CNN
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Oscar winner George Clooney has joined the refrain of artists calling for change as actors hit the picket strains of their first strike in opposition to movie and tv studios since 1980.

“This is an inflection point in our industry,” Clooney advised CNN in an announcement on Friday. “Actors and writers in large numbers have lost their ability to make a living. For our industry to survive that has to change. For actors that journey starts now.”

Clooney’s feedback come as members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) picked up indicators to show exterior movie and tv studios on each coasts Friday, becoming a member of leisure writers who’ve been doing simply that for over two months.

The SAG-AFTRA strike was formally introduced on Thursday.

“Ted Lasso” star (and Emmy nominee) Jason Sudeikis was noticed in New York, the place he advised CNN to “listen” to the voices of strikers chanting issues like, “Hey hey, ho ho corporate greed’s got to go” and “What do we want? Contracts. When do we want ‘em? Now!”

“That says it all,” he remarked.

When requested how lengthy he’d be prepared to assist the strike, Sudeikis replied, “As long as it takes”

Actors Constance Zimmer, Lisa Edelstein, and SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher have been additionally noticed on picket strains.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, pressured to reporters on Friday that the actors’ strike just isn’t a ploy for large identify stars to earn more money.

“This is a fight for basic fairness. This is fight on behalf of working people. This is not a fight on behalf of huge celebrities,” Crabtree-Ireland mentioned.

Representing a union with 160,000 members, he added that the “vast majority are fighting to pay rent, mortgage, feed their family. This is a working person’s fight.”

The actors be part of the greater than 11,000 member of the WGA who’ve been on strike in opposition to the identical studios and streaming companies since May 2. That union is putting over lots of the identical points as SAG-AFTRA – honest pay, particularly with regard to residuals within the age of streaming, and up-to-date protections in opposition to using AI.

The writers’ strike had already halted manufacturing on most movies and tv exhibits. The conventional begin of the autumn tv season and the discharge of a number of films deliberate for subsequent yr are actually in danger, with fall movie festivals unlikely and big-budget productions like “Deadpool 3” grinding to a halt.