(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Hollywood isn't the only place that will be affected by the SAG-AFTRA strike.
One business insider says Chicago will feel the ripple effect.
"If I had to guess, it's in the hundreds, for sure -- maybe 400 or 500 people who would normally be working on those shows,” says Jim Shearer, manager of Essanay Studio and Lighting.
Essanay, one of Chicago's oldest studios, mostly does commercials but rents equipment to other Chicago studios, such as Cinespace, where shows like “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago PD” and “Chicago Med” are made.
"When 'Fire' and 'PD' go shoot in the neighborhoods, they often spend money at the restaurants in the neighborhoods. They'll have their second meal from somewhere in the neighborhood," Shearer says.
"The grocery stores nearby get business from the craft service people because they need to buy stuff - stock their tables or whatnot.
"So it's definitely a big ripple effect."
Those shows would normally be coming off hiatus about now, to start work again, he says.
Everything now is at a standstill.
"It's not just the people who are members of the union that are out of work. There are outside companies like caterers and lumber companies, like Totem Lumber," Shearer said.
"They provide a lot of lumber for all the sets that get built down at Cinespace.
"The list goes on and on. It's a very big ripple effect."
Shearer says the people out of work are not wealthy.
"They make a good living," he says. "But they're not millionaires."
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