Production Assistants' Union Drive Gets Boost From Bernie Sanders Rally: 'Studios Will Push Back'
Echoing the event's ethos of challenging corporate interests and billionaires, labor organizers focused on one of the entertainment industry's most crucial but unglamorous roles made a fiery unionization pitch to the reported 36,000 attendees. In the process, they put a spotlight on wages and working conditions as they described production assistants as being primed to build 'working-class power.'
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Green Day Blaze Through Headline Set, Charli XCX Brings Star Power at Coachella Day 2
Bernie Sanders Blasts Trump and Musk During Surprise Coachella Appearance
SAG-AFTRA and Advertisers Reach Tentative Agreement on Successor Contracts
Thousands of production assistants are 'sick and tired of being underpaid, overworked and unprotected,' said LiUNA Local 724 business manager Alex Aguilar, whose Local is heading up the union-organization effort, in a speech. 'That stops!'
Organizer Clio Byrne-Gudding, a production assistant who has in the past worked on Rebel Moon parts one and two, addressed production assistants directly: 'Will you continue to allow the corporate class to walk all over you and your coworkers? Or will you stand up and put your talents to use to protect your life and the lives of your fellow PAs?'
The appearance was the highest-profile yet for LiUNA organizers aiming to create a nationwide production assistants' union. The group went public at a Labor Day parade in 2024 and now have organizers in New York, Texas, Illinois and Georgia, Byrne-Gudding said on Saturday.
The group's key objectives are to raise wages, address turnaround times and institute union-administered health insurance coverage.
But, as organizers mentioned at the rally, they're also looking to revolutionize a typical career pathway for entry-level workers in Hollywood. 'We're organizing not just to fix one job but to transform the entire industry for future generations of workers,' said Ethan Ravens, another organizer with the group.
Ravens spoke to waking up at 2 or 3 a.m. for the job, working 16-plus hour days and then getting 'five or less hours of sleep' before repeating the cycle the next day. He said he knew PAs who had fallen asleep at the wheel while working productions' sometimes-punishing hours.
'Some of Hollywood's biggest players are the largest, most profitable companies in the world,' Ravens said in his speech. 'We're talking about Apple, Disney, Amazon. And as a PA, we're expected to carry the weight of these Hollywood productions on our backs.'
Organizer Nalani Rodgers speculated on how Hollywood companies might respond to the half-a-year-old union drive in a speech. 'Studios will push back, they'll tell you you're just lucky to be here, that things will never change and it is what it is,' she said. 'You and your fellow workers must resist giving into fear.'
The appearance preceded a rally that will take place for the organizing effort on May 4 in Burbank. The organizers are ramping up their efforts at a challenging time for crew members, especially in Los Angeles, where on-location production days fell 22 percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared with a year prior. State-wide, film, TV and sound jobs were down 25 percent in California in 2024 compared with 2022, before the double strikes of 2023.
Byrne-Gudding acknowledged that they have seen PAs endure 'joblessness and poverty' during their time in the industry. 'Things have been hell in Hollywood and in the world,' Byrne-Gudding said.
Still, Byrne-Gudding urged their cohort to keep their eye on the ball. 'Many in the film business would tell you that winning protections for PAs in impossible. But you know what? Here in the film business, we do the impossible on a daily basis.'
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started
Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023
Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Halsey on Learning From Sydney Sweeney on ‘Americana' and Creating Her Own New Series: 'Really Cool to Be Part of a Project I Don't Face'
Halsey has been making the transition from musician to movie star in recent years — including with a breakout role in 2024's MaXXXine — but the first major project she shot is just now making its way to theaters. Americana — a modern western from writer-director Tony Tost which follows several people as their lives violently intertwine while fighting over an expensive Native American ghost shirt— was shot in 2022, premiered at SXSW in 2023 and is finally heading to this big screen this month. More from The Hollywood Reporter Trump Swoons Over Sydney Sweeney Amid Reports That She's a Republican American Eagle Responds to Sydney Sweeney Jeans Campaign Amid Controversy JD Vance Mocks Protests of Sydney Sweeney's Jeans Ad: "They Can't Help But Freak Out" 'I'd been waiting a really long time, I'd been really cautiously picky about what I was going to do for my first project for getting into this world, into this space,' Halsey told The Hollywood Reporter at the film's Los Angeles premiere on Sunday. 'Tony reached out and he was so personable and so talented and I just really connected with the script and the character. Little did I know we were going to be making it during COVID, which was a crazy experience. And from the moment I read the script until we started shooting, I got pregnant, had a whole pregnancy, gave birth to my son, had my son on set with me, and without giving anything away, it's really serendipitous to [her character] Mandy's arc in the film.' The film also stars Sydney Sweeney — who walked the carpet in her first public appearance following her American Eagle controversy — Paul Walter Hauser, Simon Rex, Eric Dane and Zahn McClarnon. It marks a reunion for Halsey and Sweeney, after the Euphoria star appeared in Halsey's 2019 music video for her song 'Graveyard.' 'We were actually hanging out a bunch during COVID, so when I got the call she was doing the movie we had like just gone hiking a few days before, so it was like, 'Oh cool, I'll see you there,'' Halsey recalled. 'It was just really great to have someone to learn from, to ask questions to — the stupid questions you don't think of. It was my first time on a movie set in a real way; just being like 'Who do I look at? Who do I listen to? What's the cool code words I don't know, the actor lingo?' So having someone to ask the stupid questions to was great.' Next up, Halsey is making another pivot and developing series Bloodlust for Amazon, serving as creator, writer and EP. The dark comedy series has also enlisted MaXXXine filmmaker Ti West to direct and executive produce. 'I started the pilot a few years ago and Amazon wanted it and they took it and now we're getting it on the road. There's not so much that I can say but it's really cool to be a part of a project that I don't face. It's quite relieving,' Halsey explained, confirming that she will not appear on screen in the show. 'Just behind the scenes, just the puppet master,' she noted, celebrating, 'I don't have to do my makeup.' Americana hits theaters Aug. 15. Best of The Hollywood Reporter The 25 Best U.S. Film Schools in 2025 The 40 Greatest Needle Drops in Film History The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience
