#AMPTP
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For those following the SAG and WGA strikes there’s new shit a-brewing, this time targeting background actors (aka extras).
Some may know that one of the issues SAG is fighting is that studios want to take virtual scans of background actors and use them in perpetuity (meaning forever) without any additional compensation to those background actors. So you would just see a bunch of AI generated humans in future movies based off of a background actor that worked one day.
This is already shitty because working as an extra for 3 days on a union set (if you receive a union voucher each day) is one of the main ways to qualify for SAG eligibility. This means that a lot of actors working background do not yet have union protection and likely do not have an agent or manager to protect them. Disney has already allegedly told background actors to do this on the set of Wanda Vision: https://www.avclub.com/wandavision-background-actors-say-disney-scanned-them-1850709900
Here’s where it's worse.
There is one main company that supplies background actors for major union and non union productions. Central Casting. They love to brag about their very long influence in the industry - in old movies dating back to the 40s you can hear jokes about hiring extras from Central Casting.
Central Casting has been including an electronic document for all actors in their database to sign as part of onboarding. Signing it gives Central Casting the right to use your images, your videos, and YOUR LIKENESS in perpetuity, forever. They would OWN your likeness. Instead of it being a studio supplying the AI background actors, it would be Central Casting instead.
Receiving any work from Central Casting in the future is conditional upon signing it. No signature = no extra work = no extra income for union actors trying to make health insurance minimums, no union extra work for pre-SAG members.
SAG already reached out to Central Casting to tell them to stop. Central Casting refused.
Edit to say: this is not new. It’s part of actors onboarding and is called the Photo, Image, and Video Release. It’s phrased to sound like you are just giving them permission to use your image and video for CC’s website and promotional purposes. But the actual language is much broader. It's only recently being brought up as a point for discussion because some casting directors (who are generally supportive of the strike) started pointing it out.
Central Casting is owned by Entertainment Partners which is also a giant software conglomerate and owns a lot of the software used to organize background casting and pay actors. https://www.ep.com/company/about-us/
#sag aftra#sag strike#actors strike#actor strike#wga strike#writers strike#sag aftra strike#central casting#amptp
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I hope this is true. Because it would just be so in line with deciding to be so cartoonishly evil in public right before SAG was set to go on strike as well. A union that really has the power to shut down the whole industry and make them lose astronomical amounts of money per day.
All that Deadline article probably did was make SAG more emboldened to get everything they're asking for and not extend the deadline again.
#AMPTP#Deadline#SAG Strike#WGA Strike#Writer's Strike#Actor's Strike#entertainment industry#writer's strike#writer's guild strike#Writer's Guild#screen actors guild#streeming#AI#streaming platforms
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Let’s gooooooo
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WGA talks set to resume Friday
[ID: Writers Guild of America, East @/WGAEast tweet from August 2, 2023 that reads, "The AMPTP, through Carol Lombardini, reached out to the WGA and requested a meeting this Friday to discuss negotiations. We’ll be back in communication sometime after the meeting with further information. As we’ve said before, be wary of rumors. #WGAstrike"
Some reminders:
-Any info on the negotiations that does not come from the WGA might be a studio leak meant to disrupt and divide the union. Get your news from the WGA West/WGA East directly.
-We're coming up on 100 days of the 2023 strike; while the 2007 strike lasted 100 days too, earlier strikes lasted longer. We simply don't know if these negotiations will lead to a deal yet.
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- The Disney+ movie Prom Pact is facing criticism for using AI actors that look horrendous, which is exactly what striking actors are trying to prevent.
- A Tweet calls out Disney CEO Bob Iger for using digital scans of actors instead of paying them fair wages.
- Negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP have collapsed, with the industry CEOs walking away from the bargaining table due to the significant gap between the two parties on important issues like protection against AI.
#disney plus#disney#news#disney news#ai#ai use#ai generation#ai theft#disney+#prom pact#sag aftra strike#sag aftra#sag-aftra#amptp
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SAG-AFTRA has secured the following for on-set work:
• Sets must have proper hair & makeup services for all performers, including those with diverse & textured hair & complexions
🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 I love it!
