WGA/SAGAFTRA Strike Discussion Thread | SAG Ratifies Contract

[FunkMiller]

10 minutes ago, Mulder said:

Reading the tweet and image included in it, it literally says that it's not including those at the moment and they're still to be decided on. As of this moment, it's not including them. If it does end up including them that will be announced later. As the tweet also says, they're entirely separate from this strike. This does however make it known that video games produced by WB (As they're the only movie studio with a gaming division) aren't exempt and no one can work on WB Games' games who are in SAG-AFTRA.

 

Amazon also has a gaming division, and Netflix are also trying to get into the gaming space with their own division. And Sony Corporation of America is obviously involved heavily in the gaming industry.

 

The voice over guys will come out as well, I think. For instance, Spider-man 2 is meant to have a big presence at SDCC, but none of the voice talent will turn out for it. 

 

It all feels very murky at the moment, given the high degree of cross over and homogenisation in the entertainment industry these days. I honestly don't see how VO artists can continue, and I'd expect some fairly strong guidelines from SAG AFTRA pretty soon.

Edited July 13, 2023 by FunkMiller

[Jonwo]

I know there is an anti Hollywood vibe but people do realise Hollywood collapsing or going under is simply not going to happen even with the strikes. 

[eddyxx]

59 minutes ago, Mulder said:

It's specifically related to films, TV, and streaming projects. 

 

https://www.thewrap.com/sag-aftra-strike-rules-publicists/

 

The rules mentioned don't include anything about voice acting, voice-over, or commercials. The way SAG-AFTRA strikes operate is on a specialized way, it's not a WGA-style general strike because SAG-AFTRA is so encompassing. That's why the video game VAing strike in the 2010s was able to happen. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016–2017_video_game_voice_actor_strike

 

52 minutes ago, FunkMiller said:

 

I'd like to see something expressly stating that voice over actors won't be striking - mainly because I'd be surprised if they weren't, given the potentially massive impact of AI on their profession.

isn’t this a moot point since the writers for those animated projects can’t write new episodes? All they can do is work

on what was written before the strike right?

[Eric is Quiet]

3 minutes ago, Jonwo said:

I know there is an anti Hollywood vibe but people do realise Hollywood collapsing or going under is simply not going to happen even with the strikes. 

We know.

[scytheavatar]

45 minutes ago, Valonqar said:

Could someone pelase explain both strikes to me? I understand the part where they aren't paid well but I'm not sure I understand what is going on with AI. Do studios think they can replace people with AI?

 

That's the studios' goal, and writers/actors know it. To be fair AI is an important, powerful tool and actors/writers are probably being unreasonable in demanding they can't be used at all. But the AMPTP are being unreasonable too in refusing to negotiate in this issue. 

[Mulder]

6 minutes ago, eddyxx said:

 

isn’t this a moot point since the writers for those animated projects can’t write new episodes? All they can do is work

on what was written before the strike right?

Technically no. It's complicated. A lot of animation writers are also in the WGA, but animation writing is handled by The Animators Guild instead-

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/artist-rights/wga-writers-strike-the-animation-guild-228670.html

 

EDIT: To clarify more, some shows fall under it and the majority don't. That article there outlines the shows which are covered by the WGA.

Edited July 13, 2023 by Mulder

[Valonqar]

1 minute ago, scytheavatar said:

 

That's the studios' goal, and writers/actors know it. To be fair AI is an important, powerful tool and actors/writers are probably being unreasonable in demanding they can't be used at all. But the AMPTP are being unreasonable too in refusing to negotiate in this issue. 

 

Thank you!

Edited July 13, 2023 by Valonqar

[scytheavatar]

56 minutes ago, Jonwo said:

I know there is an anti Hollywood vibe but people do realise Hollywood collapsing or going under is simply not going to happen even with the strikes. 

 

Do people realize Hollywood is on the way of collapsing or going under even without these strikes? Have you not been paying attention to recent box office numbers? That's why the strikes are happening, people in the industry know that hard times are coming and they are just saving their hides. 

[Jonwo]

47 minutes ago, scytheavatar said:

 

Do people realize Hollywood is on the way of collapsing or going under even without these strikes? Have you not been paying attention to recent box office numbers? That's why the strikes are happening, people in the industry know that hard times are coming and they are just saving their hides. 

It's not going to collapse, that's just hyperbole by the bunch of nerds on the internet. Box office is not the only source of revenue for one. The industry has been many ups and downs and adapted and anyone who thinks these multi billion dollar corporation will suddenly go under is either stupid or doesn't know how business works. 

