On a scale of “highly valued” to “thankless,” the roles that manufacturing assistants play on movie and tv units can swing in the direction of the latter. Delivering lunch, escorting solid members, managing background actors, sustaining radio tools — it’s all in manufacturing assistants’ repertoires, with the overall expectation being that, as entry-level employees in a cutthroat artistic trade, they’re desperate to please as they work prolonged hours for round minimal wage.
But one group believes longstanding norms round these roles can and may change. For a bit lower than a 12 months, Production Assistants United has been taking steps to unionize these employees nationwide with the backing of Burbank-based LiUNA Local 724, which represents electricians, plumbers and carpenters on Hollywood productions. Organizers are aiming to extend wages, enshrine turnaround occasions and supply entry to union well being advantages — in different phrases, to present these employees a few of the similar advantages as their union colleagues on set.
It’s a daring transfer at a time when U.S. manufacturing is lagging and set jobs are tougher to come back by than they had been throughout the Peak TV growth occasions. Union organizing all the time includes a stage of threat, which early-career employees could be much less desperate to undertake when occasions are robust. That hasn’t deterred Production Assistants United and LiUNA Local 724, that are pushing forward and making a bid for additional visibility with a rally on Sunday at IATSE Local 80’s Burbank headquarters.
Clio Byrne-Gudding, one of many group’s L.A.-based organizers, says they need Sunday’s occasion to ship the message that “this isn’t just an ambitious and kind of underdog movement, but is actually legitimate. It’s real.” Echoes Alex Aguilar, LiUNA Local 724’s enterprise supervisor, “We’re here and we’re not going away.”
Still, the hassle faces an upward climb. Starting as a grassroots group spurred to motion by the 2023 writers’ and actors strikes, the subsequent 12 months Production Assistants United set out publicly to unionize all sorts of manufacturing assistants, assistants and manufacturing secretaries for narrative movie and tv throughout the U.S., a group they at present estimate numbers greater than 10,000 folks.
Their bid to signify this sprawling group solely obtained tougher as soon as it turned clear over the course of 2024 and into 2025 that manufacturing wasn’t going to be roaring again within the U.S. post-strikes. According to the most recent report from L.A.’s movie workplace, manufacturing days on location decreased more than 22 percent within the first quarter of 2025 in contrast with an already meek interval in 2024.
“This is definitely the biggest challenge I’ve ever faced,” admits Aguilar, who says that effort has acquired backing from Local 724’s Washington, D.C.-based umbrella union, which has devoted monetary, organizational, coaching and schooling sources. “But I’m up for it. And I think so is our organizing committee.”
So far organizers have damaged up their endeavor by area, with an early deal with the movie hubs of Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and Atlanta, together with their surrounding areas, as nicely as Texas. They debuted union authorization playing cards — which labor teams use to reveal the extent of assist they take pleasure in inside a explicit workforce — in February. The group plans to focus on studios within the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers individually as soon as they determine they’ve majority assist amongst that firm’s manufacturing assistants.
That’s been a transferring goal. Production assistants’ prime points, on this explicit political local weather, have shifted from increased pay to having dependable work, says L.A.-based organizer Nalani Rodgers.
The state of the enterprise has additionally difficult issues. Sometimes when organizers make chilly calls to manufacturing assistants, their effort is acquired like a service group, says Byrne-Gudding. “They’re like, ‘Oh, it’s so great what you guys are doing,’ when in fact the only way that this is going to happen is if they take action,” they are saying. “Which is kind of a difficult thing to communicate to someone because times are so hopeless right now.”
During this era of trade pessimism, the group has positioned an emphasis on emboldening manufacturing assistants and educating them extra about labor organizing. As they’re calling employees and visiting them on units previous to name occasions, they’re attempting to instill the concept of “these productions cannot be run without you,” says L.A.-based organizer Ethan Ravens.
The group additionally made fiery speeches at Sen. Bernie Sanders’ and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Fighting Oligarchy” tour cease in Los Angeles on April 12, portraying manufacturing assistants as important however downtrodden employees for a few of the U.S.’ largest company gamers, together with Apple and Amazon. “We’re organizing not just to fix one job but to transform the entire industry for future generations of workers,” Ravens stated in his speech.
Sunday’s rally will probably faucet into a few of the similar themes — of channeling the leverage that manufacturing assistants have on units and constructing a brighter future for Hollywood employees — whereas additionally demonstrating that the motion has the assist of different Hollywood labor organizations. So far, Teamsters Local 399 chief Lindsay Dougherty, Writers Guild of America West board member Adam Conover and SAG-AFTRA secretary-treasurer Joely Fisher have been introduced as audio system.
Will manufacturing assistants embrace the decision to start out making strikes at such a difficult second? The reply will develop into clearer over the subsequent few months, with attendance at Sunday’s occasion in L.A., and at satellite tv for pc occasions in Chicago and New York City, serving as a key bellwether. Says Aguilar, “It’s never the perfect time to organize. You just have to organize.”
