On July 14, SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher announced that the union would join the Writers Guild of America (WGA) in striking against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Stars of Oppenheimer walked out of the film’s premiere in London, and future red carpets have been canceled due to the guild’s rules prohibiting members from publicizing the projects of struck companies. While much of the conversation around the work stoppage has focused on the role of A-list actors, another group could play a key role in making or breaking the strike: online influencers.
In recent years, Hollywood studios have increasingly turned to online content creators to promote their films and TV series. Through brand partnership deals, studios pay influencers to attend film premieres and screenings, interview actors, create and post videos, songs, and other types of sponsored content to promote studios’ projects to their followers. As Insider reported earlier this month, “Studios are now dedicating members of their marketing teams to forging relationships with influencers and actually collaborating with them, paying them tens of thousands — and sometimes even hundreds of thousands — of dollars to create content tailored to a specific project.”
This branding strategy is prevalent on TikTok, which has a thriving community of users who post reviews, reactions, analyses and skits about the latest movies, shows, and entertainment industry news. Some of the biggest voices from TikTok’s film community, such as Juju Green (@straw_hat_goofy, a creator with 3.4 million followers), Reece Feldman (@guywithamoviecamera, 2 million followers), and Emily Uribe (@emilyuuribe, 980k followers), have created promotional content for studios. Sony, Hulu, Netflix, Universal, Paramount and Showtime are just some of the production companies who have partnered with creators on the platform.
From a labor relations standpoint, these partnerships weren’t a problem before the SAG-AFTRA strike. But with guild performers now unable to to promote their new projects, studios will increasingly lean on their online brand partners to support summer and fall releases. Thus, this moment presents a choice for online influencers: stand in solidarity with Hollywood’s workers as they advocate for a better life and a fairer industry, or scab for billion-dollar companies. Those who choose the latter will find themselves on the wrong side of history.
Several creators have already found themselves on the wrong side of the picket line. Soon after the SAG-AFTRA strike announcement, Juju Green posted a skit in which he said that he would continue attending premieres and accepting brand deals during the strike, on the basis that he is not a guild member – seemingly misunderstanding what it means to be a scab. Green later walked back his comments and apologized. Another creator, Andra Gogan (@andragogan, who has more than 10 million followers), posted videos of herself attending a red carpet premiere for The Haunted Mansion the day after the strike was announced. Gogan has since deleted the video.
Online creators need to understand that working with studios during the strike is strikebreaking – whether or not they are members of the guild. During a strike, workers withhold their labor in order to build bargaining power by disrupting the employer’s ability to conduct business. When a worker crosses the picket line to take a job for the company that the union is striking against, they weaken the strike. By the same token, an influencer who creates sponsored posts or attends premieres is a scab, as they are essentially replacing the entertainers who would otherwise be promoting the films, and in turn, reducing the bargaining power of the striking workers. To put it another way, creators who cut promotional deals with studios during the strike are choosing to personally enrich themselves by throwing under the bus the entertainers who make their careers possible.
Protestors walk a SAG-AFTRA picket line in Manhattan in July of 2023. Attribution: Eden, Janine and Jim from New York City, CC BY 2.0.
It should also be noted that SAG-AFTRA’s guidelines explicitly prohibit influencers from working with companies the guild is striking against, unless they are doing so to fulfill a pre existing contract. Influencers who provide services for struck companies will not be admitted to the guild – essentially barring them from future performance work on major film projects. As such, influencers who have aspirations to make the leap to acting, or to join the guild as an influencer, may want to think twice about crossing the picket line.
For anyone who is still unsure which side they are on, consider that more than 87% of SAG-AFTRA entertainers earn less than $26,470 a year. These workers do not earn enough to qualify for the guild’s healthcare plan, and many have to work multiple jobs in order to survive. The leaders of the entertainment companies fighting the strikes – most of whom will make upwards of $30 million this year – have responded by minimizing and dismissing workers’ concerns. Speaking with shocking honesty and cruelty about the WGA strike, one studio executive suggested that the studios’ endgame is to “allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.”
Encouragingly, many TikTok creators are using the platform to spread solidarity. Since the SAG-AFTRA strike announcement, creators such as writer/producer/actor Franchesca Ramsey (@franchesca_leigh) and journalist V Spehar (@underthedesknews) have posted videos educating their audiences about the issues surrounding the strikes. Users have also been quick to call out strikebreakers on the platform.
With SAG-AFTRA and the WGA on strike together for the first time in 60 years, this is a moment of great opportunity to build worker power in the entertainment industry. Online influencers need to stand in solidarity with the striking workers, and not let themselves be used as corporate mouthpieces for the studios.
