Writers and Actors Guild of America Strike 2023

figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
Negotiations are not going well for SAG-AFTRA:



For those that don't Twitter:

"It is with profound disappointment that we report the industry CEOs have walked away from the bargaining table after refusing to counter our latest offer.

We have negotiated with them in good faith, despite the fact that last week they presented an offer that was, shockingly, worth less than they proposed before the strike began.

These companies refuse to protect performers from being replaced by AI, they refuse to increase your wages to keep up with inflation, and they refuse to share a tiny portion of the immense revenue YOUR work generates for them.

We have made big, meaningful counters on our end, including completely transforming our revenue share proposal, which would cost the companies less than 57¢ per subscriber each year. They have rejected our proposals and refused to counter.

Instead they use bully tactics. Just tonight, they intentionally misrepresented to the press the cost of the above proposal – overstating it by 60%.

They have done the same with A.I., claiming to protect performer consent, but continuing to demand “consent” on the first day of employment for use of a performer’s digital replica for an entire cinematic universe (or any franchise project).

The companies are using the same failed strategy they tried to inflict on the WGA – putting out misleading information in an attempt to fool our members into abandoning our solidarity and putting pressure on our negotiators.

But, just like the writers, our members are smarter than that and will not be fooled.

We feel the pain these companies have inflicted on our members, our strike captains, IATSE, Teamsters and Basic Crafts union members, and everyone in this industry. We have sacrificed too much to capitulate to their stonewalling and greed.

We stand united and ready to negotiate today, tomorrow, and every day.

Our resolve is unwavering. Join us on picket lines and at solidarity events around the country and let your voices be heard.

One day longer. One day stronger. As long as it takes.

- Your TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee"
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XIX

Copied from Wikipedia (emphasis mine):
How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertising
Homer takes Maggie to a daycare and encourages her to enjoy a mural featuring Krusty the Clown to make her feel better while she is away from her parents. However, Krusty is already there to have the images of his face sandblasted from the mural, as his likeness is trademarked and had been used without his permission. This leaves Maggie upset and an outraged Homer shoves Krusty in retaliation, accidentally sending him flying into a wood chipper, shredding him alive. Homer is later approached by two advertising agents who have heard of his deed and explain their plan to use celebrities' likenesses in advertising without issues over permission by simply killing those who refuse to lend their names to advertising. Homer is then hired as a celebrity assassin, taking out such famous faces as actor George Clooney, singer Prince, and astronaut Neil Armstrong. In Heaven, the dead celebrities are outraged by this and stage an attack on the living, with Homer as their main target. Krusty's angel kills Homer, who gets revenge by locking all the celebrities out of Heaven, leaving only himself and the apparently gay Abraham Lincoln.

Why mention this episode of the Simpsons?

Movie Studios want to use the dead without permission.jpg
 
evilmike

evilmike

figmentPez said:
The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XIX

Copied from Wikipedia (emphasis mine):
How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertising
Homer takes Maggie to a daycare and encourages her to enjoy a mural featuring Krusty the Clown to make her feel better while she is away from her parents. However, Krusty is already there to have the images of his face sandblasted from the mural, as his likeness is trademarked and had been used without his permission. This leaves Maggie upset and an outraged Homer shoves Krusty in retaliation, accidentally sending him flying into a wood chipper, shredding him alive. Homer is later approached by two advertising agents who have heard of his deed and explain their plan to use celebrities' likenesses in advertising without issues over permission by simply killing those who refuse to lend their names to advertising. Homer is then hired as a celebrity assassin, taking out such famous faces as actor George Clooney, singer Prince, and astronaut Neil Armstrong. In Heaven, the dead celebrities are outraged by this and stage an attack on the living, with Homer as their main target. Krusty's angel kills Homer, who gets revenge by locking all the celebrities out of Heaven, leaving only himself and the apparently gay Abraham Lincoln.

Why mention this episode of the Simpsons?

View attachment 46483
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Wow. Shades of Looker.

 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Now we have a category for "Michael Crichton did it."
Anyone's guess which one'll be first, though...The Andromeda Strain, The Terminal Man, Looker, or Jurassic Park.

--Patrick
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
PatrThom said:
Now we have a category for "Michael Crichton did it."
Anyone's guess which one'll be first, though...The Andromeda Strain, The Terminal Man, Looker, or Jurassic Park.

--Patrick
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Fuck The Andromeda Strain. What a fucking terrible movie (and book). The ending is so stupid and deus ex machina that it ruins everything that came before it.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
PatrThom said:
That’s…that‘s what actually tends to happen with new antigens, though.

—-Patrick
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Not in a fucking suspense novel about an alien pathogen. Oh humans are on the brink of extinction! We don't know what to do! No worries, it just mutated so it's no longer dangerous. Tee hee! Oh well.
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

I think a sequel was written by someone else after Crichton's death, which revealed the Andromeda organism was actually intelligent alien machinery. So basically, Andromeda didn't just mysteriously mutate into a benign form for no reason, rather it sort of went, "Okay, our job on Earth here is done, byyyeeee!"

