An established cinematographer says he can barely afford a $5 McDonald’s meal and is on the verge of becoming homeless since the Hollywood strikes last year.
Veteran aerial cinematographer and actor Michael Fortin has worked on movies and television shows for Netflix, Amazon, and Disney.
After starting his drone cinematography company CineDrones in 2012, Fortin says his business operated almost every day until productions ground to a standstill with the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes in Hollywood last year.
The strikes, which took place between May to November 2023, contributed to the biggest interruption to the American film and television industries since the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a report by the BBC this weekend, Fortin’s drone company was hit hard by the Hollywood strikes in 2023 and the cinematographer is now struggling to make ends meet.
Since the Hollywood strikes ended, movie and TV production has fizzled. In stark contrast to his previously booming business, Fortin says he has flown drones for only 22 days and worked as an actor for just 10 days in the last year.
‘The Industry has Turned its Back on Lots of People’
Fortin says he is now on the verge of becoming homeless. He was previously evicted from the home he shared with his wife and two young children in Huntington Beach, California. The cinematographer is now being booted from the apartment in Las Vegas that his family moved to because they could no longer afford to reside in their previous property.
“We were saving to buy a house, we had money, we had done things the right way,” Fortin tells the BBC. “Two years ago, I didn’t worry about going out to dinner with my wife and kids and spending 200 bucks. Now I worry about going out and spending $5 on a value meal at McDonald’s.”
According to data by tracking company ProdPro, the total number of TV and film productions filmed in the U.S. was down 37% in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2022. But the industry as a whole has suffered, with fewer shows being ordered and budget cuts.
“It was a great wave, and it crashed,” Fortin tells the BBC after working on the AppleTV+ show Platonic — which is the first gig that his drone company has been hired to do since April.
“Things are coming in little by little. Hollywood gave me everything. But it feels like the industry has turned its back on lots of people, not just me.”
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.