According to Deadline, Steven Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw have donated $1.5 million to help strike writers and actors, as well as anyone affected by the work stoppages.
Steven Spielberg and wife Kate Capshaw have donated $1.5M to funds that support writers & actors on strike.
(Source: Deadline) pic.twitter.com/OBKca79upp
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 11, 2023
The funds have been divided between the Entertainment Community Fund and the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Emergency Financial Assistance Program since the WGA went on strike in May. Both have attempted to keep workers in the entertainment business afloat throughout the strikes by providing emergency financial aid to cover basic living expenses, mental health support, and other services.
As of September 8, the Entertainment Community Fund had distributed more than $6.5 million to over 3,100 film and television workers. Meanwhile, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation has provided $2.5 million in financial aid.
Spielberg and Capshaw are the most recent celebrities to donate to the Entertainment Community Fund, following in the footsteps of Shonda Rhimes and Seth MacFarlane. Among those who have made significant contributions to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation are George and Amal Clooney, Luciana and Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness, Dwayne Johnson, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, Julia Roberts, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Meryl Streep, and Oprah Winfrey, to name a few.
Then there are individuals who have just created their own funds in support of striking, such as powerful showrunners Ryan Murphy and Greg Berlanti.
The Writers Guild is presently on Day 133 of its strike, while the actors have reached Day 60. While SAG-AFTRA has yet to reconvene with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to discuss its new contract, the WGA most recently met with the AMPTP in an official capacity on August 22. The writers guild informed members on September 8 that executives from various AMPTP firms had shown a “desire and willingness” to seek a settlement to end the strike – albeit in private – though an AMPTP representative later dismissed this statement out of hand.
