CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Hollywood strike officially came to an end earlier this week as the Screen Actors Guild, or SAG-AFTRA reached an agreement that includes better pay, residuals, and protection from artificial intelligence job interference.
The Blanco Agency, based in Coastal Bend, consists of close to 200 actors. Owner, talent agent, and Corpus Christi native Lydia Garza, who had an acting career of her own, represents clients from as far as Los Angeles. She helps actors book commercials, print work and even feature films.
Her talent agency is the only full-service talent agency south of San Antonio.
Garza told 3NEWS that the last few months had been difficult to navigate since both actors and writers went on strike.
"They were making comments of, you know, 'Brace yourself for the long haul. This is going to be a long one.'” I couldn't really wrap my head around how exactly long it was going to be," Garza said.
When SAG-AFTRA joined the Writers Guild of America, or WGA, in their strike, calling for fair pay amongst other demands in July, Garza says saw a more than noticeable shift in bookings.
"I started feeling the effects, I would say, by the end of August or September when the episodic season would've started up and we would be having bookings in TV and film by this point," she said.
Garza said that half of the work her clients book is commercials and print work. The other crucial half is film and TV show bookings. With both the SAG-AFTRA unable to reach an agreement with major production studios in Hollywood, just like The Blanco Agency, agencies around the country saw little to no movement.
"We were so slow. It was like nothing. It was quiet. It felt like the pandemic all over again, because during the pandemic our industry shut down. There were no movies, no TV shows, no commercials," she said.
But things are looking up now for The Blanco Agency as SAG-AFTRA came to an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Nov. 9.
"It’s one hundred percent a breath of relief. That night when it ended, or the very next day, everything shifted. Now I'm very busy submitting our actors and hoping to get them opportunities that they've been hungry for the past 3 months,” Garza said.