What the fuck are the studios gonna do, make movies and shows without actors?

Highlights: The negotiating committee of the actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA, told its members on Saturday that it had received a “Last, Best and Final Offer” from the major entertainment studios as a strike that has brought much of Hollywood to a standstill continued for a 114th day.

“We are reviewing it and considering our response within the context of the critical issues addressed in our proposals,” the negotiating committee said. They did not say when they would respond to the offer, which came after an hourlong video conference call that included top studio executives.

Included in the offer was a wage increase that could be the highest in four decades, according to a person familiar with the offer who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations. The studios also offered the actors a new way to determine residuals for streaming programs based on performance metrics, and protections on artificial intelligence, including consent and compensation requirements. The studios also offered an increase to the pension and health funds.

  • Ejh3k@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    As a Teamster union steward, any time I hear about a last, best, final, I immediately get super skeptical. Which one is it? Last? Best? Or final?

    Probably not best. Probably not last. Final? Doubtful.

    Whatever the offer, triple it, then double that. SAG has these motherfuckers by the balls. Double the triple double. Fuck them all.

      • HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        While I doubt they will close, I could easily see them stopping for 6 months so the strikers have to find new employment, then opening to those who will take a similar or smaller offer. Hell, buy a couple of hundred of peoples likeness for a few thousand each and don’t bother reviewing actors.

  • originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com
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    1 year ago

    ha, isnt it always the last offer? i mean, if it wasnt they would wait for the next!

    its like finding your keys, theyre always in the last place you look!

    • gandarf @startrek.website
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      1 year ago

      It’s just awkwardly worded. The SAG reported they’ve received an offer from the studio, in which they studio called “the last, best, and final” offer they’re (sag) going to get.

      • MagicShel@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        It’s blatantly untrue, though. If the actors don’t accept it are the studios going to just close up shop? No. So it’s absolutely not the final offer unless they accept it.

        • gandarf @startrek.website
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          1 year ago

          Agreed. It’s just studio bravado. “THIS IS MY LAST, BEST, AND FINAL OFFER PARKER!” as Spiderman continues and JJJ keeps paying despite his previous outburst.

        • silverbax@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, it’s just bullshit. They said the same thing during the writer’s strike before making two more offers.

      • aeronmelon@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        That was a Jeff Foxworthy bit.

        “Hey, Jeff, you find your wallet?”

        “Yeah, but I’m still lookin’ for it. Just in case we’re livin’ in a parallel universe.”

        • Fondots@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I’ve been known once or twice to find my keys (or phone, that wrench, etc.) get distracted immediately after, then go back to looking for thembecause that’s what I remember doing before I got distracted while they’re right there in my hand.

          You could arguably say that I re-lost them and started a new search, but I think it’s funnier to say I kept looking after it’s been found.

      • Syd@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Pretty sure that’s the real Margot Robbie, check their post history! It’s really cool that Margs is part of the community!!

        • phoneymouse@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          oh yeah, check the post history, some how Margot Robbie is an expert in programming IDEs: https://lemm.ee/comment/5424323

          Pretty sure this is some Linux nerd running an elaborate joke. Nothing in Margot Robbie’s bio, or interviews suggest a background or interest in programming.

          • Margot Robbie@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Knowing the difference between VS and VSCode hardly makes me an expert on IDEs. Even if the subject came up (and it never does), why would I ever brag about having basic knowledge of random subjects on national TV?

            Also, if I remember correctly, wasn’t there this recent summer blockbuster where the female protagonist defying stereotype and saying something unexpectedly knowledgeable or insightful was a recurring (and somewhat overused) joke?

            But some inexplicable reason, I just can’t recall the name of that movie, only in theater July 21st.

            • msage@programming.dev
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              1 year ago

              Have you ever mentioned Lemmy in any official communication?

              Because I would love to see any tangible proof it’s the real MR.

              I’ll wait post strike, no hurry here.

          • Syd@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Well you can see she has a lot of newfound spare time with the strikes, it’s possible she just picked it up. It’s also possible that she keeps that part of her life private.

            Throughout the profile there’s tons of proof it’s her, she makes references to the strikes and her movies constantly! There’s even a picture of herself as the profile pic!!

