Wednesday night was already a joyous occasion for a significant amount of Pittsburgh’s filmmaking community. And then, it got even better.
Many locally based actors and crew members who worked on the independent Titanic drama “Unsinkable” were gathered at Downtown’s Pittsburgh Playhouse for the long-gestating film’s world premiere. It was an event six years in the making that also served as one of two opening night screenings for Film Pittsburgh’s 2023 Three Rivers Film Festival.
As the lights went back up following multiple rounds of enthusiastic applause, Film Pittsburgh executive director Kathryn Spitz Cohan rushed onto the stage with some breaking news: SAG-AFTRA had reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, effectively ending a strike that began in July and — in conjunction with the Writers Guild of America’s recently settled labor dispute — led to most film production nationwide being shut down indefinitely.
The audible excitement that immediately washed over the crowd comprised largely of local film workers was electric to behold in real time. Hollywood couldn’t have scripted a better way for them to find out that, after months of scrambling to get by without any movies or shows shooting in this area, that they would finally soon be getting back to work.
“It is a wonderful coincidence to be premiering this incredible film made in Pittsburgh with all these actors and extras in the audience and to have the SAG-AFTRA strike have a tentative agreement!” Spitz Cohan told the Post-Gazette during the “Unsinkable” premiere’s afterparty.
“What is the chance of that? It’s kismet! It was meant to be! It’s a beautiful thing, and I was so happy to announce it from the stage.”
The best gift
Spitz Cohan’s happiness was likely dwarfed by the many entertainment professionals who as of 3:01 a.m. Thursday were officially no longer on strike. SAG-AFTRA confirmed the tentative agreement via social media and said that their new contract is “valued at over $1 billion” and is “a deal of extraordinary scope” providing members with wage increases, protections against advancements in artificial intelligence technology and a first-of-its-kind “streaming participation bonus.”
“We have arrived at a contract that will enable SAG-AFTRA members from every category to build sustainable careers,” the union wrote. “Many thousands of performers now and into the future will benefit from this work.”
The conclusion of the SAG-AFTRA strike has already resulted in actors feeling comfortable promoting their work once again, as evidenced by Colman Domingo posting about his Pittsburgh-filmed civil rights biopic “Rustin” earlier Thursday. It also means that production work can restart in Western Pennsylvania. Paramount+ confirmed in September that crime series “Mayor of Kingstown” will shoot its third season here starting at an unspecified date.
Naturally, Pittsburgh Film Office director Dawn Keezer is ecstatic “that this long work stoppage may finally be at an end.”
“The over 5,000 people who live and work in Southwestern Pennsylvania, the people behind the scenes that rely on the film industry for their family-sustaining livelihoods, are eager to return to work and make the magic come alive and the money begin to flow again into Pennsylvania,” she said.
The SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes affected every corner of the entertainment industry here. That included all the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees members working behind the scenes on big-budget productions filming in this region; Pittsburgh’s casting directors and talent agencies; Directors Guild of America members who often land jobs as assistant directors on Hollywood sets; and movie theater owners who had begun to worry about a potential supply drought.
Western Pennsylvania has slowly become a destination for Hollywood filming in the 21st century. A growing infrastructure of talented creatives bolstered by programs like the film office’s joint CREATE PA: Film & Theater Works! jobs training initiative have been mostly able to make a decent living here. That was put in jeopardy during both strikes, and things grew so dire that the local filmmaking community organized a solidarity market last month to raise money for film workers in need.
For every Pittsburgher whose skills and expertise have helped raise Western Pennsylvania’s profile as a major Hollywood filming destination, SAG-AFTRA getting their deal was akin to Christmas coming early.
“What better gift for the holidays for everyone I know in the film business than finally getting back to work?” posited Steve Parys, a 61-year-old South Side resident and veteran first assistant director.
Return to normalcy
SAG-AFTRA member Patrick Jordan was “super thrilled for [the strike] to be over” so he can go back to supplementing the income he brings in from his primary job leading Braddock-based theater barebones productions, which is currently gearing up for a run of the David Mamet play “American Buffalo” from Nov. 17-Dec. 10.
“A lot of shows and movies were slated or scouting Pittsburgh to shoot here and got held off,” he said. “I’m hoping that people want to come back here and make stuff here. Movies, television shows, we’re back!”
Plum resident and longtime SAG-AFTRA actor James Howard is also soaking in this “giant relief” wave. “The uncertainty was a killer! Looking forward to going back to work — work I will no longer take for granted!”
Ted Williams, 55, of the South Side, is both a SAG-AFTRA and IATSE member who has worn many hats on Hollywood sets. The seasoned stuntman hasn’t seen the final version of this new SAG-AFTRA contract yet, but he’s confident that union leadership wouldn’t have accepted any deal without “provisions built in for my fellow stunt performers.”
“I am so anxious and excited to return to work,” he said. “I missed it. I miss the chaos, the creativity. I miss my friends and coworkers and the ability and opportunity to have fun and be surrounded by creative people doing what we love.”
Anna Baird, a Squirrel Hill-based assistant producer who helped organized October’s solidarity market, said that the Hollywood machine starting up again is “the light we’ve been looking for” and that local film workers are “rested ... and ready to get back to work.”
That’s definitely what Pittsburgh’s casting agencies are hoping as more productions requiring large numbers of extras and speaking parts set up shop in Western Pennsylvania. “Unsinkable” casting director Nancy Mosser, the owner of Lawrenceville-based Nancy Mosser Casting, said she is extremely happy for both local crew members and, of course, all the actors “who deserve everything that they are getting with this deal.”
“It’s fantastic news to hear that SAG has finally reached a deal that they feel is fair for their membership,” said Chelsea Lynn Peterson, an extras casting director with Movie Casting PGH. “Now we can all get back to doing what we love.”
Luckily for cinephiles and movie-theater purveyors, that work will also help stabilize Hollywood’s increasingly volatile release calendar. Rick Stern, who owns the Manor Theatre in Squirrel Hill, couldn’t have been more delighted that the deal “basically puts the entire industry back in motion again.”
“A ratified agreement that puts an entire industry back to work will lead to more consistency in the film release calendar — and of course, more product— which directly impacts theaters,” added Carolina Thor, the CEO of The Lindsay Theater and Cultural Center in Sewickley.
“We are hopeful for an extended period of normalcy and optimism, which, frankly, have existed only in fragments since the pandemic.”
‘A magical moment’
Getting back to something resembling a normal work schedule was on the minds of everyone at the “Unsinkable” premiere, including SAG-AFTRA member Daina Griffith. After finally getting to watch her performance as the Countess of Rothes in “Unsinkable,” Griffith was ready “to scream and jump up and down” upon hearing that the SAG-AFTRA strike was over.
“We started working on this film so long ago,” said Griffith, who hasn’t auditioned for anything since July due to the strikes. “The fact that we’re here tonight and this is happening is pretty awesome.”
Sé Marie Volk, another SAG-AFTRA member and “Unsinkable” performer, said that it was “a magical moment” to see “an entire auditorium erupting with joy” after the announcement was made.
As Volk put it, “the rest of the night was bliss” as everyone gleefully celebrated both their hard work on “Unsinkable” and this unexpected but extremely welcome victory.
“I am so grateful for our union leadership for fighting for us, and tremendously proud of every single SAG-AFTRA member who stood their ground for the long haul and made this possible,” Volk said. “It’s an enormous step in the right direction for performers and film industry folks everywhere. ... I wear my union logo with pride today.”
Joshua Axelrod: jaxelrod@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jaxelburgh.
First Published: November 9, 2023, 5:59 p.m.
