My take on the writers strike is not what most folks want to hear.

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The dilemma of no longer being able to make a living as an writer are the same exact conditions actors have always work under.

• But since i pride myself on being the crusher of delusions that halt change, here it is:
  
  
  The dilemma of no longer being able to make a living as an writer are the same exact conditions actors have always work under.

Yet, I've never heard of actors striking and I'm curious as to why that is. I believe there's something deeper at work here.

And here's why:

• We no longer make a living from day player work, bec studios won’t meet our daily quote
  
  
• We can no longer make a living as a series regular or recurring because, instead of hiring more series regulars, they keep actors at recurring for a flat rate of $8500 per episode (instead of paying ur daily quote which should increase as ur career grows) Meanwhile, the star makes $350K per episode (funny sounds a lot like corporate America)
  
  
• You can’t really work in TV/Film without an agent & manager who get 25% of ur earnings (& often ur residuals)
• ​
• ​They slot TV content to run in fewer markets so networks can pay less residuals.


• Artificial Intelligence & Reality TV is just the beginning of how corps
• ignore unions
• boost profits
• while making actors/writers disposable

It’s not in the studio’s interest to pay u what ur worth because there’s no profit in that.  They don't care about Equity. They care about making as much money as possible for as little as possible.


My point is none of this should be surprising using old tools on a new car will get you a car that won't run. This is the trajectory of our economy everywhere: the 1% make more money by figuring out how to pay you less and less.


So unless ur equipping urself like a corporation with a valuable product (a story or project with a solid following over which you hold complete creative & financial control), u r placing urself at the mercy of a studio’s bottom line.

Quinta Brunson
Michaela Coel
Issa Rae
Britt Marling
told stories by any means necessary,
produced/shot them, held onto creative
control & all rights to their work until a
studio came to them & made them offers worthy of them.



If your creativity is so valuable, then start acting like it, instead of pretending we live in a meritocracy that values storytelling & art.


Ur first order of business is to figure out what ur purpose is
& why u need permission to be an actor/writer/storyteller?

A paycheck?
Validation of ur talent/worth?
Or do u have a burning desire
to tell ur story as an intricate
part of ur life’s purpose?


If it’s the latter,
u won’t spend ur time
begging for crumbs,
but rather,
learning how to create
structures that honor the
story of why u are here


​---April Yvette Thompson
Tony-winning producer/actor/writer
& TheDreamUnLocked CEO

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