Hello! Mr. Bossman has let me onto this site (as if) long enough to have my usual spiel on a big important topic. While some writers do talk about these issues from time to time, I feel we need to delve deeper into some of the bigger more important subjects and even cover some content that has yet to be covered. Like the story behind one costume designer and how they got canned due to union rules. What’s the story behind that?
That one will remain unknown to a lot of people, unfortunately, but there’s a bigger and more important subject to discuss: The Strike. Last week when talking about it with a retired actor, his response was simply ‘Who cares?’ and that was enough to make me tell them who, as well as why. It affects the industry here. As many know through the articles on this site, people from the U S of ol’ A come here to shoot films. There are lots of benefits: Financially for the out-of-country people with tax benefits, and job opportunities for everyone living in Canada who does film work. Plus a lot more conveniences for both sides to make a win-win situation. But in this case, everybody gets nothing until we actually see a win from the US brethren. Films may not go on strike, but workers in companies sure do, and for many valid reasons. This time around, the big issues include not just fair pay to writers and actors, but the probability of Artificial Intelligence taking over more of the jobs in the industry. There are a lot of people out there using AI currently to make new styles of show openings or have musicians sing songs in genres they would never cover. Some of this is good fun, but for film people, it’s a threat to actually any work at all. How? AI can create environments, write scripts, and even use someone’s likeness and the person won’t get paid for it.
It all started on May 1st, when the WGA had a strike and soon the SAG followed suit. It was then announced by Fran Drescher who gave a speech pointing out how stingy the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers were. Soon, many writers and actors voiced their displeasure of wage issues and how residuals need to be much bigger with all the streaming.
In conclusion, everyone should care and we should all do something about it. I’m with the strikers on this one, because if work doesn’t start soon, and nothing gets figured out, or even if the future does consist of nothing but AI, it’ll be time for the majority of us to find other jobs.
Any stories you want to share? Comment below.