If you still don’t understand why actors and writers are striking in Hollywood, look no further than Ismael Cruz Córdova and the revelation he made on social media.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power star took to social media Tuesday (July 18) to share the reason he is standing with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) and Writers Guild of America (WGA) against the studios who seem to be dragging their feet during contract negotiations.
Córdova explained it in the simplest way he knew how to get his point across that the majority of actors in the entertainment business are not making a living wage. Before he broke out big with Prime Video’s The Rings of Power, he was barely scraping by as a working actor.
“I started my 20s homeless,” Córdova wrote. “I recurred in a very popular TV show. Then, I recurred in another TV show. I did a movie. Then, another one. Then, another one. Then, guest starred in another TV show. Then another movie. As my 20s were wrapping up, I was still homeless. This is why we strike.”
A decade working as an actor, and Córdova says he was in the exact same spot financially as he was when he first started.
Just take a look at some of the residual checks that actors have started to post on social media to show people how little they make when one of their TV shows or movies gets replayed. Many of them don’t even break the $1 mark.
Hopefully, sooner than later, actors and writers will start getting paid what they deserve.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors like Ismael Cruz Córdova, none of the film/TV covered here wouldn’t exist.