Producers allegedly sought rights to replicate extras using AI, forever, for just $200
- Reference: 1689318068
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/07/14/actors_strike_gen_ai/
- Source link:
The union, The Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), on Thursday opposed the deal tabled by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said it's "groundbreaking" – but not in a good way.
[1]
"They proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get paid for one day's pay, and their companies should own that scan – their image, their likeness – and should be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want, with no consent and no compensation."
[2]
[3]
While major well-known actors can command huge rates of pay, background actors, also known as extras, [4]earn [PDF] from $187 $219 per day. They can earn about twice that much if they are directed to perform activities such as swimming or skating.
Work as an extra is sometimes used as a pathway toward breaking into the acting business, as it allows the performer to gain experience in the industry, make contacts and eventually find a way into the union. While the work may seem glamorous, it can be long and often boring, with days stretching out for up to 18 hours as the extra waits around to be called upon to do their thing.
[5]
"Actors deserve a contract that reflects the changes that have taken place in the industry," said Crabtree-Ireland.
"Currently the streaming model has undercut performers' residual income and high inflation has reduced members' ability to make ends meet," he added.
The chief negotiator called the rise of generative AI technology an "existential threat" to actor livelihoods.
[6]
"The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI," said an impassioned Fran Drescher. The former The Nanny star currently serves as SAG-AFTRA president.
"If we don't stand tall right now we are all going to be in trouble. We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines and big business, who cares more about Wall Street than you and your family," said Drescher.
AMPTP statements [7]reported by multiple news outlets paint SAG-AFTRA as being unreasonable and harming the industry at large:
AMPTP member companies entered the negotiations with SAG-AFTRA with the goal of forging a new, mutually beneficial contract.
The AMPTP presented a deal that offered historic pay and residual increases, substantially higher caps on pension and health contributions, audition protections, shortened series option periods, and a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors' digital likenesses for SAG-AFTRA members.
A strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring our TV shows and films to life.
The union has regrettably chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the industry.
Readers who are also fans of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror may recall that a shady contract deeming the AI use of a person's likeness in perpetuity is the plot of Episode 1 of Season 6, Joan Is Awful , making it perhaps one of the fastest episodes of the technology-predicting series to come into fruition.
[8]Youtube Video
According to Drescher and Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP spent four weeks negotiating prior to announcing the strike. The strike will commence at midnight Friday morning. It affects those working under 2020 TV/Theatrical contracts.
Members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) – a labor union of film, TV and other media writers – have been on strike for similar reasons since May 2. The WGA has been attempting to secure better wages and address concerns of being replaced by AI.
This will be the first time since the 1960s that members of both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA have been on strike simultaneously. There may be quite a wait for new episodes of your favorite shows – but hey, you can stream all the reruns your heart desires. ®
Get our [9]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZLEcydYGgcmfJPiZb-YTSgAAAws&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZLEcydYGgcmfJPiZb-YTSgAAAws&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZLEcydYGgcmfJPiZb-YTSgAAAws&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.sagaftra.org/files/20202023TVWages_Year3WageDiversion.pdf
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZLEcydYGgcmfJPiZb-YTSgAAAws&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZLEcydYGgcmfJPiZb-YTSgAAAws&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-07-13/fran-drescher-speech-actors-strike-sag-aftra-strike-press-conference
[8] https://youtu.be/J4SAPOX7R5M
[9] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Hollywood! Fuck Yeah!
I saw a documentary that clearly stated Hollywood is full of FAGs...
"We're guards!" - still makes me laugh whenever I think about it :)
"address concerns of being replaced by AI"
Seems those concerns are damned real right now.
I propose an AI to replace Hollywood moguls. Scan them once, give them $200 and see how they like the idea.
Re: "address concerns of being replaced by AI"
No. Thank. You. Imagine an AI in position of moar "power".
FUCK THAT.
It's already bad enough that the smooth brains are happily following the tunes of the Pied Piper's Internet of social media(s).
