Two months ago, the Writers Guild of America went on strike, partially concerned that movie, TV and streaming producers would begin replacing their work via artificial intelligence.
Writers were joined on the picket lines on Thursday by 160,000 SAG-AFTRA actors, who are largely freaked out by largely the same thing.
Somehow, the actors’ fears feel more visceral.
According to the union’s chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, talks broke down when the other side — the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) — revealed plans to scan in the likeness of secondary performers and control the rights to that digital likeness into perpetuity … in exchange for just one day of pay.
UPDATED: The AMPTP has staunchly refuted SAG-AFTRA's claim. Here's their statement provided to Next TV Friday morning: "The claim made by SAG-AFTRA leadership that the digital replicas of background actors may be used in perpetuity with no consent or compensation is false. In fact, the current AMPTP proposal only permits a company to use the digital replica of a background actor in the motion picture for which the background actor is employed. Any other use requires the background actor’s consent and bargaining for the use, subject to a minimum payment."
“We are being victimized by a very greedy enterprise,” SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said during a Thursday press conference. “At some point, you have to say ‘No, we’re not going to take this anymore. You people are crazy. What are you doing? Why are you doing this?’
Also Read: It’s Time to Fix a Broken System, Say Writers Picketing in New York
“If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in jeopardy,” Drescher added. “You cannot change the business model as much as it has been changed and not expect the contract to change too. I cannot believe … how [the studios] plead poverty, that they are losing money left and right, when they give hundreds of millions to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them.”
The AMPTP said it offered “historic pay and residual increases, substantially higher caps on pension and health contributions, audition protections, shortened series option periods, and a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses for SAG-AFTRA members.”
Added an AMPTP statement: “A strike is certainly not the outcome 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 path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the industry.”
Crabtree-Ireland responded, at the SAG-AFTRA press conference, “If you think this is a historic proposal, think again.”
