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How can film and TV workers cope with Hollywood slowdown? Financial experts offer tips
For many film and TV industry professionals, it’s getting increasingly hard to wait for the production rebound that was widely expected after the strikes by writers and actors ended.
Cyd Wilson, executive director of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, said the foundation’s emergency fund was getting 100 applications for assistance per day at the height of the strike; it’s down to about 10 a day now. But the problems have spread, from members with limited incomes from acting to the profession’s working class, she said.
“We are now seeing people who have earned $100,000, $200,000 a year” applying for help, Wilson said. “Those people have gone through all of their savings, they’ve tapped into their 401(k)s.”
Financial experts say that the best way to weather times like these is to have crafted a budget that helped you save while work was plentiful. But it’s not too late to make some money moves, budget or no budget, that can help keep you going until production returns to normal.
Here are some of the top suggestions for stretching dollars and ginning up extra income.
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Know where your money is going
Justin Pritchard, a certified financial planner in Montrose, Colo., said the first thing to do is to understand exactly what you’re spending your money on every month. “You may see some light bulbs go on or be surprised at where the money is going,” he said.
“One of the most common mistakes,” said Paco de Leon, a personal finance expert, author and host of the “Weird Finance” podcast, “is just not having any oversight over your finances and hoping it will all work out.”
Most people have two big-ticket items — housing and transportation — and the choices made there are the ones that really move the needle, said Neela Hummel, a certified financial planner in Santa Monica. Can you share your apartment or home to split the costs? Downgrade from a new Audi to a used Kia to slash your monthly payment?
In either case, Hummel said, the question is whether you’re enjoying the home or car enough to justify all the other things you’d have to give up to keep it.
Food is a third major expense. Joanne Danganan, a Los Angeles-based financial counselor and coach, said she tells her clients that the first thing to look at is how much they’re spending on dining out. If you don’t have the bandwidth to grocery shop and cook, she said, a good middle ground is to sign up for a service that supplies prepared meal kits.
Make a plan (and get help doing it)
As important as it is to understand your current spending habits, you also need to come up with a plan for narrowing the gap between your total spending and your sluggish current income. De Leon said the key is “making a little bit of progress every week.”
Hummel said it helps to get expert advice as soon as your finances are rocked by a big event (such as a strike). “We spend a lot of time undoing things that we wish we could have gotten to before those decisions were made,” she said.
In addition to professionals who charge for their services, film and TV professionals have access to several free sources of advice on budgeting and finances. A good place to start is the Entertainment Community Fund, formerly known as the Actors Fund, which offers a multipart financial wellness program, as well as workshops on financial guidance, career-related concerns and housing issues, among many other topics.
All of the sessions are virtual at the moment, and open to anyone who identifies as part of the creative community.
“One of the strengths of our organization is that we provide wrap-around services,” said Tina Hookom, the fund’s director of social services. People who come in for help with one issue — they need affordable housing, for example — will be connected to a full range of resources.
The Times also offers a free newsletter series on budgeting and personal finances called “Totally Worth It,” which you can sign up for below.
Look for new sources of income
“I have advice that nobody wants to hear, which is, do whatever you can to bring cash to your household,” de Leon said. That applies whether you think the current troubles are just a blip or a foretaste of the job losses that technological changes are bringing to the industry, she said.
She suggested starting your search for more work by tapping the network of contacts you’ve made. Focus on people beyond your immediate circle of friends, she said, because most opportunities often come from contacts a few degrees removed from you.
Danganan suggested becoming a coach or tutor online, offering to teach what you learned working in the film and TV business to students within the industry — and outside it. “There are plenty of industry folks who have transferable skills,” she said.
For example, Hummel said, a manager of production facilities could work as an event planner; or a TV writer could edit copy. To figure out where you might apply your skills, she said, think not about your job title, but about what you actually do.
Temp agencies are good sources of short-term gigs and of ideas for how to put Hollywood know-how to work in other industries.
Hookom said just because you may need to look outside the industry for more income, that doesn’t mean giving up on a career in entertainment. She urged struggling workers to sign up for workshops at the Entertainment Community Fund’s career center, which are designed to get people to think strategically about their situations.
