We were expecting, especially with the resolution of the strikes, production to be rampant out here.
But a lot of it has to do with our upcoming negotiations.
Productions might be hesitant to start if theres any threat of a stoppage.
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It is starting to pick up [but] not quite as quick as we would like.
And of course they dont need to make competing projects.
So theyre looking at their slates.
Lindsay Dougherty, chief negotiator forTeamsters Local 399, at the Unity Rally on Sunday in EncinoLynette Rice/Deadline
I get calls almost daily from people looking for work, Coates continues.
There are people still in need.
Take Joseph McDonough, a 35-year-old second assistant cameraman who only worked 47 daystotalin 2023.
You just couldnt find work, he tells Deadline.
In 2023, it felt like the industry ceased to exist.
Then the strikes began.
And so that, of course, slowed things down further for some people.
But for me, I didnt really notice a difference.
It just continued to be what felt like a zero year.
They dont start a lot of new productions in say, December.
So it was quiet, continues McDonough.
Then we shifted our hopes to the new year.
I needed something to do, so I started reorganizing my storage unit.
So I walk around the corner.
It was a guy who was a rigging grip onNCIS: LA.He had 14 years on that show.
He was 64 years old.
They were already greenlit for Season 15 until the writers/actor strike.
So they just said, Forget it, were done.
And they ended the show.
He hasnt been able to find work since.
The tough talk at Sundays rally only exacerbated fears that another strike could make an already dreadful situation dire.
Its nationwide, worldwide.
Theres too much and obviously that bubble was going to burst.
Youre going to shut down WHAT?
There IS nothing to shut down, wrote a self-described IATSE 871 member on Deadlines board.
We have been shut down for a year.
If there are months of strikes, no one will work until 2025.
How many can afford that, unless you quit the business?
Way to send our jobs overseas.
The timing of this all is just unfortunate, to say the least, wrote a poster on Reddit.
Its all such a shitty situation.
If agreements are reached and production rebounds in LA Ill consider that a miracle.
I think people dont realize how much streaming inflated the industry, added another Reddit poster, echoing Dougherty.
So now all of those people who were working are having a hard time finding work.
Unfortunately, this is going to weed out a lot of people.
With no prospects on the horizon, McDonough may already be at that point.
Ive considered going to medical school, to be honest.
Its a really serious thing to think about at 35, he tells Deadline.
There are plenty of people who will say, you might absolutely go to medical school at 35.
Youre perfectly capable of becoming a doctor and having a long career still.
Ive worked in entertainment my whole life.
I still want to make films.
Katie Campione contributed to this report.
