The writers’ strikes aren’t just about Hollywood – British workers like me are now out of work | Elise Tyson

The film and TV industry has always relied on financial precarity for the people who make it tick. It only takes one shock to put freelancers into hardship

I can pinpoint the exact moment I knew I wanted to be a film-maker. I'd received The Fellowship of the Ring extended edition DVD for my 11th birthday and devoured the behind-the-scenes footage faster the film itself. I felt my chest flutter with excitement as I watched the crew recount how important the experience was to them. I wanted to follow in their footsteps and make people feel the way I had watching that film.

Years later, that ambition became a reality. But now, when I think of film-making, I feel knots of dread in my stomach instead of excitement. I'm one of the thousands of workers in the UK who have lost their jobs as a direct result of the actors' strikes in the US. In July, actors joined writers on the picket line fighting for more equitable residuals in an ever-changing streaming landscape, and for fair compensation for the use of their likeness by AI.