after the SAG aftera and WJ strikes finally ended a lot of us actors had high hopes for getting back to work we were expecting to be welcomed back into the industry with a flood of new casting calls auditions and job opportunities because the projects put on pause were finally going to start getting produced again but this didn't exactly happened the way we were expecting it to that strike had side effects that still continue to burden us actors months and months later and today I'm going to explain the state of the industry right now everything that's happening in Hollywood from industry cost cutting to Casting droughts the extinction of pilot season and what the industry is naming the Hollywood contraction we'll discuss if this problem is temporary or yet another change that impacts our future as actors hi guys it's Michaela liac welcome to my YouTube channel or welcome back to my YouTube channel and today we're talking about the state of the industry this video was inspired by a lot of things I've been hearing behind the scenes I'm getting back into acting a little bit this summer I'm starting up my journey again and I recently went to my agent's office over on Wilshire and I just asked them hey like I've been on a break what's the current state of the industry right now and I definitely heard some not so great things a lot of things are up in the air a lot of people are struggling even Post strike um and there's been a lot of changes that are happening right now we're going to discuss it all today on this channel I share film industry and Film School content subscribe if you are interested in that type of content and without further Ado let's get into the video the streaming Revolution and the death of cable television streaming has changed so much in the industry it was a large part of why the SAG after and WG strikes happened in the past as we're continuing into the streaming era we're seeing that Talent are still struggling with this transition as we know in the past with the network and cable TV model Seasons had larger episode orders there were 22 episode season orders and that meant that people were employed for longer amount of Time series regulars crew members there were even more opportunities for guest AR and co-star roles because writers had to fill the episodes with a lot more characters and a lot more situations but as we've seen with the streaming Revolution and video on demand now season episode accounts are a lot smaller 13 episodes sometimes even eight or six episode Seasons that means that everybody involved in the production is out of work a lot quicker they're only employed for that small amount of time and then they're out looking for another job and because of streaming pilot season doesn't even really exist anymore there's no more pilot season when it came to the cable network model we would see different announcements every fall about the new slative shows coming out there would be big parties just announcing the catalog of new shows that were coming out but that doesn't exist anymore according to deadline a decade ago as many as 100 broadcast Pilots would be casting right now this year we have a total of three at NBC it's less structured so we have streamers who are buying different titles from other networks and you know bringing that onto their platform so people can re-watch old shows or blah blah blah it's just a completely different world and there was also a lot of overspending during the streaming Wars and really all of these networks trying to scramble to compete with net Netflix there was a lot of money being pumped into building up streaming platforms and that whole transition into the streaming era that we're in today so let's briefly go over the strike and its effects on the entertainment industry a ton of series cancellations with the lack of writers and talent actually able to Beyond Productions a lot of production companies had to step back and really consider the cost versus the value of their projects and if they were worth paying for during the strikes there were a lot of delayed Productions and just overall a lot of series were canceled to save money so these companies were overspending trying to build up their streaming services but when the strike happened then they had to basically be super conservative with their money but the strike ended and now we're out of it so surely Studios and networks should be greenlighting shows because things are getting back up again we have writers back in the rooms actors back on set everybody got their deals so Post strike there should be a lot more work for all of us but there's not as much as we were expecting so let's talk about Post strike Hollywood and how Hollywood is actually in a contraction period right now called the Hollywood contraction at least according to deadline the Hollywood contraction basically defines industrywide cost cutting and the toll it's taking on the entire entertainment community so why is this contraction happening even after the strike we're seeing that production companies are still not stopping their cost cutting they're not greenlighting too many series right now for this year because all the shows that were supposed to come out in 2024 had to be pushed to 2025 and according to the LA Times right now we're seeing that production volume and spend levels are 50% lower over these past 12 months compared to the same period a year ago so let's talk about these contraction methods that we're seeing right now post Drake we're seeing a lot of salary Cuts according to deadline well-paying jobs are harder to land as budgets are being slashed amid industrywide drive to reain and costs one example is with the Blue Bloods cast they agreed to a 25% pay cut in order to be renewed for a 14th season as series budgets get tighter actors don't really have as much wiggle room to renegotiate their contracts for higher pay there's really no negotiating and any push back could result in somebody being written off a show deadline says the budget cuts have also greatly reduced the ability of casts on established series to renegotiate their contracts an attempt by an agent to renegotiate their client's contract for a pay raise after a couple seasons of M series was quickly shut down noting the budget cut that the renewal had come with the studio offered to write off the actor if they were unhappy with their salary so a lot of who are employed are willing