 

 

[filmlover]

TV is going to feel the worst of this for sure. Let's be real: everyone will be back to the negotiating table and signing the deals once they realize that the barren '23-'24 TV landscape means that the Emmys might be forced to recognize The Idol next year due to lack of options. Just Say No (to Sam Levinson projects).

[DInky]

58 minutes ago, Valonqar said:

Could someone pelase explain both strikes to me? I understand the part where they aren't paid well but I'm not sure I understand what is going on with AI. Do studios think they can replace people with AI?

 

Actors don't want studios to be able to recreate their likenesses (Rogue One, for example) and writers don't want a future where studios let an AI write a script and then bring in writers in to "edit" those scripts and pay them less because it's editing and not writing.

[ZattMurdock]

48 minutes ago, scytheavatar said:

 

Do people realize Hollywood is on the way of collapsing or going under even without these strikes? Have you not been paying attention to recent box office numbers? That's why the strikes are happening, people in the industry know that hard times are coming and they are just saving their hides. 

L M A O 

[FunkMiller]

Here's a question: where does YouTube fall in all of this? Because if both writers and actors are on strike for a long time, what's to stop some of them getting together with producer friends, to make scripted content on YouTube? Google is not a part of AMPTP. Surely you'd imagine at some point, someone would see that very obvious opportunity to exploit YouTube's popularity and income generation, away from all the bull involving the traditional media content producers.

Edited July 13, 2023 by FunkMiller

[grim22]

2 minutes ago, FunkMiller said:

Here's a question: where does YouTube fall in all of this? Because if both writers and actors are on strike for a long time, what's to stop some of them getting together with producer friends, to make scripted content on YouTube? Google is not a part of AMPTP. Surely you'd imagine at some point, someone would see that very obvious opportunity to exploit YouTube's popularity and income generation.

 

Literally nothing, just that everything would have to be independently done. Remember Doctor Horrible's Singalong Blog made by (redacted) during the previous writers strike?

[Celedhring]

20 minutes ago, scytheavatar said:

 

That's the studios' goal, and writers/actors know it. To be fair AI is an important, powerful tool and actors/writers are probably being unreasonable in demanding they can't be used at all. But the AMPTP are being unreasonable too in refusing to negotiate in this issue. 

 

We aren't against it being used as a TOOL to support our work - like many others we already employ. The problem is producers using it to replace work that otherwise would be carried out by human writers, or turning us into lesser paid editors of AI-written scripts.

 

Actors are in even more danger, imho, given how much AI deepfakes have progressed in just few years.

 

EDIT: I'll clarify that I'm not WGA (I don't work in the US), but I think our feelings are similar in this.

 

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by Celedhring

[WittyUsername]

The AMPTP brought this on themselves. 

[FunkMiller]

4 minutes ago, grim22 said:

 

Literally nothing, just that everything would have to be independently done. Remember Doctor Horrible's Singalong Blog made by (redacted) during the previous writers strike?

 

Well, in that case, the AMPTP can't afford to keep this up for as long as they think they can. Already Gen Z is turning more and more to online entertainment and information services. If the creatives in Hollywood decide to move their talents into the independent streaming space (where they stand to potentially make a lot more money on projects that acquire large subscriber numbers and views) then the studio system is going to find itself in even bigger trouble. 

 

Remember how Amazon self publishing completely altered the publishing industry, forcing it to change its practises massively just to survive - and how that ceded control to Amazon over the long term? Potentially the same thing here.

[MysteryMovieMogul]

The Box Office subreddit is a dearth of intelligence. So many folks there are convinced the strike is happening because Netflix doesn't want to admit streaming is completely unprofitable.

[Jonwo]

2 minutes ago, FunkMiller said:

 

Well, in that case, the AMPTP can't afford to keep this up for as long as they think they can. Already Gen Z is turning more and more to online entertainment and information services. If the creatives in Hollywood decide to move their talents into the independent streaming space (where they stand to potentially make a lot more money on projects that acquire large subscriber numbers and views) then the studio system is going to find itself in even bigger trouble. 

 

Remember how Amazon self publishing completely altered the publishing industry, forcing it to change its practises massively just to survive - and how that ceded control to Amazon over the long term? Potentially the same thing here.

 

The independent streaming space is controlled by the corporations. You're not going to get any creatives leaving Hollywood anytime soon, the money is way too lucrative. 

 

 

[Coneilg93]

 

🙄 making this comment after getting that big money contract extension lol