Now that the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) is in negotiation with Hollywood studios and with part of the deal allegedly including the same negotiation for the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), it’s time to look at some of the funniest stuff auctioned for the strike.
A staring contest with the portrayal of J. Oppenheimer himself, Cillian Murphy, is worth over a thousand dollars. Who can forget Natasha Leyone, the over two thousand dollar Crossword tutor? For $2,550 somebody bought a fedora signed by Tom Waits, who is considered the top fifty-fifth songwriter of all time by Rolling Stones magazine. Another paid Parks and Recreation star Adam Scott $3,050 to walk their dog. And who else wanted that Zoom call with the cast of New Girl? Well, someone got that time for $3,226. If you think that University of New Haven sweatshirts are overpriced, someone had to pay $4,000 for an The OA sweatshirt signed by one of the stars, Brit Marling, with a personal letter written by her. A new artist on the scene, John Lithgow of Footloose (1984) fame, can water-paint your dog for the low price of $4,050.
While many of these auctioned items and services seem ridiculous on the surface, we must not forget that it is for a good cause. Although the pop culture precipitation of Hollywood writers and actors is that they are rich and a part of the one percent, that is often not the case. The majority of writers and actors live paycheck-to-paycheck and don’t even have health insurance, despite working full-time. The threat of AI also impedes these actors and writers’ ability to find jobs and steal the writers’ works and the actors’ images for the sake of the real one percent that own these Hollywood studios.
If SAG-AFTRA and WGA bend on allowing these companies to take advantage of their labor without health insurance or fair credit, then where does that leave other professions that do not have famous and wealthy people in their corner? The success of this union strike and recent others like it (i.e. UPS workers strike) represents rising workers’ rights. Without unions or worker solidarity, companies and the rich will simply pay as little as possible for working as long as possible. Unions were invented in the industrial age because that’s what companies did, they became rich while the workers starved. Unions exist to keep the worker satisfied and their needs met.
