Will The Strike In Hollywood Back Up Productions in Southern Utah?

With two of the unions striking in Hollywood, will the productions scheduled to be filmed in Southern Utah be backed up? It was pretty exciting hearing about Kevin Costner eating at local restaurants and the prospect of more celebrities coming to our area. This strike will slow all these projects down and affect all the supporting jobs that would have come to Washington County. 

The union that represents screenwriters, the Writers Guild of America, have been on strike since May and now are joined by the actors, represented by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists, to join the picket lines. If this strike continues through the summer, it threatens millions of dollars that otherwise would boost Utah’s economy. 

The Chosen which was being filmed in Goshen has shut down production. The Kevin Costner production “Horizons: An American Saga” is set to film in Southern Utah and would be affected should the strike go on.  

The Utah Film Commission lists nearly a dozen projects from independent films to Hollywood productions that would bring $63.8 million to the economy of Utah. If the studios and unions can’t work out their differences soon, it will impact us here in Southern Utah. 

The problem is the actors and screenwriters want more money and the studios want to keep their current status. It didn’t help that the studios asked for two more weeks to try and work things out, then pushed their big summer projects through that two-week window. This has created more bad blood with the unions, and I guess we’ll see how all this progresses.  

For Southern Utah, put your Keven Costner siting's on hold for now.