Coronavirus hits little Hollywood players

The announcement of an on-site shelter order for Los Angeles on March 19 put an end to the entertainment industry. At the Anthonys studio, Affordable Sound Stages, a major television network has left a model city half built on one of the stages, its scaled-down skyscrapers unpainted and waiting for the day when its safe to continue working .

Madeline Berg, a Forbes journalist who writes about the entertainment industry, says the industry is planning to lose $ 12 billion in ticket revenue if the closings continue until June. This number includes lost revenue from stage productions, cinemas and concerts, but does not take into account lost revenue from companies like Anthonys, so the actual number could be several billion more.

While streaming services and home concert apps like Stageit could make up for some of the losses, Berg says the blow to the industry is likely to be huge.

And while the words “entertainment industry” may sound like multi-millionaire celebrities, the company is putting food on the table for many who may not be able to weather the storm as easily.

Jason George, star of the TV dramas Grays Anatomy and Station 19, says he was lucky. Station 19 had just finished filming the last episode of the season before the stop was announced. Hell receives full payment for his work on the season and is not watching a financial emergency.

But George, who sits on the board of directors of the SAG-AFTRA actors union, said that many actors and other industry players have not been so fortunate.

His replacement recently suffered a medical condition that put him in hospital for months and his weakened immune system leaves him vulnerable to the virus. Now the lack of work is making her problems worse.

“We the players get our health insurance by working,” says George. “If you don’t earn enough in one year to get your health insurance, then you don’t work enough as an actor and you don’t get health insurance through the actors’ union.”

SAG-AFTRA is looking for solutions to ensure that the 160,000 of its members can keep their health insurance, but it is a balance to ensure that the health insurance plan does not run out of money. “The ripples of it all across my industry, from the individual level to the institutional level, are crazy,” he says.

Journalist Berg says production companies compensate for at least part of their lost revenue by releasing films directly via streaming instead of theaters, but for lesser-known actors and actresses, the situation is dire.

“We think the actors are making a lot of money, being really wealthy,” she said. “Many actors are in difficulty, they are in a few productions a year and they are really subcontractors, you only earn money during the periods when you are in a film or in a television program or in a play. So unfortunately, there is not much to do. “

CARES, the government’s $ 2 trillion coronavirus rescue program, provides approximately $ 100 million in funding for arts organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts. But it remains to be seen if this money will make its way into the entertainment industry.

“Many artists were a little unhappy that the government, instead of dispersing the money set aside for the arts and allowing the decision to be made more locally, gave it to these large heritage organizations,” says Berg. “We don’t know how they’re going to distribute this money.”

Despite industry challenges, Jason George supports foreclosure as a necessary public health measure.

“I absolutely think that shelter on site is a difficult but necessary decision that our government has had to make,” he said. “This disease, if we don’t solve this problem first, it will drag us down and then our economy will never come back.”

Vic Anthony says he too thinks the lock is necessary, but he hopes it will be over soon.

“We are all a little sad not to work. But I hope things will start up again. Everyone will get back on their feet and we will work again.”