Unions: 1, Studios: 0, Empty Words and Gestures, and Hyperbole on Steroids

Everyone who works for a living has had to contend with the fact that automation may eliminate his job. Apparently, actors ought to be immune to that reality – or so they believe.

Jul 27, 2023

It would appear that leaving things well enough alone is more productive than monitoring the wire for any news that might contain material that screams to be mocked and ridiculed.

Today, there was a most unlikely source – The New York Post, one of Rupert Murdoch’s blood-stained rags.

You can’t win ‘em all…unless you win the first one.

How you like me now, Universal Studios?

Universal Pictures has been slapped with a $250 fine for trimming trees that had provided shade to WGA workers striking in the Southern California heat, according to city officials.
Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia revealed on Wednesday that the city did not grant the necessary permits to trim the Ficus trees outside of Universal’s Gate 8. On Friday, he confirmed that the studios were issued a $250 citation — the most the city could demand in the situation.

Universal should consider itself lucky, I guess – if the fine could have been more, it probably would have been.

‘StreetsLA fines all first-time offenders – regardless of # of trees at issue – a $250 penalty. If violations continue, the fines can grow to $1,000,’ he posted in a lengthy Twitter thread. ‘If trees are found to be significantly damaged, StreetsLA can require the offenders plant two trees per damaged tree.’

No one is above the law!

Talk is cheap – and empty gestures like public solidarity pledges cost absolutely nothing.

Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence and Rami Malek all signed a June letter telling union leadership they were prepared to strike, but none of them have surfaced holding signs or chanting at studio gates. Leonardo DiCaprio posted an Instagram story saying he stood ‘in solidarity with my guild,’ but has yet to stand for any in-person protest.

Yeah, but no one really meant it – it was great theater, at the time – everyone felt good about the symbolism.

On day one of the actor’s strike in mid-July, one protester straddled a median at the drive-on gate at Netflix headquarters holding a sign that read, ‘Where the fuck is Ben Affleck?’ So far, no one’s seen him on the front lines.

Yeah, where is Ben Affleck?

These names join dozens of others that come to mind (Denzel Washington, Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, a recently un-retired Cameron Diaz) when one thinks about star power. ‘Plus,’ one picketer recently said, noting the deep influence stars wield with global media, ‘the cameras follow them everywhere.’

The A-list pledges don’t have to worry about being held to account, though. In a twist on Stockholm Syndrome, a more anonymous member of SAG-AFTRA offered:

‘It’s not necessarily to our advantage for the people who are the most successful, wealthy and visible to be taking up space right now,’ said another entrenched SAG-AFTRA member. ‘We already have a perception problem where people say, “These are just a bunch of rich actors.” Those stars don’t work for scale pay; they don’t need the protection of a better contract. If Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston show up, they look like they’re crying poor.’

They really need to get their stories straight.

Why, just last week Jane Fonda’s remarks seemed to indicate that union is union, and that with this work stoppage, they were landing a blow for all unions, everywhere.

‘The real place the A-listers can help is donating to relief funds and lobbying the studio heads behind the scenes,’ one agent said. To that end, Dwayne Johnson1 made a seven-figure donation on Monday to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, which provides financial aid for members who can demonstrate hardship caused by work stoppage from the strike. Similarly, Jamie Lee Curtis2 and husband Christopher Guest3 put up $25,000 last week for the same cause.

Kudos, however, to three of the top earners for putting their money where their mouths are, so to speak. Let’s be honest though…Nigel Tufnel and his wife, Laurie/Ophelia’s donation amounted to .0002% of their combined net worth – way to help ‘til it hurts, snowflakes.

More than 350 publicists representing the biggest stars in Hollywood grilled SAG-AFTRA leadership on Tuesday. The wide-ranging Zoom Q&A covered topics like, how are small talent PR firms expected to survive when clients are forbidden to do press?

Well, if you lose the support of the publicists…

I don’t know what that means, if anything.

…things took a turn when one publicist asked Crabtree-Ireland about the damaging financial impact the strike would have on the personal publicity sector.

In Ireland’s defense, just what do the publicists expect him to do?

After receiving a similar question, he told the publicists to take it up with the producers his union is battling with for a better contract. ‘I would say AMPTP bears the responsibility,’ said Crabtree-Ireland.

In other words, it’s not his problem.

That fear is one of the flash points of the SAG-AFTRA strike. Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s chief negotiator, has warned that studios want to scan background actors and then use artificial intelligence to place those actors in other projects ‘for the rest of eternity’ without consent.

That seems like a legitimate concern.

I suppose one solution would be that the actor receive a royalty each time his/her image is used, much like a performer, or a songwriter receives a royalty each time one of their records is played, or their song is covered by a performer. Of course, eventually, the negotiated amount will become unacceptable, and what then?

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers says that’s not true.

Yeah, right! The technology to do that may be crude, and not commercially viable now, but that won’t be the case forever. Nope – I’m calling BS on the studios.

As AI technology improves, background actors could be the first thrown out of work — the canary in the coal mine for the entire profession.
‘When it comes to the wheeling and dealing, you’re on the low end of the totem pole,’ he said. ‘Now with this whole thing with AI, it’s even worse.’
[Gene Poe, the last president of SEG] said he ‘totally’ supports the strike, and urges the union to take a hard line on the AI issue.
‘If not, there won’t be any extra work 10 years from now,’ he said. ‘It won’t exist.’

Not ten – it could be as early as five.

Yes, they’re all, ‘Actors,’ and prone to the overly dramatic, but while their rousing speeches allow them to feel as though they are important, and doing their part, it really just reveals them to be…tiresome.

Bryan Cranston4:

“…we ask you to hear us, and beyond that to listen to us when we tell you we will not be having our jobs taken away and given to robots. We will not have you take away our right to work and earn a decent living. And lastly, and most importantly, we will not allow you to take away our dignity!”

Hey, Walter! Just what the hell makes you and your fellow thespians so damn special that you should be spared that which has been the fate of much of the rest of America? Especially those guys who built Ford Trucks in St. Paul, Minnesota; Chrysler Le Barons in Belvedere, Illinois; Chevrolet SUVs in Lake Orion, Michigan?

Or any steelworker in Pittsburgh, Allentown, Gary, or Cleveland?

I’m guessing you must think all of you actors and actresses are better than they were.

Christine Baranski5:

‘We will not live under corporate feudalism…’

Huh? What the hell is, “corporate feudalism?” Whatever it is, Beverly Hofstadter, PhD. doesn’t have to worry, even with a measly $14MM net worth.

Like I said – tiresome.

That’s all for today, dear reader. Your indulgence is most appreciated.

Until next time…

Cultural Orphan

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