Actors strike to influence big film production – BBC News

Major film productions, including the sequels to Avatar and Gladiator, are likely to be impacted by Hollywood actor strikes.

Promotional events such as red carpet premieres, such as the Disney film Haunted Mansion, which released later this month, will also be affected.

Events, including the Emmys and Comic-Con, may be rescheduled or scaled down.

In the largest industry shutdown in more than 60 years, an estimated 160,000 artists stopped working at midnight in Los Angeles.

The announcement followed similar strike action by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and shut down most US film and television productions.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) wants the streaming giants to agree to a more equal distribution of profits and better working conditions.

He also wants to protect actors from being usurped by digital reruns.

The union is seeking assurances that artificial intelligence (AI) and computer-generated faces and voices are not used to substitute actors.

As long as the strike lasts, actors cannot appear in films or even promote films they have already made.

Actors Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt left the premiere of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer in London on Thursday night as the strike was called.

The film’s director, Christopher Nolan, told cinema audiences they were “out writing their placards,” adding that he supported them in their fight.

For films in production, the strike means that much work will become impossible. Even in cases where filming has already been completed, actors will not be available for reshoots and other essential elements of the filmmaking process.

TV shows that are still in the process of being revived will also largely need to go on hiatus, although side deals may be made between artists and producers in some cases to allow work to continue.

Several actors took to Instagram to express their support for the strike, including Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk, Sex and the City’s Cynthia Nixon and Hollywood veteran Jamie Lee Curtis.

Picketing will begin Friday morning outside Netflix’s California headquarters, before moving to Paramount, Warner Bros, and Disney.

To address concerns about the use of artificial intelligence, the big studios have offered what they call an “innovative proposal” that would protect the digital likeness of actors and require their consent when digital replicas are used in performances or changes are made.

But the union rejected the offer, made by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

SAG National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said it was unacceptable.

“They propose that our background artists should be able to be scanned, be paid a day’s pay, and their company should own that scan of their image, their likeness, and be able to use it for the rest of eternity “, he said. she said. “If you think this is a revolutionary proposition, I suggest you think again.”

The AMPTP said the strike was “certainly not the outcome we had hoped for as studios cannot operate without the artists who bring our TV shows and movies to life.”

“The union has sadly chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the sector,” his statement added.

The union is officially known as the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA.

Another of his requests to streaming services is that actors should receive higher base pay and residuals, which are payments made to actors from reruns of the movies and shows they’ve starred in.

The strike includes tens of thousands of actors receiving significantly less pay for minor parts than their A-list peers.

“In the old model, they get success-based residuals,” Kim Masters, editor-in-chief of The Hollywood Reporter, told the BBC. “In the new model, they can’t find out what’s going on behind the scenes, because streamers aren’t sharing.”

Fran Drescher, president of SAG, said the strike came at a “very important time” for industry players.

“What’s happening to us is happening in all fields of work,” he said, “when employers make Wall Street and greed their priority, and forget the essential contributors that keep the machine running.”

A separate strike by the 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America has been underway since May 2, demanding better wages and working conditions.

Some writers have turned to projects that are not covered by the contract between the guild and the Alliance of Film and Television Producers.

The “double strike” by both unions is the first since 1960, when the SAG was led by actor Ronald Reagan, long before he entered politics and became president of the United States. The last actors’ strike took place in 1980.

Speaking at a gathering of industry leaders at an Idaho resort ahead of the SAG announcement on Thursday, Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger said the requests from actors and writers were impractical and damaging to an industry that was still recovering from the pandemic.

“It’s very disturbing to me,” Iger said. “This is the worst time in the world to add to this disruption.”

A third union, the Directors Guild of America, successfully negotiated a contract in June and will not participate.