California Treasurer calls on studios to end writers’ and actors’ strikes

About 20% of L.A.-area income comes from the entertainment or adjacent industries and more than 700,000 Californians are employed in entertainment jobs.

From the Los Angeles Times:

California State Treasurer Fiona Ma sent letters this week to studios represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, urging them to negotiate “fair deals” to end the dual strikes led by film and TV writers and actors.

Ma, in her role as treasurer and as a board member of state pension funds serving public workers and teachers, wrote letters to seven companies: Netflix, Walt Disney Co., Comcast, Warner Bros. Discovery, Apple, Paramount Global and Amazon. Her message emphasized the damage the prolonged labor dispute is having on the state’s economy.

“The impact of these two strikes paralyzes Hollywood and reverberates across the state, affecting countless businesses, thousands of pension fund beneficiaries, and millions of Californians,” Ma wrote in a Wednesday letter to Brian Roberts, chief executive of NBCUniversal owner Comcast. “Your failure to come to an agreement is threatening the industry’s ability to ensure that writing, acting and other positions are viewed as sustainable careers in California.”

Look, when the State Treasurer sends letters to the AMPTP members — NOT THE WGA OR SAG-AFTRA!!! — that says something. Ms. Ma knows, as does pretty much everyone else, where the bottleneck is.

It’s the companies. The C-suite denizens. The CEOs.

And it ain’t just elected representatives in California who are pushing the “suits” to get their act together.

In addition to Ma, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli have also put pressure on AMPTP companies.

Lander sent letters earlier this month on behalf of five New York City pension funds urging Comcast, Paramount Global and Walt Disney Co. to end the strikes. DiNapoli also sent letters earlier this year encouraging AMPTP member companies to settle the labor dispute “on terms that are fair to both labor and management.”

New York City pension funds. California state pension funds. That represents … [check exact business terminology] … a shit-ton of cash, much of it invested in entertainment industry stocks.

I wonder what would happen to the AMPTP stocks if NYC and CA ditched their stock holdings in Disney, Comcast, Paramount, etc?

To read the rest of the Los Angeles Times article, go here.

#WGAStrong

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