SAG-AFTRA’s top negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland was in typically fiery form at a rally in New York on Tuesday morning when he told attendees the reason for the strike was the refusal by Hollywood studios and streamers to treat members fairly.
Crabtree-Ireland claimed Alliance Of Motion Picture And Television Producers (AMPTP) negotiators repeatedly blocked the Guild’s proposals during recent contract talks and cited three key demands from his side: an increase on minimum wages, updated terms on streaming residuals, and the regulation of artificial intelligence.
“Here’s all you have to do to make sure there’s no strike,” Crabtree-Ireland said he told AMPTP negotiators before talks broke down on July 12. “All you have to do is make this fair deal. And their response was, ‘No’ – just like their response to so many of our proposals that we’ve said are essential for actors being treated in a respectful and fair way. ‘No.’”
He continued, “Do actors get to have minimum wage increases that keep up with inflation? ‘No.’
“Do actors get to have a share of the streaming revenue that has been created because of their faces and their voices on these new platforms, these new businesses these companies are creating? ‘No. We don’t even want to talk about it.’
“Are they willing to give actors true informed consent about the use of their own face, voice, body, likeness in the creation of artificial intelligence digital doubles of them? ‘No.’
“So you have to understand that this strike is the result of big corporations that refuse to treat our members fairly and it’s not okay, and we are standing up and we are saying ‘No’ to that.”
Last week AMPTP sent a chart to press disputing SAG-AFTRA’s claims that they refused to engage on certain points, adding that the Hollywood companies have offered more than $1bn in wage increases, pension and health contributions and residual increases as well as “first-of-their-kind” protections over its three-year term with particular regard to artificial intelligence.
Crabtree-Ireland told the rally the $1bn claim was “not true at all”.
On the matter of informed consent proposals with regard to the use of an actor’s likeness and voice, he added: “[AMPTP’s] idea of informed consent is you come in on the first day of work – or even before you get hired – and you have to agree in advance that you’re going to let them do whatever they want with your digital replica. That’s not real consent. That’s bogus. It’s not legitimate.”
The Rock The City For A Fair Contract rally was attended by a number of stars, among them Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston, Christian Slater, and Christine Baranksi, as well as UTA partner and co-head of talent Jay Gassner and partner and talent agent Nancy Gates.
No comments yet