Why Unions Are More Important Than Ever for Voiceovers, Musicians, and Writers

Christopher McHale
23 min readSep 9, 2024
Figure stands in maze surrounded by question marks.
Creative Career Labyrinth (canva)

The End

Hollywood loves a happy ending, but reality doesn’t. I know that. Every artist knows that. You don’t do art for money. Money is nice. It helps your art to eat. But the last twenty years represent something insidious for artists. Because of that, I’m ignoring reality or advocating reshaping reality, like a merlin-wizard manipulating time with a wand.

Why is my ambition so Don Quixote?

I arrived outside NBC in Chicago. I was late. The picket line was in action, round and round. I didn’t want a sign or a T-shirt. I wanted to join, walk, and witness. This was the third strike of my career. None of them had turned out that well for talent, and I wasn’t particularly hopeful this round either.

In 2023, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike brought Hollywood to a grinding halt, highlighting the ongoing battle for fair compensation in an increasingly digital landscape. Talk about tilting at windmills. Silicon Valley operates in a post-ethics culture. Now, the entertainment industry was following suit.

Pro vs Not Pro

I’ve made a good living from royalty, mostly on contracts signed before 2007. Post-2007 is an apocalypse, and this is where things get confusing.

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Christopher McHale

Chris is the CCO of Studio Jijiji and writes about creativity, culture, technology, music, and writing. www.christophermchale.com, www.studiojijiji.io