The SAG-AFTRA strike was announced on July 13th by the unions president, Fran Drescher, who slammed Hollywood studios calling them “disgusting” for claiming “they’re losing money left and right when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs”. The guild is asking for revenue sharing for streaming shows, increases to salary minimums and getting consent (and $) for AI training using an actor’s likeness. There are other asks on the table as well but these are the three biggest points.
As much as people complain that “movie stars” make too much money, it’s the execs who are really raking it in. For the life of me I can’t understand the thinking behind not just paying. I mean obviously I get it-it’s greed-but it’s insane to me to think “I don’t think I need to pay these people who literally make my entire job and fortune possible. I’m going to keep squeezing every penny out that I can for myself, even though I already have more money than I could spend in 10 lifetimes.” Look, for every wealthy actor, there are hundreds if not thousands upon thousands of working actors who don’t make that much (i.e. A livable wage).
AMPTP wanting to be able to pay background actors a day’s salary to scan their likeness and use it in perpetuity without pay is complete and utter BS and exactly why these strikes need to happen. Like I saw a few months ago with regards to the use of AI—we were promised a future where technology would afford humanity more time to be creative, not so we could continue plugging away at ISHT while we let the computers be creative for us. AI work will not be as good or vital or resonant as human-generated work (I can’t believe I had to type the phrase “human-generated work”) but the execs looking to boost their bonuses won’t care, just like they didn’t care when they were pumping way too much money into streaming shows in the name of increasing subscribers for the next shareholders meeting. It’s short-sighted because the shills don’t actually care about the industry. They will move on to be CEOs and CFOs of Starbucks, or whatever other company will believe their crap long enough to grant them insane stock options and bonuses before they eff off to another corporation to dupe.
Pretty much every time a strike happens, the business relies on a steady flow of new “content” to generate revenue. That’s how the game works. New material gets more attention and more interest, even when you aren’t actively neglecting your back catalog like the streaming services have been. The streamers hedging on international productions getting the type of views that domestic productions do is baffling to me. For every Squidgame there are MOUNTAINS of material that just won’t find any audience stateside. The production quality is lower, the stories are made for their home countries and might not connect to international audiences, and some people just straight up don’t like subtitles and/or dubs. Do they think K-dramas are going to be a hit with American audiences the same way even a mid-level Netflix show is? I wouldn’t take that bet.
SAG/WAG should scrap all of these “demands” and ask for a yearly Purge event for the entire industry. Then the studios can decide on their own that it might be in their best interest to value their labor force. The studios deserve every bit of the grief they’re getting now and more.