The center can connect you to resources for freelancers, entrepreneurial opportunities and meaningful work that’s not far removed from what you’re doing now, she said. If necessary, it can also help prepare you for a transition out of the entertainment business.
Negotiate your bills and interest rates
Lately, Hookom said, the Entertainment Community Fund has been seeing industry professionals dealing with a lot of debt. One of its financial wellness workshops deals specifically with how to manage debt, including negotiating with creditors for more favorable payment terms.
Credit card companies can be talked into lowering the interest rates they charge on unpaid balances. You may also be able to move the due date for your next payment back, either on the company’s website or by phone.
Medical debt is often negotiable too. Like gas stations, healthcare providers will often offer a lower price to people paying cash, so if you’re uninsured or underinsured, that’s an option worth exploring. Many providers will agree to a payment plan as well. Before you start paying any large bills, though, make sure to get an itemized list of the charges so you can make sure it’s accurate.
Another option for hospital debt, according to NPR’s Life Kit team: seeing if you qualify for the institution’s charitable care program. Federal tax law requires nonprofit hospitals to offer free or discounted care to lower-income patients, so it’s worth exploring. The website for Dollar For, an advocacy group for patients, offers help in determining whether you’re eligible.
Also, how old is your debt? In California, the statute of limitations for suing to collect a debt is four years in most cases. If it’s been more than four years since your last payment on the amount you owe, you can’t be sued for the balance, although debt collectors can still ask you to pay it anyway.
Don’t dig a deeper hole
If you are carrying a balance on multiple credit cards and have other bills that are generating interest charges, one possible action is a loan to consolidate all those debts into one monthly bill. The potential benefit here is that you might be able to find a loan with a lower interest rate than your credit card charges; according to Bankrate.com, the average interest rate for a personal loan was 12.22%.
The downside, though, is that clearing your credit card debt could backfire if you kept spending more on those cards than you could afford to pay off each month. These consolidation loans also may have high or hidden fees; for a good guide to how the loans work and what to consider, see these explainers from Credit Karma and NerdWallet.
A second possibility is transferring debts on old credit cards to a new one with a low introductory interest rate. Plenty of banks are offering 0% interest on transferred balances for up to 18 months; you could save hundreds to thousands of dollars in interest charges if you’re able to pay off your balance during that period, even after factoring the transfer fee.
If you’re burdened by federal student loan debt, consider a new income-based repayment method from the U.S. Department of Education called the Saving on a Valuable Education Plan that has several advantages over its predecessors. The monthly payments are lower, and borrowers who make their full income-based payments will have any excess interest charges waived. Under previous plans, if your income is so low that your monthly payment doesn’t even cover the interest charges on your loan, the unpaid interest is added to the amount you owed.
Times staff writer Jessica Roy contributed to this report.
The Justice Department accuses Visa of unfairly stifling competition in debit cards, claiming the company has maintained a monopoly by imposing or threatening to impose higher fees on merchants that also use other payment networks.
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President Biden’s top antitrust enforcers have promised to sue monopolies and block big mergers — a cornerstone of the administration’s economic agenda to restore competition to the economy.
Below are 15 major cases brought by the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission since late 2020 (including cases against Google and Meta initially filed during the Trump administration just before Mr. Biden took office).
The government has won several but not all the cases. And with only a few months remaining for the current administration, the number of suits is climbing, as regulators go after dominant companies in tech, pharmaceuticals, finance and even groceries.
In a lawsuit, the D.O.J. said that more than 60 percent of debit transactions in the United States run on Visa’s network, allowing it to charge over $7 billion in fees each year for processing those transactions. Government lawyers argued that Visa penalizes its customers when they try to use competing services and that it has built a monopoly around payment processing.
The Justice Department accuses Visa of unfairly stifling competition in debit cards, claiming the company has maintained a monopoly by imposing or threatening to impose higher fees on merchants that also use other payment networks.
Read more › The F.T.C. accused three big prescription drug middlemen, known as pharmacy benefits managers, of artificially raising prices for insulin drugs and making it harder for individuals to obtain cheaper options. The legal action targeted CVS Health’s Caremark, Cigna’s Express Scripts and UnitedHealth’s Optum Rx and subsidiaries they’ve created to handle drug negotiations. The three companies collectively control 80 percent of prescriptions in the United States.
