In May 2023 production shut down on Loot, the production my husband had been working on, due to the writer’s strike. He was part of the crew. Up until then I had been a stay at home. I was hopeful that when our youngest entered kindergarten, of the same year, that I would have the time to re-enter the workforce, but it had not worked out that way because he spent every other week at home sick due to his asthma. But because my husband was working, we thought everything would be ok regardless. We had never been comfortable. Having a single income in LA had always difficult. Actually, we constantly struggled even before the strike. Child care for three small children was never something we could afford given the extremely long and sporadic hours he worked. We got through it, but we always struggled.
When the strike came he reassured me that this would be good for all of the crew. That this could change the film business for the better. The first blow was unemployment. He actually had to go to unemployment court to prove that he had not falsely claimed unemployment during the film shutdown of 2020. Even though it was national news that the film business was shut down from March-September 2020, CA unemployment still accused my husband of falsely claiming during those months. It took until September 2023 before his case was settled and he could receive the $450/weekly that is the highest unemployment available. That ran out in November.
The five months from may until then were absolutely crippling. We had no savings and lived off borrowed money. Literally thousands of dollars of other people’s money. Every single day we faced homelessness. My husband went into a deep depression. Day after day he could hardly get out of bed. We fought endlessly. I got a part time job, but ended up losing it for taking my children to work with me. I didn’t have many options because my husband was unable to watch them. He was lost in his depression. He became suicidal. It took months before he received a diagnosis of major depressive disorder and finally got medicated.
The film business provided no aid. In order to receive aid from from his union he would have to pay his dues, something we never had the extra money to pay. Regardless, the aid was no more than $1500, barely enough for a one bedroom in LA.
Finally, we were able to borrow money to fix our only car so that my husband could drive uber. That began in late November. Given all of our debt we stopped paying rent altogether. Now, we are facing eviction. I have become a shell of a person, afraid to eat because I don’t want to take away any food from our children. My husband and I can hardly be in the same room.
The strikes ended, but still no calls. When we leave we will be going our separate ways. Our lives, our home, and our family have been completely destroyed. We are losing everything.
I’m not really sure what the strikes accomplished? Perhaps they will make things better somewhere down the line. But can we be the only family effected this way? What happened to the rest of the crew?
I don’t really know how I will survive once we are evicted on March 1st. We have no family in LA. I will somehow have to get our three children to Texas without a car, probably leaving everything we own behind.
I’m desperate for help. We need $10000 minimum to stay in our home. Please help us in anyway that you can.
paypal.me/Satiloving