Roundup: Hollywood takes center stage with disaster self-relief during COVID-19 pandemic

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by Julia Pierrepont III

LOS ANGELES, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Hollywood, often at odds with the Trump Administration, was nonetheless swift to praise Congress and the White House last month for enacting the CARE Act, the government relief plan designed to provide financial assistance to gig and part time workers, which make up much of the entertainment industry's workforce.

However, Hollywood unions, including Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Actors (SAG-AFTRA), Writers Guild of America West, the American Federation of Musicians (WGA) and the Recording Industry Association of America, sent a letter to congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell on Friday, reporting that too many of their artists, workers and members are still falling through the cracks, ineligible for even the expanded federal aid.

They urged Congress to take immediate steps to remedy this, meanwhile they have drawn a conclusion they have to depend on themselves in the current crisis.

PUNCHED BY VIRUS

With film and television productions shuttered worldwide in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, studios and agencies have culled their workforces, causing widespread layoffs of gig workers, independent contractors, and even full-time employees.

As the film capital of the world and employer to hundreds of thousands of production crew and salaried employees, Hollywood has been particularly hard hit, with an estimated 175,000 workers facing a bleak and jobless next few months.

As many as 135,000 of the laid off workers industry-wide are rank and file members of the various labor unions, including the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), which represents many workers behind the camera, who receive substantially lower salaries than above-the-line creatives. IATSE estimates that 95 percent of their union members are catastrophically out of work.

Also heavily impacted are the higher paid guild workers from the WGA, The Directors Guild of America (DGA), American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), American Cinema Editors (ACE), and SAG-AFTRA.

"Overnight, production and performances industry-wide shut down indefinitely, leaving most entertainment and media workers without a source of income to cover essential expenses," asserted the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)'s Department for Professional Employees.

Prior to congressional passage of the 2 trillion U.S. dollars relief package, the AFL-CIO, a coalition of 24 unions with about 4 million professional and technical members, had lobbied hard to ensure that entertainment workers - especially gig workers who often did not qualify for unemployment benefits - would not be overlooked.

SELF AND MUTUAL AID

Now with federal assistance still not reaching many of the entertainment industry's growing ranks of newly unemployed in dire financial straits, Hollywood organizations and studios have stepped in to help their own.

First into the breech in late March was Netflix, the California-based streaming giant, which established a 100-million U.S. dollars fund to provide emergency support for Netflix's sidelined production crewmembers around the world who have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus.

"This community has supported Netflix through the good times, and we want to help them through these hard times, especially while governments are still figuring out what economic support they will provide," Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, said in a statement.

Sony also coughed up 100 million U.S. dollars for Coronavirus assistance, as did Warner Media. NBC Universal committed a hefty 150 million U.S. dollars to help its employees, while Disney executive chairman Bob Iger gave up 3 million U.S. dollars of his salary and new CEO Bob Chapek took a 50 percent pay cut until the company makes a "substantive recovery. "

Kenichiro Yoshida, president and CEO of Sony Corporation said, "We will do all we can as a global company to support the individuals on the front lines of the battle against COVID-19, the children who are our future, and those who have been impacted in the creative community."

The DGA and the WGA gave short-term loans to eligible members, as well as free testing for the coronavirus. But the SAG-AFTRA COVID-19 Disaster Fund really pulled out the stops, issuing basic living assistance grants to needy members who are not able to pay for basic living over the next two months. Also giving generously are the Motion Picture Television Fund and the Actors Fund, to which IATSE has also contributed.

Variety, the leading entertainment media group in the United States, set up a COVID-19 relief effort to be funded by a portion of revenues generated from the Emmy Award "For Your Consideration" ad campaigns done through Variety.

"As Variety is the leading and the longest-standing trade publication, it is our responsibility to help care for our community during this unprecedented time," asserted Michelle Sobrino-Stearns, group publisher and chief revenue officer for Variety.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences also ponied up 6 million U.S. dollars to help people in the film industry due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

"The Academy's primary focus right now is helping our community make it through this unprecedented crisis," said Academy CEO Dawn Hudson.

Many Hollywood organizations are also providing outright assistance that will not have to be paid back, including the Actors Emergency Fund Assistance, the Motion Picture and Television Fund, the Entertainment Industry Foundation, the Cinema Worker Solidarity Fund and NATO/Motion Picture Pioneers for unemployed movie theater workers among others. Enditem

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