Hollywood is officially a Black Mirror episode come to life.
That was the sentiment several members and non-members of SAG-AFTRA shared with Rolling Stone following Thursday’s announcement that the 160,000-member union would join the WGA union on the picket lines after failing to secure a new contract with movie studio and streaming service executives.
The Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) had negotiated with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP) for the past month.
However, the already extended deadline expired late Wednesday night. SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher delivered a bruising and rallying speech decrying the AMPTP’s “shameful” and “disgusting” treatment toward the union, saying, “You cannot keep being dwindled and marginalized and disrespected and dishonored.”
SAG-AFTRA and WGA — which have been on strike since May 2 — mark the first time since 1960 that both unions have been on strike simultaneously.
One of the significant points of contention for both groups has been the rapid development and implementation of AI and fears of how it could potentially replace writers and actors.
And their concern was justified, as chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland laid bare the AMPTP’s so-called “groundbreaking AI proposal,” which holds the potential to wipe out an entire pathway to breaking into the industry and a reliable source of income for many.
The reported proposal hinged on the ability for background actors to be “scanned, get paid for one day’s pay” and for that company to “own that scan of their image, their likeness, and to be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want with no consent and no compensation.”
“It was all of our worst fears confirmed when we heard that,” actress Jamie Miller tells Rolling Stone. “It’s kneecapping people from the…