As Hollywood actors and writers continue striking, Theatre and Screen Arts majors said it has to happen for the future of their industry.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) are striking for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to better compensate actors and writers for streaming television shows and movies and protect them against artificial intelligence (AI). Theatre and Screen Arts students said they are glad these unions are on strike because of how much the AMPTP is under-appreciating projects that real creators produce.
“It’s important as artists that we put our foot down and not accept anything less for the work that we are creating,” said Holly Jackson, senior Theatre and Screen Arts major.
After college, Jackson said she plans to create projects that showcase more African-American culture as well as social issues, such as the strike. She’s concerned over the crippling effects the strike has already had and will continue to have on actors and writers if it continues through next year.
“I’m seeing some of my favorite actors that I’ve looked up to for years that are having to sell their houses,” Jackson said.
Actor Billy Porter revealed in an interview with Evening Standard he had to put his home up for sale due to the strike.
“To the person who said ‘We’re going to starve them out until they have to sell their apartments,’ you’ve already starved me out,” Porter told Evening Standard, referring to what an anonymous Hollywood executive told Deadline.
One of the reasons why the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are striking is for higher residual payments for shows and movies on streaming, which is the amount of money actors and writers make after the project they worked on is re-aired. The amount of residuals an actor and writer makes from a project on streaming is significantly less than one on cable, according to a Rolling Stone article.
Because streaming platforms don’t have to take summer and winter breaks, they often release seasons of their original series all at once with shorter amounts of episodes compared to cable networks, according to Screen Rant.
Jackson said she believes this streaming model hasn’t been helpful for actors and writers because she thinks the AMPTP is focusing on pushing a higher quantity of projects instead of taking time to create quality work audiences can connect with.
“As an actor, it feels like our legs are being looked at as a dollar sign and our face as a punch card,” Jackson said. “We are starting to lose the very grit of what makes art, art.”
SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland revealed in a press conference July 13, that in the negotiating room, the AMPTP proposed that SAG background actors should be scanned and paid for one day. The companies would then own the AI versions of the actors for the rest of their lives and can use them in any project without compensation.
Jackson said she believes the use of AI characters in projects is wrong because it’s putting actors out of jobs.
“When we add artificial people to a story, at that point, it doesn’t even feel real anymore,” Jackson said. “Some of the most beautiful stories watched are when actors are being vulnerable with their audiences.”
Junior Film major Nick Yi plans to be a director and writer after graduating but anticipates starting out as a production assistant first. He said he’s been shocked to see how much of a major impact AI is having on the film industry.
“The idea of using AI to replicate a dead person is troubling for a lot of people including myself,” Yi said. “What the use of AI in the writers’ room ends up doing is taking away the power of creatives and performers and replacing it.”
SAG-AFTRA member Eli Parson was out striking in front of Sunset Bronson Studios in Los Angeles on Aug. 10. With the unions striking in Hollywood, his advice for aspiring actors is to stay up to date with the strike, learn SAG-AFTRA rules early and take classes where there are working actors in L.A.
“You can’t ignore the business aspects,” Parson said. “Start building a foundation and find workshops that people might be doing, especially now since nobody’s working.”
Parson said he hopes the AMPTP can come to an agreement with SAG-AFTRA and the WGA soon so everyone can go back to work, making the proper wages with investments in what they have created.
“Executives who just move around money and time slots and don’t actually create anything are making all of the money,” Parson said. “And that doesn’t make any sense, especially with the economy the way it is.”
SAG-AFTRA’s scheduled picket dates, times and locations are on their website.
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