You might be wondering how I was able to write a new post this week; I thought I was gonna be out on a film set for three straight days as script supervisor, but somehow it was not meant. I still have plans this weekend in which I've been invited to a surprise birthday party, then work as film extra on-set at one of the most wonderful places in the world, Brooklyn College of CUNY. So I was able to write much as I can before I went out and I think you KlicKNettars will find everything interesting. First off is the 5-Day Rounder.
A brand new episode of FakeTV Box with Kwame Alexander premiered Friday Night and it's a super-extended edition. You see the host trying his best to explain how people have reacted to screenwriter Michael Waldron being announced as the new writer for Marvel Studios' Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. All this through a new installment of MyQuote, but you don't have to take my word for it, here's all 25 minutes of this new episode in the Biggest Peek of the Week.
Our Inside Scoop this week concerns film production, the things that movie goers don't see on the big screen or anywhere unless the director allows them to with bloopers and behind-the-scenes footage and pictures. Hollywood is slowly going back to work after dealing for months with not one but two devastating strikes that involved writers and actors. The Double Hollywood Strikes took place between early May and early November, of course just to clarify really quickly: The Writers' Strike was 148 days from May 2nd to September 27th and the Actors' Strike was 118 days from July 14th to November 9th.
Although, we can report that this week members of the Actors' Union SAG-AFTRA officially ratified the contract with over 78.33% of members voting in favor of it. Had the membership voted it down, the Actors' Strike likely would have resumed, and trust me nobody wanted that. 78% however isn't half-bad, it's actually a pretty good number and much higher than many expected given some of the noise on social media in which some members of SAG-AFTRA were telling their comrades to vote NO, particularly because of certain A.I. provisions within the new deal from the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP), but we'll get into all of that in a moment.
Further details show that SAG-AFTRA’s rules require a majority vote of 50% + 1 of ballots to ratify the new deal. In 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the last contract was approved by 74% of members voting, and in 2017, 76% of members voted “Yes” to a new three-year contract. Sources say that this year's vote showed a terrific turnout with 38.15% of members voting this time around. In 2020, 27.2% of members voting and in 2017 it was 15.3%, I guess the 38% wanted the deal to be done no matter what those who voted "no." They could possibly spend more months on the pickets line, more people would have been unemployed, no films or TV Shows would have been made until mid 2024 I think.
Moving back to those A.I. provisions I was talking about earlier, the new three-year contract – which expires on June 30, 2026 – has said to be much more controversial than the WGA’s. According to Deadline Hollywood, SAG-AFTRA leadership had struggled to get some its members on board because similar to the writers’ new contract, the SAG-AFTRA deal "ventures into unknown territory with several provisions, including the guardrails around the use of artificial intelligence as well as new streaming success bonuses." It's hard to understand how the WGA negotiating committee was overwhelmingly praised for the ground broken in their contract, but the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee did not get the same with response.
Here's a statement from Variety that might explain it: "The deal provides a 7% increase in minimum rates in the first year of the contract and a $40 million residual bonus for actors on streaming shows. The deal also provides the first-ever protections against the use of artificial intelligence to replicate performances. Under the agreement, actors must consent to being replicated, and the intended use of the AI performance must be spelled out in “reasonably specific” terms." Variety believes that: "For some actors, the language did not go far enough to allay their fears of being replaced by AI. The contract does not prohibit studios from training AI on actors’ images to create “synthetic” performers who bear no resemblance to any real-life actor. The union had sought to give itself a veto over such use, but the studios refused, agreeing only to give the union notice. The deal also provides that if any “synthetic” performer includes a recognizable facial feature of a real actor, that actor must consent to that use."
People have constantly joked how the Big Hollywood Studios have learned nothing from all the movies they made about "A.I. taking over the world," and they would continue to put some trust in machine to make the best content out there for viewers. As for the streaming bonus side of the situation, Variety pointed out that "SAG-AFTRA looked for $500 million a year, which would come from a 57-cent assessment for every streaming subscriber. While they might not have come close to it, they did get a new $40 million bonus residual, which is modeled on a similar deal given to the WGA. The actors' deal provides a 75% residual bonus for actors who appear on the most-watched made-for-streaming shows. Another 25% — or about $10 million in the first year — will go into a "Success Bonus Distribution Fund," which will distribute the money more broadly to actors on other made-for-streaming streaming shows. SAG-AFTRA wanted the entire bonus to go into the fund, but settled for 25%. The fund will be jointly administered by the union and the studios. Union leaders have said that they will prioritize adding more money into the fund in future negotiations." We can go on and on and on and on about this, but we won't.
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| This is SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher |
The Alliance of Motion Picture and TV Producers issued the following statement applauding the vote, which says: “The AMPTP member companies congratulate SAG-AFTRA on the ratification of its new contract, which represents historic gains and protections for performers,” an AMPTP spokesperson said. “With this vote, the industry and the jobs it supports will be able to return in full force.” It's safe to say that the industry will return bigger and stronger in 2024 and beyond, filmmakers and actors have slowly gone back to working on-set of some TV Shows and Movies, and participating big studio promotions by talking about their projects in interviews and walking down the red carpet of World Premiere Events. 2024 is sure to see a massive reboot for all of Hollywood, and with others union possibly going on strike, they'll surely learn a thing or two from the writers, and most definitely the actors.
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