            Just because Margot is an actress doesn’t mean she doesn’t program, be a little bit open minded. I think it’s pretty neat that she’s an expert in programming IDE’s now, maybe Lemmy is what sparkled her interest to learn!

            Edit: Your name is phoneymouse! I looked up the definition of phoney. According to Marian Webster it means “not genuine or real.”. I think you’re projecting!

          • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            a) the Ulmer scale (A–D) hasn’t been used in nearly 15 years, and even then it was out of date

            b) panel show and reality TV appearances (The ‘D’ section of the Ulmer) aren’t really the major concern here

            Tell me the amount of money you think I got paid for a night shoot for a single ep appearance (not co-star) on BET?

            Then tell me how much you think I’ve earned in residuals from it since?

            • Xhieron@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Say more about this? I’ve seen a few good pieces about acting compensation over the years, but nowhere near as many as I’d have liked.

              How much did you get paid, assuming it’s not hypothetical? What do panel and reality shows pay? I assume residuals are $0, but I know nothing. What’s the real story here?

              • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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                1 year ago

                “Guest Star”, unnamed character, end roll credits only, 1 ep, about 5 or 6 lines. Just over a grand before fees, about USD$800 after, not factoring year end taxes. No residuals as I wasn’t a principal and it wasn’t full SAG.

                • stella@lemm.ee
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                  1 year ago

                  You got paid $800 for one-night’s work and 5 or 6 lines?

                  And still complaining? Lol. Get a grip.

            • stella@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              How much did you get paid for 1 night of being in front of a camera?

              Also, I don’t really care about the specific ulmer scale. It’s a good tool to discuss the popularity of actors, you can replace D-list with E, F, G, etc etc. until the point makes sense to you.

              • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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                1 year ago

                I mean you were the one who used it, so if you don’t care about how popular an actor is, why do you think they should get paid less?

                Lets even the field: What work do you do, and why should you get a pay cut starting tomorrow?

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    They already did, it’s called “reality” television and it’s why we have the show COPS. However bored people have more entertainment options this time around, and more direct sources of information about the strike.

  • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafe
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    1 year ago

    So does this mean actors will leave Hollywood en masse, buy their own cameras and equipment, use open source CGI or just rip off the bigwigs’ programs, and we can go back to making movies for art and not for capitalist commodities and mindless propaganda?

  • MuuuaadDib@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Were the WGA happy with their deal? I also would like to see this end as the theaters are running out of material, next will be a Ben Shapiro rom-com.

    • squiblet@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      That’s not what it says. Different part of the sentence.

      studios also offered the actors a new way to determine residuals for streaming programs based on performance metrics, and protections on artificial intelligence, including consent and compensation requirements.

      Residuals based on performance metrics and protections from having their voices and likenesses used in AI generated content. Two different things.

      • Refurbished Refurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        A computer program written by humans with auditable code to calculate payroll is very different from a computer program using AI models that no human on Earth could feasibly comprehend via analysis performing the same task.

        AI can and has been “tweaked” in order to fit a specific agenda in the past (see: social media algorithms in general, especially Facebook’s social experiments), and it will be used to do the same in the future. The thing about AI is that direct human-caused motives for its actions are hard to prove.

    • hubobes@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      That’s awesome, why would we need the studios then? I can just generate my own movies. But until then maybe we can compensate actors fairly and the studios can also live on until we don’t need them anymore.

      • kablammy@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        That’s awesome, why would we need the studios then? I can just generate my own movies.

        Fuck yeah! But I’m sure there will be some legal fuckery to keep this out of most people’s reach.

    • snooggums@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      There is no way that completely AI generated movies will be the majority of content that people actually watch and talk about in the next 50 years. Yes, it will take over a lot of the tedious parts of filming and will probably make up a significant portion of a lot of movies, like any kind of automation does.

      Any attempts to AI generate a script for a full movie is going to be gibberish without human intervention, actually doing the right emotion for the right lines, and action scenes that aren’t a train wreck are going to be comedic levels of crap for a very, very long time.

      Humans can barely pull all of those off and what is the AI going to learn from when most of the current movies are crap? Hell, I will be impressed when AI can create a 10 minute short that is coherent and I don’t see that happening before 2050.

    • stella@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Kaufman already commented on this by saying that most drivel shat out by Hollywood could be done by AI anyways.

