Because we live in a world where only the worst possible things can happen, another strike in Hollywood has begun. This time, it’s with the SAG-AFTRA, the Screen Actors Guild- American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The strike involved an ongoing labor dispute between the Hollywood actor’s union, the SAG-AFTRA I just mentioned, and the AMPTP, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. This officially started today, July 14th, 2023, after a failure to negotiate a deal with the studios that both sides could agree to.
The main causes for this strike involved mostly two key components. First, lack of agreement on a new contract between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP, mostly involving the amount of pay for the actors. Second, for the intense use of artificial intelligence where it will scan actor’s faces to generate performances digitally which the studios can use to their benefit at anytime with no payment required for the actors. If you read both of these reasons carefully, especially the latter one, you can certainly see why there is a great divide right now between the writers and actors of Hollywood and Hollywood itself.
As a result of this strike and the writer’s one that is now about two and a half months in, Hollywood is basically shut down now for those in the writing or acting department. Scripts for movies and television are not being written and actors cannot show up to set for either a film or show. It’s only director working through post production related stuff and things involving A.I. which work is allowed to continue. Having the writers and actors go on strike at the same time is something that hasn’t happened in Hollywood since 1960, over 60 years ago. Needless to say, there hasn’t been a disconnection between both sides in Hollywood for a very long time.
As I said before, a large reason for both strikes happening at the same time involves studio wanting to push A.I. further than ever before but doing so at the expense of the writers and actors themselves. Firstly, there was the notion of using A.I. to create scripts for said films and shows while the writers would mostly be tasked with simple rewrites and patches to those scripts. Secondly, as recently stated, there’s the proposal to SAG-AFTRA that A.I. will be use to scan a background actor’s likeness for one day’s worth of pay and then be able to use their likeness forever in any form without pay or consent. If there is not a sense of being more technology advance to the point where you are literally trying to replace literal human being in favor of A.I., this is it.
Of course, the reasons for this push with A.I. isn’t simply to be more technology advanced, it more has to do with money. With being able to use A.I. more often with handling scripts and actors in the background, this would likely lead to studios not having to pay the writers and actors as much. After all, if you can just simply use A.I. to get things done, then why bother paying much for other people to do your work for you when you save dollar signs by using more advance technology? Never mind the fact that A.I. will never have the look, feel, heart, or soul of an actual person’s writing, as long as it saves a few extra bucks, it doesn’t matter with the studios. Even if the push for more A.I. involves taking a new step forward with tech, it’s very clear the main objective with it is to save more money for the future, especially if Bob Iger’s comments are anything to go by.
If you basically want a perspective from the studios themselves, look no further than Disney CEO Bob Iger, who recently reprised his role as CEO in November of last year and has just been extended to remain CEO until 2026. As a response to the SAG-AFTRA strike, Iger claims that the actors’ demands with payroll were “not realistic”, with the notion that “they are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.” Also, a reminder that according to Huffpost writer Marian Fang, Iger’s annual yearly salary as CEO of Disney is $27 million. I don’t know about you all but that is basically a sign that the studios are basically living in their own reality and are nowhere close to being on the same terms as the writers and actors.
And that’s not even mentioning the fact that neither side has any intention of negotiating for the next several months and the studios are looking to drag this on until the other sides comes crawling back to them. I’m not even joking on that.
To put it all simply, we are in the middle of what will likely go down as the biggest strike in Hollywood history. It’s the kind of the strike that will determine the direction that movies and shows will look like going forward, the payroll that will go into them, how far they will go with A.I., and whether or not this will be the defining moment that makes or breaks Hollywood from here on out. I never like to be Mr. Negative but if recent history is anything to go by, Hollywood tends to always learn the wrong lessons and this will likely lead to them cracking like an egg. I have no idea what that will mean for the future of cinema but no doubt, changes will have to come.
A.I. can be useful and resourceful with anything but it should never be used to replace human beings entirely. That’s the kind of messed up future that the Terminators films have tried to warn us about for decades. It may not be killer robots but investing too much into artificial intelligence can lead to technology taking over humanity in many departments, including writing and filmmaking. It’s ironic how the big movie at the moment in Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 is literally about Tom Cruise facing off against A.I. and the consequences of artificial intelligence if you go too far with it. While it’s all fiction, it’s fascinating how Hollywood has no self awareness whatsoever and it could lead to a bigger collapse than ever before.
In conclusion, the actors have now joined the writers on strike. Because of that, many productions in Hollywood will have to be put on hold due to no scripts being written and no actors being on set to film. Until there is some form of agreement, this will how things being rolling in Hollywood until further notice. To quote a well-known actor who just turn 81 years old, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
Here’s article links involving the studios proposal to the SAG-AFTRA and Bob Iger’s comments:
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