But I don't know for sure cause I haven't actually read this sequel.
 
Vrii

Vrii

Dave said:
Not in a fucking suspense novel about an alien pathogen. Oh humans are on the brink of extinction! We don't know what to do! No worries, it just mutated so it's no longer dangerous. Tee hee! Oh well.
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Do you hate War of the Worlds too?
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
What I hated about War of the Worlds was the fucking teenager.

(Explosions, Tom Cruise's car squeals to a halt)
TC, urgently: "Quick! Get in!"
Snot Nosed Imbecile: "WHY?"
TC, even more urgently: "Get in!"
SNI: "No!"
TC, screaming with The Voice Of Ultimate Parental Authority: "GET IN NOW!"
SN: "But I don't understand what's going on, so I refuse to do anything an adult tells me!"
 
Tress

Tress

GasBandit said:
What I hated about War of the Worlds was the fucking teenager.

(Explosions, Tom Cruise's car squeals to a halt)
TC, urgently: "Quick! Get in!"
Snot Nosed Imbecile: "WHY?"
TC, even more urgently: "Get in!"
SNI: "No!"
TC, screaming with The Voice Of Ultimate Parental Authority: "GET IN NOW!"
SN: "But I don't understand what's going on, so I refuse to do anything an adult tells me!"
Click to expand...
And yet, now that I'm the parent of a teenager, it feels more believable. I'd like to think my daughter wouldn't be that stubborn and shortsighted in a similar situation, but I can't be sure.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Tress said:
And yet, now that I'm the parent of a teenager, it feels more believable. I'd like to think my daughter wouldn't be that stubborn and shortsighted in a similar situation, but I can't be sure.
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Realism, particularly the reminder of the idiocy of the common manling, is NOT why I indulge in escapist science fiction media >_<
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
Vrii said:
Do you hate War of the Worlds too?
Click to expand...
I did think the War of the Worlds was a cop out ending, but at least that makes a teensy bit more sense than the virus mutating last second just because. I don't understand how the aliens in WotW were able to breathe our atmosphere and if they weren't and had to rely on containment how they were affected by germs to begin with.
 
@Li3n

@Li3n

Dave said:
had to rely on containment how they were affected by germs to begin with.
Click to expand...
Because in the late 1800's they didn't have widespread knowledge of the possibility of total containment.


...

But also, the last few years should have made it clear that the failure point was probably some dumbass aliens not actually respecting protocol in high enough numbers to fuck them all over.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
@Li3n said:
Because in the late 1800's they didn't have widespread knowledge of the possibility of total containment.


...

But also, the last few years should have made it clear that the failure point was probably some dumbass aliens not actually respecting protocol in high enough numbers to fuck them all over.
Click to expand...
I wonder if they had an AI who decided that bringing back samples was potentially lucrative enough to jeopardize all personnel on the mission.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

bhamv3 said:
I don't know for sure cause I haven't actually read this sequel.
Click to expand...
I keep meaning to read the sequel, but since the last time I read the book/saw the movie was probably back while I was in high school, I don’t remember which one has the protagonist or one of his adjuncts musing that the whole purpose of the pathogen was as a medium of making initial contact*, and so it was “programmed” to move itself towards harmlessness. The reason they have to abort the whole nuclear option is because they realize doing so will not destroy the pathogen, it will instead cause an ridiculous number of random mutations, any one of which could be just as (or more) virulent than the original, plus it will scatter the new ones over a wide area.

—Patrick
*We wouldn’t send a virus into space as a message. We sent spacecraft and radio waves. But we are not aliens, so who knows what form actual communication from an alien race would take?
 
mikerc

mikerc

SAG-AFTRA just stabbed voice over artists in the back.

It's all well and good to say this agreement means the VO artists can opt out of having a digital copy of their voice made to be used in future projects instead of the actual person getting hired again, but every new person trying to break into the business, every non-famous actor who does voice work is going to be told if they opt out they don't get that role they've just auditioned for.

Remember when Bruce Willis spent the last 2 years of his career appearing in as much crap as he could because it was the best way to make a lot of money for his family in a short time while he still could because of his illness? You think he wouldn't have been tempted by this if it existed then?

This will kill VO work within a generation at the latest if it isn't stopped.

Also while SAG-AFTRA claims this agreement was "approved by affected members of the union’s voiceover performer community" said community has reacted universally to this announcement by asking who exactly approved it because they certainly didn't & nor did anyone they know.
 
Frank

Frank

Yup. Fuck em.

My wallet is fucking closed to anything AI related.

Steam will be implementing an AI tag if a game has AI voices or assets and I can tell you who will never spend a dime on that shit.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
I agree with Frank, and there's a part of me that's sad such a stance is the best option right now.

There are things I wish we could use AI for, if corporations weren't hell-bent on using it to grind workers into powder. Things that would be impossible, like having fully voiced dialogue in a game that includes players being able to arbitrarily choose their name, and have NPCs call them by their name. There's no way to have a voice actor record lines for each and every player, individually. Even if there's a ton of overlap in popular names. AI could make that happen, but if we give an inch they'll take a mile.
 
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