to take a salary cut rather than having no salary at all a sneaky way that certain Productions are doing this is by changing the actor's rank in the series like with their um like role title so let me explain that a little further so we have you know the series regular then recurring guest star and you know guest star stuff like that so studios are actually changing series regular roles down to recurring just so they can pay them a smaller rate more quotes from deadline a series spends a lot of money for their series stars who anchor the show that leaves very little money for the rest of the ensemble cast in order to save money a show with eight series regulars in the past would Now list four of them as series regulars and the other four as recurring the entire cast of Bob Harts abishola except the two leads are being changed from series regulars to recurring meaning they are reduced to only five episodes per season and also I'm going to have all of my sources linked down below so the actors who are employed are willing to take pay cuts to stay on their show because there's a lot less shows being produced even the shows that are already on the air are seeing reductions in their episode counts as well again saving money we can cut a few episodes we're saving millions and millions of dollars so here's another example from deadline the number of episodes for series regulars on Law and Order and Law and Order SUV are being reduced from 22 Episodes to 18 to 20 episodes next season and I know that doesn't seem like that much but when it comes to an episode of television one episode takes millions and millions and millions of dollars to produce depending on the show if you can cut a few of those you're saving money so really the strike made a lot of networks and Studios rethink their budgets and what money they're putting into shows for the first time in the history of Netflix they have paused their spending it hasn't gone up right and then let everybody else decide to consolidate and my understanding is and you tell me and this is anecdotal there are fewer writers making money now than there were pre fre strikes yeah I the the orders are way down and the the overall uh buying is way down so let's talk about the contraction effects on actors who are not employed if you are an actor who is trying to audition for more opportunities we've been seeing that things are very slow right now if there's less being produced people are out of jobs quicker Productions are not spending as much as they would to bring on co-stars and guest stars that means the competition is a lot higher now just for one job when I went and sat down with my agents and I asked them you know just about auditioning and all of that stuff they were saying that the competition is fierce right now when it comes to like a guest star or co-star just something like that there could be thousands of auditions just for that small role they were like you have to really stand out during these times because it's really hard and things are slow right now so I want to hear from you guys if you are auditioning um or if you're working let me know what you're experiencing right now Post strike comment down below if if things have been slow for you or if you have had good auditions and you don't really see a difference I definitely want to hear from you guys fewer actors are auditioning this year for Pilots versus previous seasons and actors are really feeling the emotional effect competition for the few series regular roles that are available is much more intense that's from deadline but that's also stuff that I've been hearing in the industry as well someone said it's so effing hard out there there's so little work it's a brutal time in the business there are no jobs y'all I hope this isn't just making it super dramatic like I want to know what you guys are experiencing cuz this seems dramatic so there's a lot of people on Reddit um different communities of actors in LA and New York they're all expressing their frustrations about this down period one quote from Reddit says I've had nothing for 3 weeks even though I'm with a top tier agency just signed with managers and posted new footage from the cable network show I appeared on in December casting director's weigh in so let's hear about what casting directors in the industry are saying about just everything that's going on in the industry their response to actors frustrations about the lack of castings and the lack of job opportunities some casting directors believe that the frustrations actors are feeling after the strike is valid some other casting directors feel very optimistic about the future and some just believe that this is the way it is this is how the industry works and people got to stop whining one example of it is what it is is from Sharon Klein the head of casting at Disney Channel in Disney TV quote do I have fewer roles I'll say this there are the same number of roles per episode of Television there are the same number of roles per movie it's not like you're going to see fewer roles per show we're going through a natural correction of the business I don't think Panic needs to ensue but what she said there a natural correction of the business does still imply that things are changing and there is a transition and that something is going on Kim Davis Wagner says the struggles of actors are valid she was the casting director for Daisy Jones in the 6 quote I think fewer jobs feels true and correct it feels that the temperature of the community is that there are fewer roles and lesser projects in production it feels like a challenging time for actors she says and here's an optimistic take from Robert olrich casting director for the boys and everybody knows that I love the boys qu I think at the moment it's taking a while to get back from the strike so yes I think right now there are less jobs do I think it's going to be forever no I think it's a temporary thing I honestly agree with Robert if you're liking this video and information like this video I really appreciate it I just wanted to plug that there if that like button is unliked am I giving you side eye so just in general during 20124 we're just seeing a difference in supply and demand when there's more demand than supply for work actors have to turn to different ways of making living for themselves until things return back to normal so we're seeing that a lot of actors have to pick