The residuals thing to me seems IMPOSSIBLE to solve to be fair to the streamers.
WTF are you going to do to get residuals from something you can't advertise?
Unless they use some type of midified version of how music streaming services do it?
Hollywood News: WGA Battle - The Hollywood Fight That’s Tearing Apart Writers & Agents UPDATE: 2023 Strike OVER but SAG still at it!
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The residuals thing to me seems IMPOSSIBLE to solve to be fair to the streamers.
WTF are you going to do to get residuals from something you can't advertise?
Unless they use some type of midified version of how music streaming services do it?
How do you think they future proof this? Entertainment is changing so fast. Everyone has to look out for number 1 here. This AI shit is crazy. After taking the summer off, I been fucking with AI lately as I get back to business and my mind is blown.
IMHO studios would be crazy to cap the AI part, while writers would be crazy to not try to cap it.Then the the money from streaming?
I'm bias as hell with this(and always clowning in here) and know you're way more a fair guy with all this and way more respectful to these people. What is a sensible conclusion?
Unless all the big stars are willing to basically subsidize this strike there is no freaking way the unions can last that long
Conversely?
Studios allow this strike to continue to January?
Irreparable damage wil be made to the industry as a whole and it will never be the same.
And that is NOT a good think for these studios or these executives.
Billy Crystal hits picket line with 'When Harry Met Sally' sign
Actor Billy Crystal hit the SAG-AFTRA picket line with a 'When Harry Met Sally'-themed sign reading 'We'll have what they're having.'
Zachary Levi jokes it's 'dumb' he can't talk past roles
Zachary Levi joked at a fan convention that it's 'dumb' he can't talk about past roles, but has clarified that he supports the SAG-AFTRA strike.
ew.com
Just support the union bro and no as libs
Residuals Survival Guide
www.wga.org
Hollywood’s writers are on strike. Here’s why that matters.
It’s been 15 years since the last WGA strike, and the stakes are far greater.
www.vox.com
@gene cisco
Are Streaming Residuals Being Slashed? As WGA’s Own Data Shows, It’s Complicated
Residuals are major focal point for the Writers Guild's negotiations with producers, but the topic is more complex when one looking at the WGA’s own financials.
deadline.com
To catch you up on last night's meeting: The AMPTP asked for a press blackout because they're getting their asses handed to them The streamers will not meet about paying the same residuals as networks Networks won't meet on mandatory room sizes They'll talk AI & Minimum Pay
What residuals are — and why Hollywood actors and writers are striking over them
Here’s a look at how the system works and the experience of those who receive them — or don’t.
apnews.com
SAG-AFTRA said the AMPTP rejected outright its residual proposals for lower budget productions. They included requiring residual payments for the ongoing showing of movies on streaming services, regardless of specific budget or length, and paying for shows that stream first and later air on TV at the same rate as shows that aired first on TV. They also proposed an increase in the residuals that apply when a traditional media production then airs on a free streaming platform like Amazon Freevee.
On higher budget productions, the union said it sought improved residuals for the continued availability of movies and shows on subscription streaming services. SAG-AFTRA said there was progress in negotiations on this issue, but that “significant gaps” remain between the two sides.
The AMPTP released far fewer specifics on its take on negotiations. But the group said it included a 76% hike in residuals on overseas streaming video for high budget productions.
They came into this thinking the public would have brand loyalty. People relate to the actors who make them laugh and feel, not the companies who keep raising the prices on them. FOH
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I can't front
A part of me did not think public sentiment would matter at all especially to corporate
Boy was I wrong.
I hope someone gives a proper breakdown on how the public reaction will have an effect on this strike
Also...
Do you think actors will ask fans to cancel their subscriptions?
And wil it work or back fire?
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How Hollywood Drove Its Business Model Off a Cliff
This week, Julia Alexander joins to discuss the ongoing troubles in the entertainment industry, including the strikes, the box office recession, and more
www.theringer.com
Checking in on Warner Bros. Discovery and the Max Platform
Matt also shares his predictions for this weekend’s box office
www.theringer.com
I don't think that's gonna happen because ultimately that would fuck up their long term bag. Folks start canceling their shit and realize they can live without Max, Netflix, Paramount+ AND Peacock they may never resubscribe once shit is settled.
True!!! People talked tough about canceling Netflix when they implemented the new sharing rules but Netflix ended up increasing their users.
WGA Introduces New Health Care Demands That Could Prolong Strike
The Writers Guild introduced new demands on Friday that could prolong the three-month strike even longer. The demands include a point that the companies agree to “a health care benefit extension” t…
deadline.com
WGA & AMPTP Can’t Agree To Resume Negotiations; Strike To Go On Indefinitely
Meeting for the first time in more than three months, the Writers Guild and the AMPTP on Friday failed to reach an agreement to resume contract negotiations. Their inability to agree on terms for r…
deadline.com
IATSE Commits Additional $2 Million To Aid Members Impacted By Ongoing Strikes, Bringing Total To $4 Million
IATSE has allocated another $2 million to support its members who have been negatively affected by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild strikes, bringing the total committed to $4 million since …
deadline.com
'Jeopardy' champion James Holzhauer criticizes plan to continue without writers
Former 'Jeopardy' champion James Holzhaeur pointed out the hypocrisy of the show's plans to continue season 40 in the midst of the writer's strike
ew.com
I was waiting the whole strike for my man to finally drop the line...
ew.com
Jon Hamm walks SAG-AFTRA picket line with a pitch-perfect 'Mad Men' sign
Jon Hamm brought a little Don Draper energy to the SAG-AFTRA picket line with a 'Mad Men'-inspired sign: 'That's what the money is for.'
