Concerns about pay equity and limitations on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in entertainment are shared by both writers and actors. The Writers Guild of America (WGA), which started its strike on May 2, and studios came to a tentative agreement on Sunday
More than 11,000 film and television writers worry that artificial intelligence might jeopardise their careers and turn their industry into a "gig economy" of contract workers.
Up until this point: Black Mirror, a Netflix anthology series that depicts images from a dystopian future, made an accurate prediction in its first episode of season six. In this particular episode, a streaming provider uses an artificial intelligence-created Salma Hayek without her permission in a show. When Hollywood actors worry that artificial intelligence may be utilised to build a likeness of them on film, which could then speak, look, and most importantly, act like them, threatening the profession, reality doesn't seem all that different.
However, putting restrictions on the use of AI in the sector is just one of the numerous demands that have prompted a large-scale strike by Hollywood's actors and writers.
What caused the writers' strike?
The majority of Hollywood's screenwriters who work on shows, movies, and other television dramas belong to the WGA. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which is made up of all major Hollywood studios such as Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures, and all streaming services from Netflix to Peacock, is the organisation with which the union's board negotiates contracts on behalf of its 11,500 writers every three years.
Issues including determining the base salary for writers, pension benefits, residual payments, and other topics are discussed during the contract discussions. This time, the WGA's contract with the AMPTP expired on May 1; however, throughout the six weeks of talks that preceded the deadline, there was no agreement on the writers' demands or the studios' willingness to compromise. So, on May 2, the WGA declared that its employees would strike.
While the strike is still in effect, authors are prohibited from entering into new agreements, submitting fresh scripts, or making fresh pitches. They are permitted to collect payment for previously completed writing.
What are Writers demanding?
The current strike is mostly about the era of streaming and its consequences on the profession, much to the 2007 Hollywood writers' strike, which lasted 100 days and was about how "new media" or the use of information on the internet had affected the industry.
Declining salary: One may anticipate that the surge in OTT content and significant expenditures in streaming content would result in more jobs and higher pay for authors. The WGA contends that writers are being left behind as streaming services cut costs and work to increase profits for their investors, and that their pay has not kept pace with inflation.
While the earnings of the entertainment industry have increased dramatically since 2000, when Disney, Fox, Paramount, NBC, and Universal joined, to $5 billion in 2019 with the arrival of Netflix, the WGA claims that writers' salaries have decreased.
Mini rooms: The idea of downsizing known as "mini rooms" has emerged in recent years and is displacing regular writers' rooms more and more, according to the WGA. Traditionally, a writer's room would be made up of a variety of authors with various degrees of expertise and would be active during all stages of a show's or movie's development. Now, though, studios and streaming services are setting up small rooms where writers first concentrate on scripting the entire programme, and only a select handful of them are retained through production when it is authorised and started.
Residual fees: or the extra money authors receive each time their show or movie is licenced or reaired, are another contentious topic during talks. Platforms like Netflix, on the other hand, offer lower residuals and withhold internal information regarding the audience of a show starring authors in favour of providing fixed residuals. Writers received larger residual income for network television programmes and feature films since residuals were also based on how well the content was received by viewers.
According to the AMPTP, a generous package was provided that included the largest increase in minimum wage in 35 years, increased caps on pension and health contributions, and "a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors' digital likenesses."
An previous statement from the consortium of production houses stated, "A strike is certainly not the result we hoped for as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring our TV shows and films to life." "The Union has regrettably chosen a course that will put countless thousands of people who depend on the industry in financial hardship."
Why did actors decide to join the strike?
On Thursday, negotiations between the AMPTP and the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) came to an end. Shorter seasons, fewer work, reduced base pay, as well as residuals, are still the key problems.
At the London premiere of the upcoming film Oppenheimer, actor Matt Damon, who has backed the strikes, emphasised how many people live on the fringes. "We must safeguard those who are marginalised in some way. According to Damon, you need to earn $26,000 annually to qualify for health insurance. "And there are many folks for whom residual payments are what get them over that line. Their healthcare would cease if the residual payments stopped, and that is totally intolerable.
Notably, AI has become a major area where performers and authors demand production companies to implement safeguards to prevent the future endangerment of their careers. Unchecked AI is seen as a "existential threat" by those who are striking. The latter has suggested holding a meeting once a year to debate this because AI is a developing technology, despite the two guilds' desire for producers to establish guidelines for the use of AI in productions both now and in the future. Writers are requesting that their scripts not be used to train AI-based language learning models or to generate new, unpaid content based on their original works. The actors do not want their AI-created likeness or performances to be used by studios without their permission or payment.
Notably, SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland informed the BBC about a studios' already-proposed usage of AI. He emphasised how background artists had been paid for a day's work by studios who had requested to scan their faces. Crabtree-Ireland highlighted how the studios would then be allowed to keep and utilise the actors' likeness "for the rest of eternity, in any project they want, with no consent and no compensation"
What effects has the strike had or could have on upcoming film and television releases?
Some productions have already come to a halt as a result of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike regulations prohibiting members from taking part in any new or upcoming work, including promotions and festivals, while many more are anticipated to be affected in the near future or at the end of the year.
Late-night talk shows in the United States, which mainly rely on same-day, current-events-based comedy writing, quickly went on pause when the writers' strike started in May. Popular programmes including "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" are among them. The fall TV season, which begins in September and features new seasons of comedies and dramas, is likely to be delayed if the strike continues for a few more weeks and now that actors have joined, as well.
How much of an impact on the economy?
It is obvious to notice that the dual strike affects many people working in tertiary sectors and production-related jobs, including those in costume, catering, lighting, for-hire location providers, and so on. The last writers' strike, which lasted 100 days in 2007, cost the Californian economy $2.1 billion.
- Actors in Hollywood are concerned that artificial intelligence may be used to build digital representations of them that speak, look, and, most crucially, behave like them, threatening the industry.
- The current strike is mostly about the era of streaming and its consequences on the profession, much to the 2007 Hollywood writers' strike, which lasted 100 days and was about how "new media" or the use of information on the internet had affected the industry.
- Writers are requesting that their scripts not be used to train AI-based language learning models or to generate new, unpaid content based on their original works.
