and new single ‘Broke a Sweat’
Payment: One of the biggest issues is payment, including balances. “The streaming companies are notoriously opaque with their audience figures. The business has evolved. So the contract has to evolve and change, period’ (pictured in New York in June)
Unrealistic: Hollywood studio executives have called the striking actors and writers’ demands unrealistic. Billy retorted, “To hear (Disney CEO) Bob Iger say that our demands for a living wage are unrealistic? While making $78,000 a day?
US News and World Report found that the median actor salary in 2021 was $46,960.
Celebrity stars like George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Matt Damon, Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts have contributed to an emergency fund that has raised more than $15 million for unemployed actors.
No such emergency fund has been announced for the 11,000 writers on strike.
One of the biggest hurdles to an agreement is payments and balances for projects viewed through streaming services.
“There’s no contract for that… And they don’t have to make the numbers transparent — they’re not Nielsen ratings anymore,” Porter said.
“The streaming companies are notoriously opaque with their audience figures. The business has evolved. So the contract has to evolve and change, period.”
He continued, “To hear (Disney CEO) Bob Iger say that our demands for a living wage are unrealistic? While making $78,000 a day? Kid, we gotta get our money!’