More from Hollywood’s strikes are over
In an interview with CNBC, the Disney CEO called the ongoing writers’ strike “disruptive,” and says it’s not helping the industry recover from the covid pandemic:
There’s a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic. And they are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.
Hollywood writers have been on strike for over two months now, and they could soon be joined by actors across the industry as negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP falter.
That’s all thanks to the way streaming services like Disney Plus keep their viewership data under wraps, the Andor showrunner tells The Wrap. It’s also one of the reasons why Hollywood writers are on strike:
One of the central issues of this entire labor experience is that I don’t have any idea what the audience is... So I wish I knew how many people watched, I wish I knew who they were, and I’m not sure that that’s possible.
Secret Invasion’s AI-generated opening credits aren’t Marvel’s best, but they do feel like a very telling sign of where the studio and the larger entertainment industry are at right now.
The Directors Guild of America has already approved a tentative new labor contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, and encouraged members to ratify it by vote.
But ahead of the voting deadline on June 23rd, a number of directors including Lilly Wachowski have begun speaking out about why they’ve cast “no” ballots, namely: some concerning language in the proposed contract relating to “generative” AI that definitely seems like it could be exploited in nefarious ways.
Disclosure: The Verge’s editorial staff is also unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East.
Should the Screen Actors Guid’s upcoming talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers not result in a new labor contract that both sides agree on, the entertainment labor union will be in a position to strike now that an majority of SAG-AFTRA’s members voted to authorize the move.
As Variety notes, SAG-AFTRA’s vote to strike comes as the WGA’s ongoing strike enters its sixth week.
Disclosure: The Verge’s editorial staff is also unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East.
Members of the Writers Guild of America spoke out against the deal, as seen in a report in Deadline. Several with membership in one or both guilds tweeted complaints that the DGA had “made a deal behind our backs” and didn’t get “close to no AI source material.”
WGA negotiating committee co-chair Chris Keyser was quoted in another Deadline article today:
If [AMPTP President] Carol Lombardini thinks negotiating with the DGA while we’re out on strike is some kind of trump card, she’s going to find out that her 2007-08 playbook doesn’t belong in the negotiating room; it belongs in a museum.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) voted to strike this morning, and though low pay is the main incentive, there’s another contentious issue: AI. The WGA wants to protect members so their work is not used by Hollywood studios to train AI tools that replace them. As Vox explains, it’s a fight that will likely be replicated across many industries in the years to come.
For a few years, there was a boon of content, and we were all wonderfully spoiled. And now that’s over.