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#sag aftra#sag strike#amptp#studios are some greedy bastards#this some ebenezer scrooge shit#pay the actors
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SAG-AFTRA Strike Rules are out! Here’s the list of what members aren’t allowed to do:
●Principal on camera work, such as:
○ Acting
○ Singing
○ Dancing
○ Performing stunts
○ Piloting on-camera aircraft
○ Puppeteering
○ Performance capture or motion capture work;
● Principal off camera work, such as:
○ ADR/Looping
○ TV Trailers (promos) and Theatrical Trailers
○ Voice Acting
○ Singing
○ Narration, including audio descriptive services except as the services may be covered by another collective bargaining agreement referred in the Notice to
Members Regarding Non-Struck Work
○ Stunt coordinating and related services
● Background work
● Stand-in work
● Photo and/or body doubles
● Fittings, wardrobe tests, and makeup tests
● Rehearsals and camera tests
● Scanning
● Interviews and auditions (including via self-tape)
● Promotion of/publicity services for work under the TV/Theatrical Contracts, such as:
○ Tours
○ Personal appearances
○ Interviews
○ Conventions
○ Fan expos
○ Festivals
○ For your consideration events
○ Panels
○ Premieres/screenings
○ Award shows
○ Junkets
○ Podcast appearances
○ Social media
○ Studio showcases
● Negotiating and/or entering into and/or consenting to:
○ An agreement to perform covered services in the future
○ Any new agreement related to merchandising connected to a covered project
○ The creation and use of digital replicas, including through the reuse of prior work
• Performing on a trailer for a struck production or other ancillary content connected to a struck production
#sag aftra#sag aftra strike#sag aftra strong#actors strike#sag-aftra#union#actors’ union#sag-aftra strike#amptp
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It’s not a coincidence that after the AMPTP hired a crisis PR firm that shows from Drew Barrymore to Bill Maher to The Talk to Jennifer Hudson are or are saying they plan to return to air without their writers. Similar language of needing to care for other workers and the WGA not being the only talent that’s important suggest a concerted effort to weaken the WGA stance and depict the writers as selfish and stubborn. And, frankly, the writers dominated the PR side of things for a long time, and losing that dominance as the AMPTP has finally brought on competent help for its own messaging is exceedingly dangerous for the WGA (which is also being positioned as fissuring from within, showrunners versus regular writers). The WGA needs to move, now, even though its negotiating power has already been eroded, before the AMPTP messaging takes hold even more.
Disclaimer: I have no inside information, but the playbook here isn’t new and the WGA needs to win what it can.
#wga strike#wga east#wga west#i stand with the wga#amptp#the drew barrymore show#real time with bill maher#the talk#the jennifer hudson show
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WGA/AMPTP
Here's a quick version of today's WGA and AMPTP press releases/leaks for those of you who can't be bothered to read the whole thing:
WGA: Members, please manage your expectations. Historically, the AMPTP often refuses to negotiate in good faith in the 2nd round of negotiations, then blames the WGA to split guild rank and file from the NegCom and Board.
AMPTP: Woah, that's super unfortunate rhetoric! Hey writers, you can totally kick this football!
#tv writing#amptp#wgawest#wga west#stand with the wga#wga strike#support the wga#wga strong#wga solidarity#i stand with the wga#sag aftra#sag strike
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It’s official. From Deadline:
UPDATED with AMPTP statement, 1:07 AM: Contract negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP broke off tonight, and the guild’s national board will meet Thursday morning to formally approve the launch of a strike.
It will be the first actors strike against the film and television industry since 1980 and the first time that actors and writers have been on strike at the same time since 1960, when Ronald Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild. Picketing is set to begin Friday morning.
#sag aftra#union strike#if strike occurs writers and actors would both be on strike#american labor negotiations#sag aftra guild of america#no more actors on red carpets#amptp#2023Jul13
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A detailed list of the SAG-AFTRA demands and the AMPTP responses.
#sag aftra#sag aftra strike#screen actors guild#wga strike#wga#writers guild of america#writers strike#amptp
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April 26: All 13 IATSE Locals Have Reached Tentative Agreements with the AMPTP; now IATSE will restart general negotiations.
After over a month of negotiating, all 13 of IATSE’s West Coast Locals have reached tentative deals with the AMPTP, IATSE announced today. Now the real fight can begin.
