UNDERSTANDING THE STRIKE AT ALL HOLLYWOOD

ACTORS AND SCREENPLAYS

“We had no choice. We are the victims. We are victims of a very greedy entity”, estimated the former star of the series “A nanny from hell”.

She also added that this strike movement is a necessity: "If we don't stand up now, […] we all risk being replaced by machines and big companies who care more about Wall Street than you. and your family”.

The movement was initiated by the screenwriters last May, and has now turned into a double social movement. This is the first actors' strike since 1980 in Hollywood. The last double social movement bringing together actors and screenwriters dates back to 1960. At the time, the future President of the United States Ronald Reagan led the actors' union and had built political stature by obtaining important concessions from the studios.

This strike, decided by SAG-AFTRA, the only actors' union, involves its 160,000 members, whether they are simple extras, stunt performers, occasional supporting roles or stars. Many celebrities, including Meryl Streep, Ben Stiller and Colin Farrell, have already publicly spoken out in favor of a strike. They will become an essential spokesperson. The social movement is crucial for the multitude of actors, paid far less than these stars."

Request for upgrade and fear of AI

At the origin of this social movement, a request for an increase in salaries and fees, which have decreased significantly with the arrival of streaming. Substantial for television because calculated according to the price of advertisements, these emoluments are much lower with streaming platforms, which do not communicate their audience figures and pay a flat rate, regardless of success.

Eric Edelstein, an actor who had a small role in Jurassic World, recently illustrated this dramatic erosion with the Los Angeles Times. Revenue from reruns of the film on cable channels brought him $1,400 in one quarter. For the same period, the comedian received $40 for streaming reruns.

In addition, the strikers ask to be protected from the use of artificial intelligence and thus prevent it from generating scripts, or even cloning their image and their voice. The actors indeed fear being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI). They demand safeguards against the cloning of their voice and image without consent.

'No life experience'

And yet for Steven Sonderbergh there is no need to be afraid of AI. The possibility that artificial intelligence could replace screenwriters and actors is not a subject that haunts his nights, he told Variety who asked him about it on the occasion of the upcoming release of his Full Circle mini-series "I may be the Neville Chamberlain of this subject, but I am not afraid of AI in this specific context. It has no experience of life", notes the American director.

"(The artificial intelligence) has never had a hangover. She has never cooked a meal for someone she loved. She has never been scared on her way home late at night. She never felt fragile because someone she was in high school with 20 years ago was incredibly successful. I'm not afraid of that. It's just another tool." And Steven Sonderbergh concludes: "If (this tool) helps you finish the first draft of a screenplay, great. But can it finish it and make it great on its own? Absolutely not. day, (all this) doesn't keep me awake at night".

For Christopher Nolan, the director of the film Oppenheimer the filmmaker, also remains more gifted than artificial intelligence, which he describes as "a very powerful tool for us". The filmmaker, who intends to take advantage of this technology in the exercise of his art, thus has his recipe for approaching it. "My position on technology, as it relates to my work, is that I want to use [it] for the best it has to offer," he sums up.

Because this intelligence is not human but only artificial...