      It’s rare you see something original and good. Most people won’t know whether the next 10 marvel movies are written by AI because it’s all ad-lib crap anyways.

      He specifically likened it to eating fast food your entire life and thinking it’s normal because you haven’t had anything else.

    • deur@feddit.nl
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      1 year ago

      I hope you feel ashamed when AI dies just like the VCs’ last interest, crypto and NFTs :)

    • Uranium3006@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      if that happens hollywood as we know it’s over anyways. if anyone in their basement can just AI generate a whole ass movie, they will. hell you could make your own at home with a good enough GPU

      • BaroqueInMind@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        hell you could make your own at home with a good enough GPU

        You can literally already do this in various video game engines for the past two decades, some can even automate your animations like Unreal 3 &4 or Source Engine

  • Pasta4u@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Get content from other countries or get non union actors to work on your projects

      • Pasta4u@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Actually Korean and Japanese dramas are very popular on Netflix. With Blackl pink and bts being so popular along with anime lots of younger people watch them.

        As new Hollywood content Dries up people will look for either older content they haven’t consumed yet or alternative content like k dramas

        As for people willing to scab. There are other countries out there without the unions. Many of those countries have a high level of English speakers that would likely love a Hollywood pay check for a while. There are also many people in America who wouldn’t care and if they can get a movie or TV show that could pay hundreds of thousands vs retail or service industry jobs it could be worth it even for a short time.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah! I’m looking forward to seeing Bandernick Comberbush and Elozibeth Ilson in the next Dr. Strange movie. It’s not like anything in the previous movies endeared me to those characters.

  • stella@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    What the fuck are the studios gonna do, make movies and shows without actors?

    What are actors going to do? Just star in avant-garde productions because they can’t work with any popular IPs?

    That would mean more effort for less money.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Why do you think this is about working with popular IPs? This is about day players working two jobs to survive and not even making enough money to qualify for SAG-AFTRA health insurance because pay is so shit, coupled with the fact that the studios want to steal their likeness and use it in perpetuity using CG.

      • stella@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Why do you think this is about working with popular IPs?

        How is this even a question? I was very clear. But to be clearer for those of you in the back, what are the actors going to act in if they can’t act in the movies which the studios own the rights to?

        Working two jobs to survive

        Okay, bud. I don’t think you know what the word ‘survive’ means. It’s not like these people are ‘surviving’ off of peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches. Try to learn the difference between ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ before you make this about ‘survival.’

        coupled with the fact that the studios want to steal their likeness and use it in perpetuity using CG.

        Steal their what? You mean copy?

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          It’s not like these people are ‘surviving’ off of peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches.

          Yes, they literally are. Famous movie stars are paid millions. Day players are paid shit. Maybe work in the industry before you talk about things you know nothing about.

          • stella@lemm.ee
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            Day players are paid shit. Maybe work in the industry before you talk about things you know nothing about.

            What? So you’re telling me they’re actually eating bologna and cheese sandwiches on a regular basis because they can’t afford anything else?

            They must not also be subscribing to any streaming services, right? Probably doing a lot of shopping at Walmart? They must not travel much, either.

            Or are they trying to live as luxurious a life as possible (like everyone else) while doing as little work as possible? (like everyone else)

            Like I said, learn the difference between ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ before you try to make this about survival.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              What? So you’re telling me they’re actually eating bologna and cheese sandwiches on a regular basis because they can’t afford anything else?

              Yes.

              They must not also be subscribing to any streaming services, right?

              Yes.

              Probably doing a lot of shopping at Walmart?

              Yes.

              Or are they trying to live as luxurious a life as possible (like everyone else) while doing as little work as possible? (like everyone else)

              No.

              Minimum requirement for SAG-AFTRA health insurance is $26,000 a year. Thousands do not make enough to qualify and do not have health insurance.

              If you think making less than $26,000 a year and not having health insurance is living a luxurious life, you must be posting from your tent under a bridge right now.

            • canni@lemmy.one
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              1 year ago

              Not every actor is George Clooney you twat. Most of them are working in cafes and coffee shops on the side

                • canni@lemmy.one
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                  1 year ago

                  Nice retort. It’s okay to be wrong friend, we’re all here to learn and grow.