TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — Troy University theater students, current and former, have strong feelings towards the Writer’s Strike that is affecting their current and future career goals.

The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) unions has been on strike for almost 130 days now.

Writers, actors, actresses, and people in production and costuming in the SAG-AFTRA unions are fighting for financial stability, better working conditions, health benefits, and protection from artificial intelligence.

Fran Drescher, the President of the SAG-AFTRA unions, said in a press conference in July that “we are the victims here, we are being victimized by a very greedy entity.”

Lily Kate Gwin, a senior theater major at Troy University, told Trojanvision that she finds it inspiring to see people fight for the industry that she wants a career in.

“I know that they’re fighting for the next generation of actors to have better pay, I’m hoping that by the time that I’m able to get to where they are that we see the effects of this strike,” Gwin said.

John Ingram is a sophomore theater major at Troy University and he said it’s terrifying and concerning that the use of AI may take over the theater industry.

“If this is happening with film whose to say it won’t happen to live performances such as concerts and theater,” Ingram said.

Thousands of people are in a crossroads during the strike because with the strike results not being very clear right about now, people are having difficulty figuring out what to do career wise.

Emily Johnston is a Troy University alumni and she graduated with a degree in theater.

Johnston currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia or as she describes it the “southern Hollywood.”

Johnston explained that it’s difficult deciding whether she should join a union or not.

“It’ll be really hard to go moving forward, companies in the future will see that I haven’t done anything, but also that I was with these unions so it could potentially cause problems trying to get a job as soon as all of this blows over,” Johnston told Trojanvision.

Strike supporters say that the general public can support the strike by keeping up with current information that comes out about the SAG-AFTRA strike.