Will The IATSE Strike Happen? Daytime Soaps Could Be Impacted Quickly!

As viewers know, daytime soaps produce new episodes almost every weekday, all year long except for holidays and special pre-emptions like the Olympics or the World Series. That is a lot a story to produce in a very short time. We hear a lot about the various actors who can sometimes have extremely long work days. But we don’t hear as much about the crew and the behind the scenes folk who make sure every production goes as smoothly as possible.

All Soaps – The IATSE Is The Union For Many Of The Backstage Personnel Of Movies, Film And Television!

The IATSE, or International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees is the labor union that represents over 150,000 various behind the scenes crew and other employees in the entertainment industry. On October 4th, the Union voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike should an agreement not be met. Many different issues need to be addressed, most notably excessive unsafe and dangerous working hours as well as unlivable wages and other concerns.

All Soaps – Daytime Soaps And Talk Shows Will Be The First Shows To Be Impacted

Because soap operas and talk shows have a very tight turnaround timeframe, they would be the first shows impacted should a strike happen. Depending on how far in advance they have filmed, a shut down could stop new episodes of our favorite shows in a matter of weeks. But the IATSE doesn’t want to strike, they want an agreement to be reached. No one should have to work so many hours that it feels unsafe, so hopefully both sides will work with each other to ensure that safety. as well as appropriate compensation issues are resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.

All Soaps – The Last Major Shutdown For Most Of The Soaps Was Just Last Year!

When the Pandemic happened last year, all filming on soaps ceased for several months. While Days of Our Lives had filmed well enough in advance that there was no lapse in new episodes, the other three soaps had to resort to showing repeat episodes for several weeks. It becomes difficult for the soaps to get their audience back the longer they are out of production. So let’s hope that if there is a strike, that it is resolved quickly enough that the soaps don’t have to show repeats once again.

All soaps – What Do You Think?

Can an agreement be reached in time? Or will television and film production suffer through yet another shutdown? Have the soaps taped well enough in advance that a short strike might not even be noticeable? Check back right here regularly for all your soap opera news, including updates regarding any decision to strike!