WILMINGTON (WWAY) — After nearly four months, the actors strike has come to an end.
As actors await the deal between the union and major studios to become official, many in the film industry are looking ahead to a busy new year as productions resume.
The industry came off a boom into a bust, following a summer of strikes.
“In 2021, we had our peak in business and productions here spent about $320 million,” revealed Johnny Griffin. “This year, we’ll be lucky if productions spend somewhere around $35 million.”
Griffin is the Wilmington Regional Film Commission Director. He said that here in “Hollywood East,” many are excited.
“Obviously, the film people have not had a paycheck,” he explained. “There’s local businesses that have had to lay people off because they’ve lost the film business, which is a piece of their business. Again, everybody is very excited to start to move forward.”
He feels that Wilmington has done a lot to prepare for the return of productions, as Dark Horse Studious announced its expansion, and Cinespace Studios purchased Screen Gems.
“I think that’s going to keep the eyes on Wilmington and everybody will realize that Wilmington must be a popular place if we’ve got new stages being built and companies coming in and acquiring existing stages,” he continued. “So, I think that’s going to be a positive thing for us.”
While some productions could resume in just weeks, with none currently filming in Wilmington, Griffin added that it will likely be early next year before projects get up in running in the Port City.
“We still have our sound stages. We have great crew here, a great place to work that people really enjoy being,” Griffin assured. “All of those things are still in place and every reason that people had to be here before, they still have to come in 2024. We think it’s going to continue and we think it’s going to ramp back up again.”
SAG-AFTRA first walked off the job on July 1st.
Once ratified, the contract will be retroactive and run through June 30th of 2026.