OCEANSIDE, Calif. (KGTV) — The months-long actor's strike is continuing to wreak havoc on Hollywood as thousands are out of work and productions have been put on hold.
Smaller studios are also taking a big hit.
"It's impacted us tremendously," Kurtis Anton said.
Anton is the Founder and CEO of Snakebyte Productions and Entertainment Group in Oceanside.
His company has produced 26 feature films.
"I did a feature film with Jennifer Coolidge. That was my last movie, actually in December of 2022," Anton said.
Anton said many of his projects involve unioned actors.
"To be able to get funded or to be able to be sold in the end, you gotta have Screen Actors Guild actors involved. To be able to raise the money, you need some kind of name to get the money," he explained.
Actors have been on strike since mid-July over better pay, streaming residuals, and the use of AI.
While it's against major studios, Anton said he's also unable to do major projects to bring in revenue.
"600,000 [dollars] is what we're down this year from last year," Anton said.
He's had to sell $350,000 in assets so far.
"I have a lot of gear left I still own, but I also have debt, obviously, because of this. I had to take out a couple of bad loans to try and float through," he said.
Anton hopes actors and major studios can come to an agreement soon, adding the strike has dealt a bigger blow than the pandemic.
"We're just trying to work and make a living," Anton said.
SAG-AFTRA and major studios resumed negotiations this week.
