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Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood

cnbc.com

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Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood

#51

Post by HDThoreaun »

falcolas wrote: post #33
gruez wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"absolutely gentille" and "strike-breaking" seems like weird ways to describe studios refusing to accept the union's offer, as if they're expected to accept whatever that the union offers.

The studios haven't even come to the negotiation table in the 70 days of the WGA's strike. Their entire plan is waiting them out so they'll accept a worse offer.

They haven't come to the table because they know the writers will not accept the offer. What's the point in wasting time?

Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood

#52

Post by youarelabor »

endisneigh wrote: post #37
anotherhue wrote: post #4

Unions are a critical counterbalance to the power of corporations. Hardly perfect, but we'll be sorry when they're gone.

Not really. Ironically the kind of people who frequent this forum will be the ones to end labor once and for all. Unions are only helpful with leverage. For now labor has inherent leverage as capital production fundamentally requires some labor. As AI increases productivity of certain individuals the amount (of people) of productive labor will become less, thus making unions ineffective.

> Ironically the kind of people who frequent this forum will be the ones to end labor once and for all.

you are labor.

Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood

#53

Post by bsimpson »

dluan wrote: post #42
lesuorac wrote: post #15

I guess lucky for Hollywood the visual artists (i.e. CGI) aren't in a union.

The visual effects people and animators in Hollywood should absolutely be organizing for one, because their work is the soonest to be blown up with AI stuff. There's already a ton of stuff for small productivity improvements that reduce editing or grading tasks that used to take days into minutes.

There's the Animation Guild for collective bargaining, and ASIFA (which is like the Academy of cartoons).

https://animationguild.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASIFA-Hollywood

Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood

#54

Post by Arrath »

falcolas wrote: post #10

Given the explicit "we'll just wait for them to lose their housing" messaging from the Hollywood executives... Good on SAG-AFTRA. This can only increase the bargaining power of both groups.

> Given the explicit "we'll just wait for them to lose their housing" messaging from the Hollywood executives...

Yeah, that was fuckin disgusting. Its tar and feather territory if you ask me.

I'm in full support of this strike and I applaud the actors for getting in on it. Bring the studios to their knees if that's what it takes.

Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood

#55

Post by solardev »

nine_zeros wrote: post #39
saltminer wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was part of the plot of "Joan is Awful" (Black Mirror S06E01). I sorta expected some sort of AI proposal but I didn't think it would be so drastic, so soon. Then again, it might just be the tactic of asking for a mountain to get the hill you really want (I'm sure there's a name for this).

Black mirror surprisingly accurately captured the human consequences of the ultra-capitalistic-tech future. Still remember the episode where the guy runs on a treadmill to collect points and uses it on porn. Not too different from tech workers running hard everyday and yet, spending all their money on only-fans, living in a studio apartment in a VHCOL city.

IMHO it's great that tech money is being redistributed to sex workers who work their butts (and other parts) off just to make a living. They might want families someday too, and their industry is way harsher. Better they get paid than tech workers hoarding money and driving up housing costs for everyone.

Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood

#56

Post by Arrath »

gruez wrote: post #43
falcolas wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The studios haven't even come to the negotiation table in the 70 days of the WGA's strike. Their entire plan is waiting them out so they'll accept a worse offer.

>The studios haven't even come to the negotiation table in the 70 days of the WGA's strike. What's the point of coming to the negotiation table when the other side's demands is so far from what you're willing to offer? >Their entire plan is waiting them out so they'll accept a worse offer. It takes two to make a deal. By refusing to accept a deal, both sides' are hoping to inflict damage to the other side so they can…

> What's the point of coming to the negotiation table when the other side's demands is so far from what you're willing to offer?

Uh, does this situation not fit the dictionary definition of negotiation? Such a gulf in demands/desires/position between the sides necessitates negotiation and compromise. The institution saying "lol fuck them, we'll starve 'em out" is monstrous in that context, imo.

Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood

#57

Post by Arrath »

HDThoreaun wrote: post #51
falcolas wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The studios haven't even come to the negotiation table in the 70 days of the WGA's strike. Their entire plan is waiting them out so they'll accept a worse offer.

They haven't come to the table because they know the writers will not accept the offer. What's the point in wasting time?

Its such a shame that the laws of the universe only allow the studios to make that one offer they want to bring to the table.

Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood

#58

Post by solardev »

Kye wrote: post #28
AlexandrB wrote: post #5

> “In that ground breaking AI proposal, they proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned, get paid for one day’s pay, and their company 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,” he said. “So if you think that’s a ground breaking proposal I suggest you think again.” I m…

Jet Li famously turned down The Matrix because he was worried about what they might do with his motion capture in the future. Previous discussion of the topic right here on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27852017

It probably won't be long before algorithms can mocap just from the recorded footage and then transpose those movements to arbitrary 3D models :/

That doesn't take away from the beauty of martial arts though. You can have an exact definition of all the moves you'll ever do, but still spend decades refining them.

For actors though... yeah I can see why they're worried

Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood

#59

Post by nine_zeros »

solardev wrote: post #55
nine_zeros wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Black mirror surprisingly accurately captured the human consequences of the ultra-capitalistic-tech future. Still remember the episode where the guy runs on a treadmill to collect points and uses it on porn. Not too different from tech workers running hard everyday and yet, spending all their money on only-fans, living in a studio apartment in a VHCOL city.

IMHO it's great that tech money is being redistributed to sex workers who work their butts (and other parts) off just to make a living. They might want families someday too, and their industry is way harsher. Better they get paid than tech workers hoarding money and driving up housing costs for everyone.

It is good that tech money is getting redistributed but it is also important to recognize how stupidly trivialized tech worker life has become.

Re: Actors union will join writers on strike, shutting down Hollywood

#60

Post by eatsyourtacos »

monkeyodeath wrote: post #19

The business philosophy of "maximize shareholder value above all else" is going to eviscerate our society until there's nothing of quality left. Hollywood has always been a dirty and money-focused business, but it seems like the latest crop of execs are hellbent on entirely divorcing the creative enterprise from its human elements. Now studios are just exotic financial instruments that seek to turn "content" into sto…

Completely agree. And the worst part is that sentiment is used as a completely valid reason/excuse.

"They are just doing what is legally required of them and maximizing shareholder value!!".

People throw that out in there as if it's some inherent law of nature that can't be questioned. No- it's an intentionally created human construct by the rich & powerful to completely excuse them of any actions.

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