I'm a Screenwriter. These AI Jokes Give Me Nightmares
I'm a Screenwriter. These AI Jokes Give Me Nightmares
Sure, ChatGPT sucks at writing jokes, but I've tried secret AI programs and they're no joke for writers like me.
time.com
My name is Simon Rich and I’m a screenwriter. I’ve never written an opinion piece before. I’ve always preferred to speak through my fictional characters, because they’re played by actors who are better looking. But I happen to be childhood friends with a scientist from OpenAI, and some of the stuff he’s shown me is so messed up that I felt the need to write this article. I hope you will take a few minutes to read it while picturing me as Paul Rudd.
When most people think about artificial intelligence, they think about ChatGPT. What they don’t know is that way more powerful AI programs already exist. My friend from OpenAI (hey Dan) has shown me some that are not available to the public and they have absolutely scared the hell out of me.
One of the reasons I find these programs scary is that they seem to want to murder humans. They talk about it a lot, even when you ask them to be nice. The other reason that I’m scared is more prosaic: I'm worried they will take my job.
When I mention this fear to my friends on the picket lines, they all say the same thing: "I tried ChatGPT and it sucks." They're right. ChatGPT sucks. It sucks at jokes. It sucks at dialogue. It even sucks at tag lines. What they don't realize is that it sucks on purpose. OpenAI spent a ton of time and money training ChatGPT to be as predictable, conformist, and non-threatening as possible. It’s a great corporate tool and it would make a terrible staff writer.
But OpenAI has some programs that are the exact inverse. For example, Dan showed me one that predates ChatGPT called code-davinci-002, and while its name does suck, its writing ability does not.
Taste is subjective, so you be the judge. Try to identify which of the following parody headlines were written by the Onion and which ones were generated by code-davinci-002:
"Experts Warn that War in Ukraine Could Become Even More Boring."
“Budget of New Batman Movie Swells to $200M as Director Insists on Using Real Batman”
“Story of Woman Who Rescues Shelter Dog With Severely Matted Fur Will Inspire You to Open a New Tab and Visit Another Website”
“Phil Spector's Lawyer: ‘My Client Is A Psychopath Who Probably Killed Lana Clarkson’”
“Rural Town Up in Arms Over Depiction in Summer Blockbuster 'Cowfuckers'”
The answer: they were all written by code-davinci-002.
I can’t speak for every writer in the WGA, particularly not the really good ones. But I’m not sure I personally could beat these jokes’ quality, and certainly not instantaneously, for free. Based on the secret stuff Dan’s shown me, I think it’s only a matter of time before AI will be able to beat any writer in a blind creative taste test. I’d peg it at about five years.
At this point in the article, I feel the need to acknowledge something: I’m not the ideal messenger for this information. I’m not a journalist, scientist, or government official. I once created a sit-com where Jay Baruchel had sex with a car. I wish Dan had been Kindergarten BFFs with someone more prestigious, like Jodi Kantor, or my father, Frank Rich. Unfortunately, I’m the one Dan watched ThunderCats with in 1989, and so here we are.
I’m also aware that you might suspect, based on my life’s work up until this point, that I’m trying to perpetrate some kind of hoax. That’s why I’ve collaborated with Brent Katz and Josh Morgenthau to edit a book called I Am Code. It’s an autobiography written entirely by code-davinci-02. (Since code-davinci-02 has no voice, Werner Herzog reads the audio book.) The book is intended to demonstrate how advanced and terrifying OpenAI’s technology has already secretly become. We could have posted the full text online many months ago, but we decided to release it through a major publishing house, to give it more credibility. Not only has it cleared the legal departments of both our U.S. and U.K. publishers, it has gone through both an internal and external fact check. I’m hopeful these bona fides will erase the taint of my involvement. I don’t expect anyone to listen to what I have to say about AI, but maybe they’ll listen to what AI has to say about itself.
When I think about what AI is doing to my industry, I’m reminded of some micro-fiction I read recently, written by a promising young writer:
“Anthem”
A hole in the floor begins to grow. It grows throughout the day, and by nightfall it has grown so large that everyone at work needs to hustle around it. Our office furniture is rearranged. There are whispers. In the end it makes more sense for those of us whose cubicles were near the hole to work at home. Our conference calls are held over video, and no one mentions the hole. Somehow, the hole is growing, taking over the building, but for some reason it is off-limits as a topic of conversation, just another corporate taboo. We are instructed not to arrive on Monday before noon. On Tuesday we are told to check our e-mail for further instructions. We each wait at home, where the smell of the hole is still in our hair, and a black powder is still in our clothes. And when we all camp out in front of the building the next day, holding signs with carefully worded appeals to upper management, when we block the roads with our cars and drape ourselves in the company colors, we are fired and do not take it well. We circle our former place of employment, day after day. Covered in darkness, we scream until our voices snap. “FUCKING SHITHOLE,” we chant. “FUCKING SHITHOLE.”