On Thursday, April 25, the last of the remaining 13 locals, Affiliated Property Craftspersons Local 44, reached a tentative agreement with the studios, and Studio Teachers, IATSE Local 884, reached a deal on April 19, opening the door for IATSE’s national negotiating committee to restart negotiations on the Basic Agreement. Those talks are scheduled to kick off on April 29 and continue through May 16.
“Our locals’ craft-specific issues required the employers’ attention, and at the table we’re seeing improved engagement and dialogue,” IATSE’s International vice president Mike Miller said in a statement. “That indicates the studios’ negotiators have different marching orders this contract cycle. This approach will be helpful as we continue our negotiations over the next few weeks.”
After over a month of negotiating, all 13 of IATSE’s West Coast Locals have reached tentative deals with the AMPTP, IATSE announced today. Now the real fight can begin.
On Thursday, April 25, the last of the remaining 13 locals, Affiliated Property Craftspersons Local 44, reached a tentative agreement with the studios, and Studio Teachers, IATSE Local 884, reached a deal on April 19, opening the door for IATSE’s national negotiating committee to restart negotiations on the Basic Agreement. Those talks are scheduled to kick off on April 29 and continue through May 16.
“Our locals’ craft-specific issues required the employers’ attention, and at the table we’re seeing improved engagement and dialogue,” IATSE’s International vice president Mike Miller said in a statement. “That indicates the studios’ negotiators have different marching orders this contract cycle. This approach will be helpful as we continue our negotiations over the next few weeks.”
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Each of the 13 locals (44, 80, 600, 695, 700, 705, 706, 728, 729, 800, 871, 884, and 892) were negotiating issues specific to their own crafts and union members, with two locals talking with the studios at a time. They reached tentative deals largely without any hiccups. A few of the locals, including Local 44 representing set decorators and propmakers, did not reach a deal in their allotted three days of scheduled bargaining and bled into the following week, but there were no delays in the overall schedule, and IATSE even scheduled a week of caucusing to account for such a scenario if things ran long.
The locals haven’t had a chance to negotiate a new contract for the last six years, with Covid interrupting what would’ve been the prior round of negotiations. And it’s also unprecedented that each of the 13 locals got several days of individual time scheduled in advance in order to work through their contracts. Not all of the locals has always had the time afforded to them to come to the negotiating table.
Terms of the tentative deals with each of the locals have not been revealed to members just yet, and they won’t be put up for ratification until after IATSE has reached a tentative deal on the Basic Agreement. IATSE recently flopped the order of its bargaining schedule, intending to negotiate the Basic Agreement followed by the Area Standards Agreement, which covers craftspeople working outside of Los Angeles. Negotiations for the ASA will start on May 20 and run through May 31.
The real battle now begins with the studios over issues wage increases, pension and health contributions, quality of life conditions such as lengths of workdays, meal penalties, and turnaround times, job security, residuals, and the big elephant in the room, AI.
IATSE already got the ball rolling on talks related to health plan terms and pension benefits back on March 4, and they teamed up with the Teamsters and Hollywood Basic Crafts to speed along the process. Teamsters and Basic Crafts won’t begin their individual talks until sometime in June.
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A hotly anticipated meeting Friday between the Writers Guild of America and negotiators for Hollywood's biggest studios ended not with a bang but with a whimper, it appears, as both sides confirm that the three-month-long standoff between screenwriters and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is set to continue, as will the strike that's left the entertainment industry at a standstill.
Friday's meeting, the first between the WGA and the AMPTP since contract negotiations stalled in May, had been greeted with high hopes when it was announced earlier this week. The New York Times reported that conditions for an end to the writers' strike seemed promising, as a back-channel meeting last week between a “handful of executives” and “three members of the guild’s negotiating committee” led execs to believe that “there could be a path to a deal."
Following that shadowy meeting, AMPTP president Carol Lombardini reached out to WGA leaders to schedule Friday's official confab, but even as that news broke, the WGA remained cautious. In a message to members Thursday, the WGA's negotiating committee said that “we won’t prejudge what’s to come, but playbooks die hard. So far, the companies have wasted months on their same failed strategy. They have attempted, time and time again, through anonymous quotes in the media, to use scare tactics, rumors, and lies to weaken our resolve.”
Variety reports that the two sides met Friday for about an hour, but that after the WGA stood firm on its expectations regarding “minimum staffing levels in episodic TV and a guaranteed minimum number of weeks of employment,” the conversation fizzled.
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