Remember the writers’ strike? Don’t assume it ended. Some people think the Writers Guild of America (WGA) is stalling, but that could not be further from the truth.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) won’t even talk to them. And why should they? The studios have plenty of leverage. The movies and shows you will watch in the next six to nine months are in post-production. They don’t need writers.
You also have a significant batch in either pre-production or production. That does not even include the pool of scripts studios have banked over months and years, just waiting for the right director or producer to come along and turn them into shows and movies.
Hollywood has enough content to keep us entertained for several months. Writers are not that lucky. Most of them live paycheck to paycheck.
They will deplete their savings long before the AMPTP surrenders to their demands. Hollywood studios reportedly intend to starve the writers. This is why they refuse to negotiate. They want the writers to go broke first before returning to the table.
Once WGA members can no longer afford to pay their rent or feed their families, they will take any deal Hollywood studios offer. However, things have taken a dire turn for the AMPTP. SAG-AFTRA (The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television And Radio Artists) just declared a strike. The actors have stopped working!
Remember all those movies and shows I mentioned earlier that could continue regardless of the writers’ strike? They must shut down. What about the movies Hollywood Studios already completed? They will meet their release dates, but actors are prohibited from promoting them.
That is part of their contract. Hollywood expects actors to promote every project they star in. But that won’t happen because of the strike. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer had just premiered when the strike was declared.
Then Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, and Cillian Murphy, the film’s stars, left the premier immediately. Actors can’t even do re-shoots for films in post-production, and you can forget about them appearing at public events such as Comic-Con.
If the strike extends to September, the powers that be may reschedule the Emmys because none of the nominated actors can appear.
A SAG-AFTRA strike is good news for the writers because it strengthens the WGA’s position. Without the actors, scripted projects can’t exist. Residuals are a vital sticking point in the negotiations.
The term refers to the money actors make whenever networks air their shows. For instance, the cast of Friends makes millions of dollars a year because TV stations worldwide continue to air old episodes.
Two decades ago, every actor’s dream was to star in one season of a successful show because you would get giant cheques for the rest of your life. Today, streaming has ruined the concept because platforms like Netflix don’t offer residuals.
And even if they did, the company does not reveal its viewing numbers. There’s no way for actors to know how well their shows and movies have performed. This gives them little or no leverage during contract negotiations. Artificial Intelligence is another obstacle. Studios have presented a proposal that allows them to create, own, and use the likeness of background actors whenever they want. Studios would pay an actor for a day’s work to scan them.
Once their likeness was stored, those Studios could use it however they wished. Put simply, they could recreate a fake Tom Cruise on a computer and place him in as many movies as they see fit for all eternity.
Naturally, actors hate this idea because it would put them out of work. A SAG-AFTRA strike encourages the WGA to stick to their guns. Hopefully, the AMPTP will see sense and settle this matter in the next few weeks. Otherwise, expect several months of unscripted content such as The Amazing Race and Survivor.
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Source: The Observer
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