A Hollywood ending? How the SAG-AFTRA strikes could change TV
Photo Courtesy: Phil Roeder (via Wikimedia Commons)
On July 14th 2023, Hollywood went quiet. Outraged members of the actor’s union SAG-AFTRA left TV and film productions to strike, after failing to negotiate a contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Better pay, better working conditions, and better protection for actors regarding the use of AI in the film industry were the most important changes actors wanted from their new contract.
118 days later, a tentative deal was reached, which 86% of the board of SAG-AFTRA endorsed. Fran Drescher, the leader of the union, stated the new contract shows there has been “critical progress in moving the industry in the right direction”. But what is this right direction, and how is TV going to change in the future to ensure this critical progress protects the rights of actors in the industry?
Major changes
The Black Mirror episode ‘Joan is Awful’ explores the use of AI in the entertainment industry to create computer generated likenesses of actors which can be used for purposes potentially out of the actor’s control and without their informed consent. According to one member of SAG-AFTRA, this episode is a “documentary of the future”, where an actor’s rights to their own face and body on screen will be greatly diminished.
This new contract seeks to protect actor control over how AI is used when creating digital replicas of their image. Now, studios can only create a digital replica of an actor with their informed consent. They must disclose, in detail, how this digital replica will be used, and they must pay the actor on a level equivalent to how the replica is used on screen. The aim is not to prevent the use of AI on screen, which is an inevitability, but to protect the actor from AI being used without their full knowledge and consent.
The entertainment industry has also had an undeniable financial barrier to success, and another aim of SAG-AFTRA’s strikes has been to make the career more accessible to people without an influx of income. The new contract would ban studios charging for open and self-taped auditions, and the technology requirements of a good camera, light, and sound in a self-tape would be less strict, allowing the profession to be more accessible to those who cannot afford such expensive equipment.
An 11% wage increase was further agreed on for background actors, and a 7% increase for all other actors, as well as streaming services paying actors residuals amounting to over $40 million per year. This will hopefully allow more actors to live with less anxiety about their finances, in a world where inflation is a potential threat to survival.
Importantly, the deal has also focused significantly on working conditions. Studios will need to ensure, for example, that hair and makeup artists are experienced with the hair and complexions of all the actors on set. Black actor Taraji P. Henson’s hair was damaged by a stylist who was inexperienced with the actor’s hair texture; Henson then had to bring in her own stylist which the studio did not compensate for. In the new contract, studios will be required to pay for actors hiring their own stylists. Such requirements will allow actors with diverse hair and complexions to not feel like an afterthought, and to feel welcome and comfortable in their workplace.
In the last few years, there has also been increasing pressure from actors for studios to provide better precautions and protection against abuse. The Producer’s Guild of America, following the #MeToo movement, issued guidelines surrounding sexual abuse in the industry when the camera is not rolling, but what is being done in the new contract to protect actors from abuse in front of the camera?
Studios will now be encouraged to hire intimacy coordinators for scenes involving nudity or simulated sex. Many actors may not have the courage to defend their personal boundaries, especially when they are less established in the industry, or if they are pressured by a person who may have more power on set. Intimacy coordinators would prevent this on set pressure, and protect the wellbeing of the actors during these vulnerable scenes, allowing them to feel safe in the workplace.
It is clear that the entertainment industry is going to change significantly with this new contract between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP. A host of changes are being introduced, and there is a new emphasis being put on protecting the financial and physical rights of actors - for instance by highlighting the importance of consent in the use of AI, and in the filming of intimate scenes. Hollywood has had a long, hard look in the mirror, and a deal has been produced that can leave actors hopeful the TV industry won’t become another Black Mirror episode. It does remain to be seen, however, how successfully so many changes will be implemented, and so whether this will be a Hollywood ending for the SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Photo Courtesy: Caleb George (via Wikimedia Commons)