Hollywood Strike Damages Theatre Projects???

Broadway’s 19-day strike may have ended last month (See News, 29 Nov 2007), but another ongoing American industrial action is still causing headaches in London’s Theatreland. In Hollywood, everything has been on hold since 5 November 2007, when the 12,000 members of the Writers Guild of America stopped working in protest over DVD and online earnings. So what’s that got to do with theatre? Quite a lot if you’re trying to cast a production with actors who do any screen work.

London-based casting director Joyce Nettles, who’s experiencing difficulty casting Rupert Goold’s upcoming UK premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis’ The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at the Almeida (See News, 30 Oct 2007), explained in an article in The Times today: “Nobody can commit to 2008. The actors we’re looking at aren’t working but are under contract to American studios to resume shooting immediately the strike finishes. It’s not just ‘name’ names. Look at the casts of Lost, The Wire, Heroes. British talent is all over LA. So trying to get leads into next year’s theatre is very tricky. Terrible, in fact.”

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