up another job in order to support elves in the state of the industry quote on top of fewer shows and virtually no Pilots the available acting gigs pay less than they used to amid Rising costs of living making it hard for many working actors to afford their rent or mortgage and support their families and again during the strike we were seeing these same exact sentiments so it's really heartbreaking seeing that this is still continuing for some people out there so some actors are going to have to leave Hollywood because they just can't afford to live out there it is so expensive like even as a student oh my gosh like student housing is insane I just it's like it's such a problem like La cost of living in La is such a problem less supply of work and the decrease in actor salaries takes away from essential lifelines for them and their families for example like health insurance so for sag after member to qualify for health insurance the minimum amount of money they have to make in order to qualify is $26,400 Members Only 12.7% qualify for health insurance actor Rod mlan who appeared in Blue Bloods said it's a quote constant struggle to meet the health insurance threshold quote if you think about it 26,000 isn't a middle class wage and when the supply and demand scale is off it takes a toll on actor's mental health not working or having a steady job is stressful dead periods of just not booking or getting auditions can increase the sense of impostor syndrome and just not feeling good enough if you are a creative in any capacity trying to pursue your dream as an artist like I feel for you the mental health part is such a big factor that's why I'm so happy that we have this amazing community on this channel I see y'all's comments y'all are so supportive for each other when people are like I just booked a job or I'm working on this you guys are such an amazing group of people I seriously love you guys and your energy is what we need like not be fangirling over my own audience like I'm a fan of y'all like let's discuss how this is affecting other creatives in this industry agents and managers now this one seemed pretty self-explanatory if their clients aren't booking they're not making no money cuz they work on commission smaller agency's income depends almost entirely on commissions with the line share coming from series regular castings already hit hard by the strikes resulting in salary cuts and layoffs some of those agencies find it hard to recover casting directors are also feeling it quote the scale back in the number of shows and Pilots also means fewer jobs for casting directors some have opted to leave La for a more affordable living as their income has been hit by the drop in casting assignments writers if there's less shows being produced that also means that there's less jobs for writers and because of character Cuts if people don't accept a lower salary or whatever or students is just trying to save money and they have to write off characters that also means that writers have to do more work in writing people off and fixing their story lines trying to accommodate with um Network and Studio mandates quote actors appearing in fewer episodes is something the writers have to be mindful of as they craft the next season's scripts CEOs it really seems like the salary of the CEOs hasn't been as affected as much Warner Brothers CEO made 49.7 million in 2023 so that is a 27% increase from their 2022 salary of 39.3 million Disney CEO Bob Iger made 31.6 million in 2023 that's a 52% increase from his $15 million salary in 2022 so Bros making double and Ted Sandos um Netflix's CEO is making around the same amount of money he made like a while back still is an insane amount 49.8 million even though the CEOs got their pockets full there's still so much pressure on them now more than ever they're constantly needing to change how their companies operate I mean guys we're seeing the whole thing with paramont um and Sky Dan and all of that like them selling we're also seeing a lot of the streamers adapt cable methods like you know the ad models stuff like that we're seeing bundles mergers and really they just have to stay Innovative on their streaming platforms to keep subscribers excited I mean now we're seeing live TV from Netflix and there's so much changing right now to try and bring in those dollars and to avoid plateauing which a lot of people were nervous about and a lot of people were seeing in the past with Netflix cracking down on password sharing and all that stuff so anyway the Big final question is this temporary the safe answer is it's hard to tell like no one can read the future but in my experience the industry has seen similar dry periods in the past I remember when I was growing up like there would just be times where there were absolutely no auditions at all and it would go on for months and months and then I i' get an influx of audition other months it's all part of you know the process and I think it also depends on like what type of actor you are like are shows casting for black female leads do they want Hispanic do they want Caucasian or are they casting for Irish and British you know what I mean like that's another reason for dry periods and you know different networks and studos and streaming services aren't really going to invest in original projects that's why we're seeing a lot of remix and like stuff like that um especially during the contraction reusing IP just really taking safe gambl they're going to instead fall back on like the staple names the safe options the reputable longtime industry people just for those safe bets but in my opinion I definitely think that this is a temporary thing I think that the industry is always changing and even if it's low right now it will pick up in the future you just kind of got to adjust that is it for this film industry commentary video I hope you guys enjoyed it if you did consider subscribing if you want to see more content like this if you don't want to subscribe I totally understand maybe next time and if you like this video like this video so more people can find this video and my channel can grow it would really mean the world I love to reach more people on this platform and leaving a like will definitely help out with that if you stayed until the end comment just comment blue because I'm wearing crazy blue makeup and a blue hoodie today and I'll see you guys in the next one bye [Music]