The F.T.C. files an administrative complaint, which is not yet public, that seeks to prohibit pharmacy benefit managers from steering patients to drugs that make them more money.
Read more › The F.T.C. sued to block Kroger’s $24.6 billion acquisiton of Albertsons, which, if allowed to proceed, would be the biggest supermarket merger in U.S. history. The companies said the merger would bolster their leverage with suppliers; the government contended that it would drive up prices for shoppers and suppress worker wages.
The hearing, a mini-trial, lasts just over three weeks. The judge in the case has yet to issue a decision.
The trial begins in Oregon, where both grocery companies have a significant presence. The case enters the spotlight as high food prices become a critical focus in the presidential race.
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The F.T.C. and eight states, plus the District of Columbia, sue to block Kroger from acquiring rival supermarket chain Albertsons. They say the deal would most likely result in higher prices for groceries and weakened bargaining power for unionized workers.
Read more › The D.O.J. alleged Google harmed competition over the technology used to place advertising on web sites. The department and eight states said Google acquired rivals through anticompetitive mergers and bullied publishers and advertisers into using the company’s ad technology.
The trial is expected to take about a month. The government has asked for a breakup of the company, requiring Google to sell off some assets.
Read more › The Justice Department and a group of eight states accuse Google of abusing a monopoly over the technology that powers online advertising.
Read more › The D.O.J. and a group of states sued Google, saying its role in about 90 percent of all internet searches made it a monopoly. The lawsuit, which was filed in the final days of the Trump administration, alleged Google uses exclusive contracts with phone makers like Apple and other companies to feature Google search on their devices, making it harder for consumers to use rival search engines like Bing or DuckDuckGo.
In a 277-page ruling, a federal judge calls Google a monopolist and says it has acted illegally to maintain that monopoly. A trial to determine remedies is set to begin in 2025.
Read more › The chief executive of Google’s parent company, Sundar Pichai, counters the government’s narrative in testimony that describes Google’s deals with other tech companies as having been in the best interest of consumers.
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As a trial begins, Satya Nadella, the chief executive of Microsoft, becomes the government’s highest-profile witness in the case when he testifies that even his company has found it difficult to compete with Google’s search products.
Read more › The Justice Department accuses Google of maintaining its monopoly over search and search advertising, crowding out competition through exclusive business contracts.
Read more › An F.T.C. lawsuit sought to block Tapestry’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Capri, a blockbuster fashion tie-up to bring together Coach, Kate Spade, Michael Kors and Versace. The suit was a rare move by the agency to block a fashion deal, given that the industry does not suffer from a lack of competition.
A hearing, which effectively serves as a mini-trial, begins over whether the government should put a halt to the deal while the F.T.C. can mount a case against the merger.
The F.T.C. sues to block a merger of two fashion companies, Tapestry and Capri Holdings, that would bring together brands like Coach, Michael Kors and Kate Spade. The agency says the deal could force millions of consumers to pay more for “accessible luxury” accessories — less expensive goods sold by high-end firms — because the combined company would no longer have the incentive to compete on price.
Read more › An antitrust lawsuit filed by the D.O.J. and several states against RealPage, a real estate software company, said its technology enabled landlords to collude to raise rents across the country. It was the first major civil antitrust lawsuit to centrally feature the role of an algorithm in pricing manipulation, D.O.J. officials said.
In its complaint, the Justice Department accuses RealPage of enabling a price-fixing conspiracy that artificially raised rents for millions of people.
Read more › The D.O.J. accused Apple of using a monopoly in the smartphone market to stifle competition and inflate prices for consumers. In its suit, the department said Apple blocked companies from offering apps that competed with Apple versions, including Messages and Wallet.
Apple files a motion to dismiss the case, saying its business decisions didn’t violate antitrust laws. It has argued that those decisions make the iPhone a better experience.
The Justice Department and 16 states, plus the District of Columbia, file a challenge to the reach and influence of Apple, arguing that the company has used anticompetitive tactics to keep customers reliant on their iPhones.
Read more › Live Nation Entertainment, the concert giant that owns Ticketmaster, stands accused of illegally maintaining a monopoly in the live entertainment industry. The D.O.J. said Ticketmaster provided exclusive ticketing contracts with concert venues, which helped Live Nation shore up its dominance, depriving consumers of better prices and options.
