As of midnight Friday, July 14, 2023.
Quite frankly, the studios are the Bad Guys. Their streaming and AI positions are ridiculous.
From what I’m reading, the studios wanted to offer actors one day’s pay to scan their likeness for AI, and then retain the right to use that likeness in perpetuity with no further redisuals or payments.
Utterly astounding.
I heard this as well. Basically, SAG has to negotiate absolutely no us of A.I. imaging of themselves. I think it will end up being the only way to protect themselves and the future.
In theory, could voice actors in video games and such be in a similar bind with voice imitation software?
Hmm. I would hope they’d set it up where an actor could voluntarily allow it, but that they (or their estate) would still get paid for every use.
…I’ve been pretty outspoken here about AI in terms of the writers strike. And what we have here is more of the same. That the AI proposal was dressed up as “ground-breaking” by the AMPTP and presented at the last minute says it all.
This isn’t going to be over in a hurry. The two sides are just so far apart it isn’t funny.
I read the stars of Oppenheimer walked off the red carpet premier in the UK but I’m genuinely curious why, is it just a publicity stunt or does the SAG-AFTRA strike mean they also can no longer promote movies as actors?
I find this conflict terribly disappointing. I love movies – and a very few TV shows that the WGA strike knocked off the air – and was hoping that the WGA strike would be over soon. Instead it appears that the conflict with the studios is escalating into a wider one. This is going to cause a big gap in our stream of entertainment offerings. It’s all very sad.
The strike covers promotions or publicity work, including premieres, interviews, award shows, social media, film festivals, or fan conventions.
I expect that Netflix will be showing a lot more Korean dramas.
The media corporations absolutely want to break the unions, and the unions know it.
This will not be a short strike.
(Also, the DGA look like morons for having approved their deal so quickly.)
That brings up a different issue. The premier was in the UK. Equity has voiced support for SAG-AFTRA but it’s illegal for Equity members to strike. Many of the actors that work in both countries are members of both unions. Any that are working under Equity contracts have to continue to work.
U.K. Actors Union Equity to Support SAG-AFTRA Strike by ‘All Lawful Means’
Honestly, there has been just such a shit ton of decentish to very good TV (in particular, but also movies I’ve missed) released in the last decade that I haven’t checked out yet. I think I can generate a pretty massive backlog of at least minimally decent stuff to watch for quite awhile. Just watched Spotlight (2015) for the first time last night and that’s just the tip of the iceberg for me.
I’m worried about the effect on movie theaters. No actors and no screenwriters will mean no new movies. The theater business has been suffering already, with pandemic lockdowns and many movie watchers switching to streaming. Many theaters have closed, the Regal chain is in bankruptcy, and the Landmark chain seems to be shrinking. Will audiences go to theaters to see previously released material?
I don’t think the actors have any choice but to strike, but there could be a lot of collateral damage.
Is there any chance/danger that, after the strike goes on long enough, that the studios could say ‘screw the actors, we’ll just start using only AI reproductions from now on anyway’?
Nobody chooses a movie to watch based on the studio that put it out (except maybe Troma fans.) In the end, the actors will win. The collateral damage, however, could be monumental and transformative. And not in a good way.
Same here. I have a ridiculous amount of shows/movies on my to watch lists. I could probably go a couple years by switching around different streamers.
I don’t know if it’s true, but I read the last SAG strike was part of the reason reality tv got such a huge imprint on tv. I can’t even imagine what new horror will appear as this shakes out. Imagine, something worse than reality tv. The mind boggles.
I haven’t watched a movie in a theater in more than 30 years. I’d be fine if all of them went to streaming-only.
Without an agreement in place there would be injunctions and lawsuits galore.