The Hollywood Reporter
This is part of a series of accounts of the strike from Hollywood writers at different levels in their careers. The diarists have been granted anonymity to encourage candor. You can read previous entries by ‘Eastside Warrior’ and others here.
You can know the knife’s coming. You can hunch your shoulders and brace for the impact. You can even tell yourself, it doesn’t matter. You’ve been stabbed before, you survived. You can do all that and it still stings. June gloom came hard this week: the DGA cut its deal.
It was just a little grayer outside Paramount Monday. With a light touch of shitty drizzle, as if the clouds couldn’t even make up their minds whether or not to rain on our parade. And the lines were noticeably quieter. Of course, it might’ve been because half the Guild was out leafleting Apple stores. (A well-meaning, but slightly quixotic campaign: Apple barely blinks when accused of child labor. I’d bet an afternoon of awkward stares at the Grove means very little to Tim Cook.)
But then the out came the sun: SAG. 98 percent Strike Authorization vote.
Never in the history of Hollywood have more writers wanted to hug more actors all at once. One cannot understate the miraculous rarity of this warm, fuzzy feeling. Next time a guest star asks me to rewrite a big speech 5 minutes before picture’s up (i.e. we’re about to shoot a take), I’m going to close my eyes and just remember that number.
However, before basking in that golden glow, let’s go back to the DGA deal for a second. Or as I like to think of it, Munich 1938.*
Now, this was the least surprising deal in the history of Hollywood labor. WGA had leadership had been telegraphing that it was coming the whole week before. But what was surprising was the timing. With almost a full two days before the SAG results came out? Honestly, once that 98 percent SAG number hit, the irritation gave way to… pity: how much did the DGA’s “world class negotiators” leave on the table? Needless to say, the ol’ Twit feed was chock-full of Succession memes painting the DGA as any or all of the hapless, self-destructive Roy children. Seriously, did these guys just blink and lose their nerve Saturday night?
Let’s start with Fairness first. Getting international residuals is nice. An added day of shooting is definitely great for TV directors, though it felt a little like the doggy-treat the AMPTP tossed its favorite pet for closing the deal early. It’s even kind of hilarious: an “extra” day is about the most expensive part of a show’s budget. Yet, AMPTP won’t consider giving a showrunner the writers he or she needs through production to ensure the show stays on schedule. Pro-tip: the best way to save money in production is to have enough writers still around to rewrite the scene!
Then there’s the AI shit.
So, it technically counts as an improvement the DGA got AMPTP to budge from its oh-so-popular “We won’t promise not to replace you with robots!” position. Lovely, we moved one rung up the negotiating ladder away from “total corporate psychopathy.” But then holy shit, the actual language was revealed…
Fucking loopholes big enough for James Cameron to drive the Titanic through. Instead of “one” meeting a year, they got “two.” Instead of putting the director in charge of decisions about AI use, they got “consultation.” (Which just means if a director says no to AI, they’ll get fired for someone who’ll say yes.) Worst of all, on the most critical issue of training up AI on members’ work – i.e. training the robot that will replace you – all they got was the chance to “discuss appropriate remuneration, if any” for training AI for the “purpose of creating new motion picture content.” Yup, that’s the actual language.
Technically the DGA membership could vote this down, though no one’s holding their breath. With that in mind… DGA Members: read the fine print before you vote on this utter betrayal of your profession.
Cause that’s insane. This is where you need the real protection: so your own work can’t be used to replace you. The DGA all but signed away a director’s vision to the AMPTP in exchange a chance to beg for scraps later. In five years, Netflix will be selling a “Scorsese” filter for Adobe Premiere. And that’s to say nothing of all the poor ADs whose laboriously crafted schedules may end up getting fed into Movie Magic AI Edition for free. As writers we’re used to the DGA’s tire tracks, but this time the secretive cabal that runs that place, threw its own members under the bus. It’s like they never finished that final book report on AI, and just trotted out some big names to make Carol Lombardini pinky-swear to be cool about the whole evil robots thing.
Which means it’s up to the WGA and SAG to clean up that mess. Thankfully, SAG has been contemplating AI at least as long, if not longer, than the WGA. Their Exec Director even published an AI manifesto. They know that this is the moment where they are either put in charge of their creative souls and their profession can remain a profession, or they all become digital day players.
So its back to the picket line, chanting with one loud voice in support while our actor brethren engage in the fight of their and our collective lives.
*To be clear, I’m not slamming directors, ADs or UPMs themselves. A lot of WGA members are dual “hyphenate” members and those who aren’t want to be. A great AD is your single greatest asset in making your show happen. And UPMs make it all happen. But their union is far from the vaulted bastion of competence it claims to be. It’s more like a secret private club that occasionally indulges in labor negotiating for fun.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
