Hollywood strikes taking a toll on California’s economy

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Los Angeles — Hollywood scribes met with studio executives Friday for the first time since the Writer’s Guild of America went on strike just over three months ago.
The more than 11,000 film and television writers that make up the WGA have been on strike since early May. In mid-July, they were joined on the picket lines by the approximately 65,000 actors in the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, SAG-AFTRA, a move that has shuttered nearly all scripted Hollywood production.
It marks the first time since 1960 that both guilds have been on strike simultaneously. The economic impact has been especially heightened in California, where film and television production accounts for more than 700,000 jobs and nearly $70 billion a year in wages, according to the California Film Commission.