Fox News
14 hours ago
- Fox News
Teamsters president reveals Bernie Sanders stopped talking to him after he spoke at RNC
Teamsters President Sean O'Brien revealed on Tuesday that Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., stopped communicating with him after O'Brien spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention, saying the senator's attitude and level of access have changed. Speaking with The Free Press' Bari Weiss, the union boss said Sanders "doesn't talk to me anymore." O'Brien spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention but said he never heard back from the Democratic National Committee after requesting to speak. The Teamsters did not endorse Trump or Harris in 2024. Asked if he used to talk to Sanders often, O'Brien said he used to do rallies with him: "I think he looks at it as a betrayal of not endorsing the Democratic Party." "He's never said that, but his whole attitude and access have completely changed towards us," he said. O'Brien said his staff called Sanders and his team last week because they were working on the Faster Labor Standards Contract Act, which O'Brien said was a trimmed-down version of the PRO Act. "He's got a problem with it and his staff [were] not too nice to my staff. So it's like, we're only as good to people when we're carrying that water, but I guess that doesn't matter," he said. "I mean, look, I like the guy. I have respect for him. I saw him on Joe Rogan. I don't know. I mean, this is the problem with politics. People take things too personal. And when you don't go along to get along because you're actually listening to people you represent, and they don't talk to you anymore, you know, that's the problem. It's fine," O'Brien continued. Sanders' team did not immediately return a request for comment. The Teamsters president also criticized former Vice President Kamala Harris during the interview, accusing her of pressuring the union for an endorsement. He described one off-putting encounter Teamsters leader Joan Corey allegedly had with the 2024 presidential candidate in a photo-op line. "So, Joan goes in the line and Joan says, 'I'm Joan Corey. I'm a vice president with the Teamsters Union,' and [Harris] pointed her finger at Joan and said, 'Teamsters better get on board,' and so Joan says, 'Excuse me?' 'Yeah, Teamsters better get on board. I don't know why you haven't endorsed me yet.' So she comes back, and she tells me this, and I'm like, 'The nerve!'" O'Brien went on to claim that when Harris met with the union's executive board, which had prepared a slate of 16 questions, she only answered four. "She really didn't answer the questions, and then on the fourth question, my chief of staff slides me an index card and says, 'This is the last question. She's not answering anymore,' because she wanted to pontificate and give her speech of why the country is the way it is, why we should endorse her," he said. Harris didn't respond to a request for comment.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Jussie Smollett Returns to Fox as Part of ‘Special Forces' Cast
More than six years after leaving Fox's Empire amid an uproar over an allegedly staged attack, Jussie Smollett is returning to the network. Smollett will be part of the network's competition show Special Forces: World's Toughest Test in the fall. The actor and singer is one of 18 celebrities taking on a series of challenges that mirror those of military special forces training. More from The Hollywood Reporter Jussie Smollett Speaks in Netflix Doc 'The Truth About Jussie Smollett?' Brody Jenner Signs With UTA for Music and Touring (Exclusive) 'Special Forces' Star Brody Jenner Doesn't Regret 'The Hills' but Does Wish He'd Shown More of His "Real Life" The season's other contestants are Kody Brown (TLC's Sister Wives), Brittany Cartwright (Bravo's The Valley), Randall Cobb (former NFL player), Eric Decker (former NFL player), Jessie James Decker (country music artist), Andrew East (former NFL player), Shawn Johnson East (gold medal-winning Olympic gymnast), Mark Estes ('internet personality'), Gia Giudice, Teresa Giudice (The Real Housewives of New Jersey), Chanel Iman (model), Brianna LaPaglia ('internet personality' aka Brianna Chickenfry), Johnny Manziel (former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL player), Eva Marcille (model and actress), Ravi V. Patel (Fox's Animal Control), Christie Pearce Rampone (World Cup winner with the U.S. women's soccer team) and Nick Young (former NBA player). The cast also features a few familial relationships: Eric and Jessie James Decker are married, as are Andrew East and Shawn Johnson East. Teresa and Gia Giudice are mother and daughter. Smollett starred on Fox's music-industry drama Empire for five seasons from 2015-19. In January 2019, he claimed he had been attacked in Chicago, where Empire filmed, by two Black men who shouted homophobic slurs. The two men then said Smollett paid them to stage the attack, and Smollett was charged with filing a false police report; the charges were later dropped after Smollett paid a fine and did community service. His character was written out of Empire's final season, though he remained under contract with the series. In 2020, however, he was re-indicted by a special prosecutor and convicted of five counts of felony disorderly conduct related to filing false reports in 2021. He served six days in jail before being released; the Illinois Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 2024, ruling that the second set of charges violated Smollett's due process rights. Smollett has maintained throughout the case that he did not stage the crime. He recently participated in a Netflix documentary titled The Truth About Jussie Smollett? that's set to premiere Aug. 22 on the streamer. Special Forces will premiere Sept. 25 on Fox. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
