In her more than 30 years as a hairstylist in Hollywood, Kim Kimble has worked in film, television, and fashion, among other industries. Despite her success, she has always had a fallback strategy in place.
Before the epidemic.
“I had a salon where I could work if I needed to, and I closed it,” she claimed. So I no longer possess that.
The actors’ and screenwriters’ strikes idled Kimble and a whole industry of Hollywood hair stylists, makeup artists, and manicurists as they were still reestablishing their livelihoods after the traumatic months of the coronavirus shutdowns.
Of course, they are not alone as writers and actors picket in their legal battles with studios and streaming services over contracts. From coast to coast, there are also job openings for crew and support personnel on all aspects of the entertainment industry, including production, promotion, and assistance.
“Studios weren’t willing to greenlight projects for three, four, five months until the writers went out, so many of us remained unemployed for a lot longer,” said Linda Dowds, a makeup artist in her 60s who has been working in film and television since 1987 and is based in Los Angeles.
Writers went on strike on May 2, and performers did the same on July 14. The duration of the blows is unknown. More than a dozen interviews with experts in clothing, hair, beauty, and nails revealed that many were concerned about losing their homes and health insurance as they searched for pivots. It will take weeks for productions to pick back up even if the studios and streamers quickly come to an agreement with the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA.
According to Dowds, who received a joint Oscar for her work on “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” she is experiencing a “heightened state of anxiety” as a result of the strikes. She yet counts herself among the fortunate. She worked on numerous concurrent projects for years, which allowed her to continue receiving health insurance through the Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild.
But, she added, “that can only be sustained for so long.”
The 52-year-old Kimble, who has collaborated with Taraji P. Henson, Beyoncé, and others on projects including “Dreamgirls” and “A Wrinkle in Time,” is a member of the same union as Dowds. She is unsure of what else to do.
In Los Angeles, Kimble declared, “Hair is what I love.” You know, there’s really nothing else. And I adore this industry, so it’s quite difficult for me to imagine leaving.
Despite having a New York base, makeup artist Matin Maulawizada frequently travels the globe to work with actors and other celebrities on television sets, red carpets, and talk show appearances.
“Most of my work has been removed. Sincerely, I have no backup plan,” he admitted.
He claimed that years of lower compensation for their labor had led to the strikes.
Maulawizada stated, “I’m not exaggerating whenever I say we make one-tenth of what for the exact same job we did in 2005. “You could easily earn anywhere from $3,500 to $5,000 for a red carpet if you worked with an A-list client. If you get $500 now, you’re lucky.
Julie Kandalec, a celebrity nail technician in New York, has worked with members of the A-list for almost 13 years, including Emily Blunt, Storm Reid, and Selena Gomez. She also runs a successful side business teaching business skills to beauty industry professionals online. In addition, she has a network of contacts beyond the Hollywood bubble and works with brands.
She still worries about paying the rent.
“With the Emmys being pushed around, just that alone is hard,” added Kandalec.
She has kept her salon open over the years like other people while continuing to work on the red carpet and other projects. Finding enough salon customers to replace their lost incomes has proven difficult for some.
“I own a salon suite, but the majority of my customers are actors. Many of them are currently unemployed, therefore they don’t often get their hair cut. Andrea Pezzillo, a 38-year-old Los Angeles celebrity stylist and men’s groomer said, “I’m doing everything I can to do house calls and haircuts. She teaches online as well.
The 59-year-old Maulawizada would either succeed or fail if there was a protracted actors’ strike. He and his girlfriend, a teacher, will have to sell their home if it goes into December.
He recently started a day’s work assisting Sarah Jessica Parker with getting ready for a series of Zoom interviews as part of a partnership with a French skincare company to support a women’s mental health group.
“Many of us used to do celebrity and beauty, but it got much more popular to exclusively do celebrity. That is what we have been focusing on, which has kind of backfired on us in situations like this,” Maulawizada added. “I’ll worry about paying my bills if I don’t get work in the next month.”
His former source of income was brand consulting, but in modern times, “brands are investing more in influencers than they are in actual professionals.”
Maulawizada is especially worried about coworkers who only think about movies.
Because they spend 16 hours a day working backstage and keeping an eye on their monitors to ensure that the actors and actresses look beautiful, they don’t have an online personality or presence. These individuals are the experts of experts.
During the strikes, he’s working to alter that by asking companies to give money to makeup artists in exchange for social media videos demonstrating how to apply items. He already has a few brands in mind.
In place of a professional who has worked on Oscar-winning films but doesn’t have many Instagram followers, they would typically pay a young person who was dancing about and applying makeup on TikTok, according to Maulawizada.
Glam squad members are in the same precarious situation as people working in a variety of other entertainment-related industries.
Designer of costumes for predominantly feature films, Whitney Anne Adams.
With nothing on the horizon, my work has entirely dried up, ” she remarked. Since the downturn had already started last year, I haven’t worked since November 2022, save for a brief two-month project.
She has only been able to secure a few days of background-style work on a non-union music video.
Right now, there isn’t much else to turn to, she added.
Adams, a union activist based in Richmond, Virginia, has been sharing knowledge about grant programs and other resources. She is a member of two union locals that are both a part of the International Alliance of Theatrical & Stage Employees & Motion Picture Technicians, Artists, and Allied Crafts. The unions for makeup artists and hair stylists are under the same umbrella organization.
“Next year, we’ll be negotiating our contracts. In reference to the union employees who are now on strike, Adams remarked, “We hope that the solidarity they’re feeling from us now will come back at us then. “We all work together and have very similar demands. We all work in this profession, so it will be terrible if they don’t get a fair deal.