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.

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.
 

Introduction: Unions in Hollywood
Kate Fortmueller and Luci Marzola

Section I. The Below-the-Line Unions: IATSE in Hollywood
Introduction
Luci Marzola and Katie Bird

Chapter 1 Feminized Production Roles: Uneven Progress, Enduring Inequality in Female
Dominated Locals
Erin Hill
Chapter 2 Backlot Work: The Working Class Backbone of Hollywood’s Unions
Katie Bird
Chapter 3 Sound and Camera: The Pacesetters on Set and in IATSE
Luci Marzola
Chapter 4 Post-Production: Working Behind the Scenes and At the Forefront of IATSE
Paul Monticone
Chapter 5 Art Direction: The Drive to Unite Hollywood’s Designers and Artists
Barbara Hall
Chapter 6 Makeup and Hair: Forgotten Folks and Famous Experts
Adrienne L. McLean
Chapter 7 Costumes and Wardrobe: Gender and the Invisible Labor of Costume Departments
Helen Warner
Chapter 8 Animation: Hollywood Outliers, Industry Firebrands
Dawn Fratini

Section II. The Guilds: Hollywood’s Creative Class
Introduction
Kate Fortmueller

Chapter 9 Writers: Scripting the Narrative of Hollywood Labor
Miranda Banks
Chapter 10 Actors: Balancing the Needs of Extras, Actors, and Stars
Kate Fortmueller
Chapter 11 Directors: Power, Prestige, and the Politics of Authorship
Maya Montañez Smukler

Coda: Hollywood on Strike
Kate Fortmueller

Appendix – Hollywood Unions Strike Timeline