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Hollywood Unions
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Edited by:
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With contributions by:
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2025
About this book
Hollywood Unions is a unique collection that tells the stories of the unions and guilds that have organized motion picture and television labor: IATSE, the DGA, SAG-AFTRA, and the WGA. The Hollywood unions represent a wide swath of the workers making media: from directors and stars to grips and makeup artists. People today know some of these organizations from their glitzy annual awards celebrations, but the unions’ actual importance is in bargaining with the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on behalf of 331,000 workers in the motion picture and television industry. The Hollywood unions are not neutral institutions but rather have long histories of jurisdictional battles, competitions with rival unions, and industry-altering strikes. They have supported the industry’s workers through the Great Depression, World War II, the McCarthy era, the collapse of the studio system, the rise of television, runaway production, fights for gender parity, the digital revolution, and a global pandemic. The history of these unions has contributed to making media work sustainable in the long term and helped shape the conditions and production cultures of Hollywood.
Author / Editor information
KATE FORTMUELLER is an associate professor of film and media history at Georgia State University, Atlanta. She is the author of Below the Stars: Labor of Working Actors and Extras Shapes Media Production and Hollywood Shutdown: Production, Distribution, and Exhibition in the Time of COVID.
LUCI MARZOLA is program coordinator and lecturer in the Division of Cinema and Media Studies in the School of Cinematic Arts at University of Southern California. She is the author of Engineering Hollywood: Technology, Technicians and the Science of Building the Studio System.
LUCI MARZOLA is program coordinator and lecturer in the Division of Cinema and Media Studies in the School of Cinematic Arts at University of Southern California. She is the author of Engineering Hollywood: Technology, Technicians and the Science of Building the Studio System.
Reviews
"Hollywood Unions is a vital and dynamic history of organized labor’s role in the film and television industries. The book stands as a definitive account of how Hollywood works."
— Jennifer Holt, author of Empires of Entertainment: Media Industries and the Politics of Deregulation, 1980—1996
— Jennifer Holt, author of Empires of Entertainment: Media Industries and the Politics of Deregulation, 1980—1996
"Hollywood Unions will repay careful reading and study. The contributors have examined the film industry's union history, shedding light on organisations that have barely been mentioned until now. It is a sound starting point for anyone interested in the history of unions in American film history."
— Film & History"A highly illuminating historical account of below-and-above-the-line trade unions, guilds and related labor conditions in L.A.'s film and television industries, from Hollywood's beginnings to the present day."
— Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television"After decades of declining labor power, unions are finding new footholds across U.S. industries and professions. This book is the first of its kind in following the pathways of Hollywood unions that succeeded in the darkest times for organizing, and those that did not. In doing so, Hollywood Unions teaches all of us lessons for labor coalitions and the social forces that oppose them."
— Vicki A. Mayer, author of Almost Hollywood, Nearly New Orleans: The Lure of the Local Film Economy
— Vicki A. Mayer, author of Almost Hollywood, Nearly New Orleans: The Lure of the Local Film Economy
Topics
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Frontmatter
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Contents
v -
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Current Hollywood IATSE Locals (as of 2023)
vii -
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Acronyms
ix -
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Introduction: Unions in Hollywood
1 - Part I: The Below-the- Line Unions: IATSE in Hollywood ( Luci Marzola and Katie Bird)
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1. Feminized Production Roles: Uneven Progress, Enduring Inequality in Female-Dominated Locals
41 -
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2. Backlot Work: The Working-Class Backbone of Hollywood’s Unions
68 -
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3. Sound and Camera: The Pacesetters on Set and in IATSE
92 -
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4. Postproduction: Working behind the Scenes and at the Forefront of IATSE
114 -
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5. Art Direction: The Drive to Unite Hollywood’s Designers and Artists
136 -
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6. Makeup and Hair: Forgotten Folks and Famous Experts
163 -
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7. Costumes and Wardrobe: Gender and the Invisible Labor of Costume Departments
186 -
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8. Animation: Hollywood Outliers, Industry Firebrands
204 - Part II: The Guilds: Hollywood’s Creative Class (Kate Fortmueller)
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9. Writers: Scripting the Narrative of Hollywood Labor
243 -
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10. Actors: Balancing the Needs of Extras, Actors, and Stars
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11. Directors: Power, Prestige, and the Politics of Authorship
282 -
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Coda: Hollywood on Strike
303 -
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Appendix: Timeline of Hollywood Strikes
313 -
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Acknowledgments
315 -
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Selected Bibliography
317 -
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Notes on Contributors
319 -
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Index
321
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
December 11, 2024
eBook ISBN:
9781978830622
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9781978830622
Keywords for this book
hollywood; unions; labor; DGA; IATSE; SAG-AFTRA; WGA; film; media; television; Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers; studio system; the Great Depression; World War II; McCarthy era; hayes code; digital revolution; wage gap; labor union; worker rights; solidarity; strike; negotiation
Audience(s) for this book
For a non-specialist adult audience
