From May 2 and July 14, the Writer’s Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild have been on strike, battling the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers)for a whole host of demands. Incidentally, the last time the two guilds worked together was when Ronald Reagan was president … of the Screen Actors Guild, all the way back in the 60s. This almost unprecedented union should be no surprise to those who have been following the industry lately. With factors such as inflation making cost of living higher everywhere, especially in industry hubs, it is no wonder that the creators of Hollywood’s money want a larger slice of the pie. And with the advent of streaming services replacing more traditional broadcasts, the aspect of residuals—pay cast and crew would get when their episodes are aired again to ensure steady income between jobs—has become more complicated and pay less.
But money isn’t the only reason protests are happening: other issues include the shrinking of writer’s room for the WGA, virtual auditions for actors, and A.I. for both. Besides having to pay more, one of the reasons studios don’t want to have to pay residuals is because this means concretely releasing the data from streaming services, which are commonly thought to be worse than they say. In addition, studios have also suggested a “groundbreaking” use for A.I.: scan background actors and use their likenesses in perpetuity for only one day’s pay, a comedically awful exchange for one’s right to their image.
Much of the motivation for the strikes is that it appears studios are trying to cut the unions from the bottom up. The main way to success for writers is to work up from the lowest positions in the writer’s room, and newer mini-rooms employ as few writers as possible to save on costs. Similarly, studio suggestions to use A.I. to own the rights for bit actors may take away the opportunity for these smaller actors to progress into major players. Unions want allow workers to progress through the ranks, which is how the industry should be. While specifics of pay may change over time and are impossible to really settle now, demands to keep writer’s rooms of old and allow advancement are really a must. Everyone deserves the chance to move up their career’s hierarchy and get success from hard work—isn’t that the whole point of the American Dream?
But the strike also calls into question the larger issue of corruption of A.I., that is, using such a tool with potential for good and limiting suffering for abject misery. ChatGPT and any future affairs should be used to assist creatives and make the most mundane parts of their work easier, not to replace them completely. This I feel is the most important part of the strike even if both sides claim other motives. While “robots taking your jobs” or cheap, mass-produced content might seem a dream to some, it rings dystopian for me. In Hollywood and over the world, people should be competing with their best versions, not a robot designed to screw them over.
So I support the writers and the actors striking. Especially against the studios that have revealed their strategies to be as comically evil as waiting until writers are homeless and starving to negotiate. It would be understandable for studios to maintain some ground especially on residuals and monetarily, but if anything I do hope that the opportunity promise of the industry is still there, and will not be optimized out.
Leave a Reply