Keys to understanding the American actors' strike and its impact on Hollywood

July 14, 2023

AI Sparks War in Hollywood: Strikes Halt Filming of Stranger Things and other series

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The Screen Actors Guild of America (SAG-AFTRA) announced that its members went on indefinite strike on Thursday after failing to reach an agreement. with major film and television studios to sign a new Collective agreement.

The strikes come at a time when major media companies and Technology entering the world of streaming services focuses on Reduce costs and increase profitability instead of increasing Subscribers.

The rise of artificial intelligence In the face of the latest advances in Automatic generation of text and images, screenwriters and actors fear that They will soon be replaced by an industry that always seeks to minimize costs. and maximize profits.

"This innovative proposal is that the extras can be scanned, receive a salary of a single day and the companies that own this scan, its image, They can use them for the rest of eternity on any project they want. without consent. and without compensation," Duncan Crabtree replied -Ireland, the man in charge of leading the negotiations for SAG-AFTRA.

The actors' union has repeatedly expressed concern about the use of artificial intelligence in the entertainment industry, which He considers it a game-changer and an existential threat to his jobs.

The artists demand that their new collective agreement specify a clause protecting them against exploitation of their identity, and talent without consent or sanction

The big studios and streaming platforms have pointed out that currently are not profitable and the saturation of the platform market and the difficult financial situation of conglomerates such as Disney, which plans to cut back 7,000 jobs this year.

The Failed Negotiations Between SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Film Producers and Television (AMPTP) are a real earthquake in an already stunned Hollywood after the strike that the Writers Guild of America has called since May.

Trade unions in the sector have gone on strike up to twenty times in the last 90 years and the main reason has almost always been related to technological change. If before they were the challenges derived from television, the videocassettes or DVDs, now they are the streaming platforms and the artificial intelligence.

Residual royalties are the additional payments that major studios of Hollywood, and now the giant streaming platforms, have to Pay entertainment professionals every time one of the the titles they worked on.

SAG-AFTRA and WGA require that, given the rise of online content, this Fee is increased and is conditioned to the actual number of readings Accumulated.

In fact, during the respective negotiations, the unions proposed that an independent third party company was responsible for collecting the data of transparent form for each series or movie in order to find a Fair formula.

So far it is unknown what projection the strike may have and how many Audiovisual titles currently under construction or in production could be affected.

Of course, the more than two months that the writers' strike has already covered have put in check series like Stranger Things, Cobra Kai or Abbott Elementary, as well as well-known films such as Gladiator 2 and the second part of the short. history. saga. by Mission: Impossible

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