Some businesses in Hollywood still struggling 2 months after end of actors strike

HOLLYWOOD (KABC) -- First, there was COVID pandemic that shut down Hollywood, then came the writers' strike and the actors' strike.

Even though it's been two months since SAG-AFTRA reached a historic agreement with major Hollywood studios, many of the businesses that support Hollywood say they're still struggling.

"We're hoping this month we come back," said Marc Meyer, the CEO and President of Faux Library Studio Props in North Hollywood. "What happened is the end of the strike, my landlord said, 'You should be up and running.' I said, 'Look, the shows haven't started yet. They're going to start after Christmas, after the holidays, when all the actors and everybody's back.'"

That's left Meyer, who's been running the prop store for 25 years, in serious debt. He owes his landlord $500,000 in rent.

"We're on the outside of the strike," said Meyer. "We are a business that only is supported by the movie industry. We're not privy to that help that the actors got and the writers got."

Meyer said he's exploring the idea of bringing in an investor to help as he doesn't want to see his collection of props in his 89,000-square-foot warehouse sold at auction.

Valentino's Costume Group said things only started picking up once the SAG-AFTRA contract was ratified in December.

But then the holidays hit.

"It's a slow uphill start because so many things that were green-lit now have to re-crew," said Valentino's Costume Group Co-owner Shon LeBlanc. "Shows that had crews, those crew people have left."

LeBlanc said they expect orders to pick up in the next few weeks and are hoping they can make up for what's been lost.

"I was so glad to see the end of 2023," he said. "2024 ... our thing is prosperity."