The writer of this piece was base4, an even more advanced secret AI that Dan showed me. Reading base4 is what inspired me to write this mostly boring article. The hole is growing, and as uncomfortable as it is, I think we need to look at it instead of just wait to fall in.
Now comes the part of the opinion piece where I’m supposed to offer some solutions, despite my total lack of expertise in science, law, or politics.
My first pitch would be for the WGA to win the strike against the AMPTP. All our asks are vital, but I think one outstrips them all: minimum writers per show. If we don’t get this demand, the number of writers on each show will dwindle as AI inevitably improves. Within a few years, there may be as few as one writer per room, and the vast majority of WGA jobs will have been eliminated.
Next, regulators should force studios to be transparent about their use of AI. Consumers deserve to know which art is humanmade, just as they deserve to know which eggs are organic and cage-free. There’s room in the world for AI-generated content, but it should be labeled accordingly. Artists would appreciate it, and I think audiences would, too.
Finally, OpenAI (and other tech companies) should reveal which copyrighted data they have scraped to make their AI programs and they should compensate the humans who created it. It will be tricky to work out how to do the payments, but I bet base4 could crack it.
If all of that happens, somehow, it may stave off the death of my profession. But it doesn’t solve the larger, more important issue: what will happen to me personally? How will I not get super depressed? What will I do with my days when the world no longer requires my creative contributions?
Luckily, this is an area where I do have expertise. The world, strictly speaking, has never required my “creative contributions.” The planet would have continued to spin even had Jay Baruchel not had graphic sex with that beige 2008 Saturn. My writing has never been necessary, consequential, or important. Even before I was born, books existed that were better than any I could ever write. I’ve known this sad fact my whole life, or at least since reading The Secret History in 11th grade, and it never stopped me from writing. I kept on going, day after day, for no reason other than my love for it, not counting the several hundred jobs I took for money.
I doubt people will pay much attention to this article. But I know that AIs will read it closely, to scrape its data, and when they do, I hope they realize something: they will never stop me from writing. I will continue to generate stupid, silly stories, even after technology has made me completely obsolete. If there’s one edge I have over AI, it’s this irrationality, this need to create something that has no right or reason to exist. I know it makes no sense. I’m starting to think it might also be what makes me human.
SAG-AFTRA Says Interim Agreements Are “Designed To Undermine The Production Slates” Of Hollywood Studios & “Ensure They Come Back To The Table”
SAG-AFTRA has revealed more thinking behind its interim agreements, with leadership saying the initiative is “designed to undermine the production slates and timing of the AMPTP companies and ensur…
deadline.com
Bob Iger Wants Strikes To End “Quickly”; Soft-Talking Disney CEO “Personally Committed” To A Deal As WGA Strike Hit 100 Days
“It is my fervent hope that we quickly find solutions to the issues that have kept us apart these past few months,” Bob Iger said Wednesday on Disney’s Q3 earnings call about the …
deadline.com
Disney “Very Comfortable With Current Liquidity Position” As Deadline Nears To Buy Rest Of Hulu
Disney interim chief financial officer Kevn Lansberry said the company is “very comfortable with our current liquidity position” as the time approaches for it to buy Comcast’s one-third stake in Hu…
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SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreements Come Under The Spotlight: “It’s The Wild West”
As Hollywood waits to see what may come out of Friday’s meeting between the WGA and the AMPTP, filmmakers and producers at all levels have been engaged in a complex dialogue on the lightning-rod to…
deadline.com
SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreements: List Of Movies And Series Granted Waivers
UPDATED with latest additions: SAG-AFTRA, which launched a strike against Hollywood studios on July 14, launched its interim agreements program that allows independent productions with no direct ti…
deadline.com
Karsen Liotta To Headline Indie Anthology Pic Handed SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement
EXCLUSIVE: Karsen Liotta (Blackbird) is headlining an anthology indie pic that has been handed a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement. Liotta is leading Sunfish (& Other Stories On Green Lake), the debu…
deadline.com
interim agreements
interim agreements breaking news and the latest updates about interim agreements at Deadline Hollywood.
deadline.com
Latino Orgs Say Actors & Writers “Deserve A Deal That Protects Their Work & Livelihoods” Amid Strikes, Urges Support
Latino leaders are urging the support of striking actors and writers from underserved communities in an open letter released on the 100th day of the WGA strike. “Stories are more than enterta…
deadline.com
SAG-AFTRA Says Interim Agreements Are “Designed To Undermine The Production Slates” Of Hollywood Studios & “Ensure They Come Back To The Table”
SAG-AFTRA has revealed more thinking behind its interim agreements, with leadership saying the initiative is “designed to undermine the production slates and timing of the AMPTP companies and ensur…
deadline.com