Actors

The Hollywood Strikes Showed A New Class Consciousness Is Growing

December 22, 2023 Sybil Davis and Jason Koslowski, Left Voice. Strategize! Actors, Class Struggle, Hollywood, Strikes, Worker Rights and Jobs, Writers

As 2023 draws to a close, one of the biggest stories of the year was the “hot labor summer” and the overall rise of labor activity. The most significant of these strikes was the UAW strike, which began in mid-September and lasted until mid-October. The Hollywood strikes of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) probably generated fewer high-profile headlines. But they deserve some special attention for a few reasons. The strikes ground a highly lucrative industry to a halt, and they cost California and other production-heavy states at least $6 billion in lost wages and business impacts.

ChatGPT Still Needs Humans

August 19, 2023 John P. Nelson, Consortium News. Educate! Actors, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Strikes, Worker Rights and Jobs, Writers

The media frenzy surrounding ChatGPT and other large, language model, artificial intelligence systems spans a range of themes, from the prosaic – large language models could replace conventional web search – to the concerning – AI will eliminate many jobs – and the overwrought – AI poses an extinction-level threat to humanity. All of these themes have a common denominator: large language models herald artificial intelligence that will supersede humanity. But large language models, for all their complexity, are actually really dumb. And despite the name “artificial intelligence,” they’re completely dependent on human knowledge and labor.

Workers Shut Down Hollywood

July 15, 2023 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. Resist! Actors, Hollywood, SAG-AFTRA, Strikes, Worker Rights and Jobs, Writers

Hollywood is shut down now that workers organized with the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), which include actors, singers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, stunt performers and voiceover artists hit the picket lines on strike for the first time in 43 years on July 14. This strike is occurring simultaneously with the Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) strike of 11,500 entertainment writers, who have ceased labor since May 2. This is the first time the two unions have struck simultaneously since 1960.

Strike Of 160,000 SAG-AFTRA Members Imminent Tonight

July 13, 2023 Mike Elk, Payday Report. Resist! Actors, AFTRA, Hollywood, SAG, Strikes, WGA, Worker Rights and Jobs

It appears imminent that 160,000 members of SAG-AFTRA will go on strike tonite at midnight PST (3 AM EST), joining 11,000 Writers Guild, who have already been on strike for nearly three months. SAG-AFTRA and the studio association AMPTP appear very far apart on several key issues, particularly the use of Artificial Intelligence, and a strike seems imminent. Additionally, many members of SAG-AFTRA have been angered by comments by studio directors that they intend to “starve out” the Writers Guild and only return to the bargaining table this fall.

Hollywood’s Next Big Question May Be: Is SAG-AFTRA Next To Strike?

June 7, 2023 Katie Kilkenny, The Hollywood Reporter. Resist! Actors, Hollywood, Strikes, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Three weeks and two days. Starting Wednesday, that’s how long SAG-AFTRA will have to negotiate a set of agreements that affect a vast swath of union performers working in film and television — about 160,000 members, from actors to dancers to stunt performers — before those current contracts expire June 30. Within this compressed period, and as thousands of the industry’s writers continue to strike following the breakdown of their own negotiations, Hollywood’s largest union is aiming to tackle both present, meat-and-potatoes and future-looking issues, including the threat of generative AI and streaming residuals that many members believe are insufficient.

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