The Justice Department, joined by 29 states and the District of Columbia, accuses Live Nation of leveraging its sprawling empire to dominate the live music industry by locking venues into exclusive ticketing contracts, pressuring artists to use its services and threatening its rivals with financial retribution.
Read more › A merger between JetBlue and Spirit, which would have created the fifth-largest airline in the United States, was blocked by a federal judge after a D.O.J. challenge. Government lawyers argued that smaller, low-cost airlines like Spirit helped reduce fares and that allowing the company to be acquired by JetBlue, which tends to charge higher prices than Spirit, would have hurt consumers.
JetBlue and Spirit announce that they will not seek to overturn a court ruling that blocked their planned $3.8 billion merger.
Read more › In a 109-page ruling siding with the government, the judge in the case says the merger would “likely incentivize JetBlue further to abandon its roots as a maverick, low-cost carrier.”
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The Justice Department files a lawsuit seeking to stop JetBlue Airways from buying Spirit Airlines, arguing that the $3.8 billion deal would reduce competition.
Read more › A lawsuit filed by the F.T.C. and 17 states against Amazon accused the retail behemoth of squeezing merchants and favoring its own competing brands and services over third-party sellers. A trial date is set for 2026.
Amazon asks the court to dismiss the suit, arguing that the F.T.C. failed to identify the harm consumers were experiencing. It says the agency confused “common retail practices” with monopolistic behavior.
The F.T.C. and 17 states sue Amazon, contending its online store and merchant services illegally stifle competition. The lawsuit that raises the possibility of altering the company’s structure.
Read more › The F.T.C. sued to block Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which, if allowed to proceed, would be the largest consumer tech acquisition since AOL bought Time Warner more than two decades ago. The case follows scrutiny of the deal by regulators in Europe. Microsoft makes the consoles and platforms on which Activision’s games are played, and the merger of two companies that don’t directly compete is known as a vertical merger. Cases against vertical mergers have traditionally been difficult to win.
Microsoft says it has closed its deal with Activision Blizzard, signaling that the tech industry’s giants are still free to use their cash hoards to get even bigger.
Read more › In a 53-page decision, a judge says the F.T.C. has failed to show the merger would result in a substantial reduction in competition that would harm consumers.
Read more › The F.T.C. seeks a preliminary injunction to bar Microsoft from completing the deal before the F.T.C. has the chance to argue the case in its internal court. Microsoft argues a delay would essentially be killing the deal anyway.
Read more › In its suit, the F.T.C. says Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard would harm consumers because Microsoft could use Activision’s blockbuster games like Call of Duty to lure gamers from rivals.
Read more › The Justice Department sought to block a proposed merger between the largest publisher in the United States and a key rival.
In an order, a judge says that the government has demonstrated that the merger might “substantially” harm competition in the market for U.S. publishing rights to anticipated top-selling books.
Read more › The D.O.J. sued to block UnitedHealth Group’s $13 billion acquisition of health technology company Change Healthcare, arguing that a deal would give UnitedHealth sensitive data that it could wield against its competitors in the insurance business.
After a trial over the summer, a judge says in a 58-page memo that UnitedHealth’s incentives to protect customer data as it grows its businesses outweigh motivations to misuse the information.
In a lawsuit, the Justice Department argues UnitedHealth Group’s deal to acquire Change Healthcare, a health technology company, would give the giant insurer access to sensitive data that it could wield against its competitors.
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Miners at Pinyon Plain uranium mine, Arizona.
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new video loaded: Federal Reserve Cuts Interest Rates for the First Time in Four Years
transcript
transcript
Federal Reserve Cuts Interest Rates for the First Time in Four Years
Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, said that the central bank would take future interest rate cuts “meeting by meeting” after lowering rates by a half percentage point, an unusually large move.
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Today, the Federal Open Market Committee decided to reduce the degree of policy restraint by lowering our policy interest rate by a half percentage point. Our patient approach over the past year has paid dividends. Inflation is now much closer to our objective, and we have gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent. We’re going to take it meeting by meeting. As I mentioned, there’s no sense that the committee feels it’s in a rush to do this. We made a good, strong start to this, and that’s really, frankly, a sign of our confidence — confidence that inflation is coming down.
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