LA’s streaming gold rush is over. Film and TV workers have been left in the dust.
LOS ANGELES—Alex Zaragoza, a TV writer who has worked on shows like “Lopez vs Lopez” and “Primo,” has been out of work for a year and a half. She knows that’s part of the gig in the freelance world of TV writing, but things have felt different lately.
“Fluctuations are happening in the industry at the highest level, which are undoubtedly affecting anybody that’s doing the nitty-gritty work — writing the shows, production work, costumes, makeup, the key grips,” she said. “I literally have my face in my hands like, when is it gonna get better? When are we gonna work?”
Zaragoza hopes she’ll be lucky enough to get staffed on a TV show again next year, but her priorities have shifted to survival mode.
“Right now my concern is finding a job,” Zaragoza said. While hiring is slow, she’s been freelancing for news publications and putting together spec scripts (uncommissioned, original work) to try to keep her name in the mix. “It’s frustrating and it’s exhausting. Like, really exhausting.”
She isn’t alone. Hollywood — already home to famously hard-to-get and rarely long-lasting jobs — is experiencing a devastating labor contraction. Unemployment in film and TV was at 12.5% last month, the industry’s worst August since at least 2000, the pandemic notwithstanding, and nearly triple the national unemployment rate, according to federal jobs data.