Re: "address concerns of being replaced by AI"
You're assuming that it hasn't already happened.
It would certainly explain the current trend for Hollywood churning derivative dross.
Generate Extras for free
Can't AI already generate faces from a collection. And those faces are unique and not same as any of the faces in the collection?
Coat because it seems horses have already bolted.
Re: Generate Extras for free
Can't AI already generate faces from a collection.
I believe that only delivers faces that look like they have been created by AI.
Real nature has an element of randomness in it that our perception is somehow able to react to.
The whole "us/not-us" paradigm really needs to be better understood before we go any further with AI. Because already it's starting to irritate the "not us" mechanism that eventually leads to full-scale "we need to eliminate that other tribe" decision.
Groundbreaking
Y'know, that bit where the spade goes through the turf before the grave is dug...
I get the impression that you could just set up a discreet scanner somewhere busy and capture anonymous likenesses all day long, for nothing.
Why not?
@Grunchy
It's already happening.
It's called "Face Recognition Software". And here in England, it is being "piloted".
Without telling us.
So, there is a database just waiting to be "compromised". And to will happen.
I feel sorry for those "extras". They are fucked. That's the American way.
From a technical point of view, you could. However, it is illegal to film someone without their consent, so if they saw themselves in the background, they could potentially cause a lot of trouble for the studio. It might be difficult to actually sue the studio, but if the fact they did it went viral, it could tank the profits of whatever film uses the scanned extras.
Not sure where you go the "illegal to film without consent " from. In most places if it's a public location, you have no expectation of privacy.
It's the public face of a long established trend: blatant, unrestrained greed
Let's face it, it's not exactly the first time the people who actually produce the goods get told they have to work harder and longer to produce "value" and they face being sacked as executives seek "synergy" - all BS that simply boils down to "we're scraping the max out of the barrel and no, we're not going to share any of it with you". This is how functional companies get bought, leveraged to the hilt so they're loaded up with debt and when that's no longer serviceable because leaving any margin for resilience against the odd economic downturn isn't part of the plan, these people walk away with fat bonuses in their pocket - even when they screw up (and nobody ever had to hand back a bonus when things went wrong).
The whole banking mortgage scam was a prime example - not only did nobody go to jail but they even had the gall to still hand out bonus payments as if they were not responsible for the largest global financial meltdown since the Great Depression, all while people who actually worked to produce a working economy got shafted.
Farmers know that draining the soil too much leads to infertile land, but executives are still on the pillage and burn model despite clear evidence that being less greedy actually keeps the whole system alive and so leads to more profits, and sustainably so but no, that would be admitting they're going about it the wrong way. It would unhinge most of Wall Street, so it ain't gonna happen. You also see that with inventions when you try to get them funded - the first that will happen is some US VCs contacting you, offering you a pittance while they take the IP and the majority of the profits. They even act hurt that you want more or tell them to where to stick that proposal, knowing full well that in the course of executing the idea they will put a lot of effort into screwing you even out of that pittance.
Less greed would make for a far better society and more income for all, but it's apparently no longer possible to find people who see this, politicians included.
That's my rant quota for this week gone. Worth it.
Re: It's the public face of a long established trend: blatant, unrestrained greed
True, but they only get away with it because consumers don't care. Employment rights, health and safety, etc. are really important when they apply to me and my job but who gives a shit when it comes to to the 12-year-old girls earning a couple of dollars a week to make clothes so cheap that people can afford to wear them once and then throw them away.
No one will boycott films made in this exploitative manner - at least, not enough people to make the studios think twice: witness Amazon. People don't care if their underpants are made in dangerous hell-holes by kids or if they're delivered by a driver who has to piss in a bottle and break the speed limit to get paid minimum wage, so they certainly aren't going to give a toss about American extras being exploited.
Good lord
Gawd damn, this is serious corporate dystopia right out of Cyberpunk / Blade Runner.
I really wish there weren't so many articles that just demanded the use of the 'Spawn of Satan' icon.