SAG actors are officially ON Strike

[Imzadi]

Studios have already used forms of AI in crowd scenes in films, saving them a fortune hiring extras, although this is hardly a recent thing. Back when Gone With The Wind was filmed, for example, for wide shots of the wounded they placed one extra between two mannequins to reduce costs. James Cameron did it with Titanic, using AI to create people walking on the ship in flyover shots. It is a proven entity.

I'm thinking the same thing. Although the technology used was still CGI, where human beings had to sit and painstakingly digitally replicate or create or manipulate everything. I think actors get compensated for their CGI likeness(?)

Two actors that had to have scenes CGI'ed after their deaths were Philip Seymour Hoffman for the latter Hunger Games movies, and Carrie Fisher who died before Star Wars 9 was finished.

Both productions, probably with the approval of the families, knew that existing footage the studios had of the actors was going to have to be CGI'ed into the rest of the films so they could complete the movies. And they could only work with what they had. It was rather evident in some scenes as the acting and dialogue were so clunky. And the two characters' parts seemed abbreviated. And in Carrie's case, I knew what would happen to Princess Leia before even stepping into the theatre as there was no way they could continue her storyline without Carrie. (The book canon may be different than the movie canon because of it. As the books are usually written first. And yes, some fans are rabid about the canon.)

A third case, the TV series The Orville, I think also used CGI after actress Lisa Banes died after she was struck by a rider on an electric scooter in a hit-and-run while she tried to cross a street in NYC. The show had a memorium dedication for her at the beginning of one episode. She had a big role. She was in that episode quite a bit walking, talking sitting on the board committee. I thought that would be her last episode. But, she appeared about four more times, just standing next to the main characters and sitting at the table of the board, but she never talked again. I think they just CGI'ed her in from previous footage they had already shot.

Once AI technology improves, the studios could write and make much better scenes and dialogue and insert more lifelike scenes wherever they want and for as long as they want.

 

[pens4821]

I mostly just watch sports and reruns. However there are some shows I enjoy (I maybe watch 1/2 movies a year but usually not). Feel bad for the people that are big into tv and movies though.

 

[mylilnikita]

I watched the press conference today and it really stood out is when Fran Drescher said “ You cannot change the business model as much as it has changed and not expect the contract to change to. “

 

[Gabby01]

There is bad writing and acting NOW. But the writers and actors have to be paid fairly for their parts in the project. A person pressing a few keystrokes takes out the necessity to have live writers and performers and pay anyone anything. The already rich and powerful movie studios want to keep whatever profits they make on their side without needing to pay out to anyone.

So even if the content is bad and the box office receipts are a lot less, they are also not having to pay out as much for all that bad content. It's STILL a win for them.

Agree with both of these points. The quality will be terrible, and the money people won’t care.

It's lame now. But, it won't stay at this level. . .

I am reminded an old movie from the 1960's called Torn Curtain in which Paul Newman played a brilliant physicist who pretended to defect to Germany during WWII. He was actually trying to get the equation to be the first one to make an atomic bomb. The U.S. had heard rumors that Germany may have already come up with the equation, so he went over to try to steal it.

Some fellow physicist said to Newman that once the equation is finally figured out, some person will HAVE to make the bomb and HAVE to push the button to see if the bomb really works and to what degree. (Forget the war part of it.) It's human nature. They will just have to. Once the knowledge to do it is in existence, they can't just leave it on paper untested. They have to know if they created a new technology and what it does.

Likewise, with cloning, once scientists were able to clone a sheep, almost all countries around the world ethically created laws against cloning a human. We hadn't gotten there yet, but we knew the cloning scientists would eventually TRY if they can. Again, it's just human nature to explore and go there. Right now, we have people cloning their dead pets, as creepy as it is, because they CAN.

AI is finally here. The AI scientists who live, eat and breathe this technology will just HAVE to see how far they can take it. They aren't going to leave it at a lame level.

Yup, ever since the atomic bomb, we “can’t afford” not to exploit all possibilities or “Russia will do it first.” It’s a nightmare.

I don’t think AI will ever be at the level of human creativity. It can’t think or feel, it can only mimic without understanding. Things like deepfakes are obviously a security threat, but in terms of entertainment, I think the real threat is a lowering of quality because “we can’t afford to hire real people anymore.”

 

[BrianL]

It's lame now. But, it won't stay at this level. . .

I am reminded an old movie from the 1960's called Torn Curtain in which Paul Newman played a brilliant physicist who pretended to defect to Germany during WWII. He was actually trying to get the equation to be the first one to make an atomic bomb. The U.S. had heard rumors that Germany may have already come up with the equation, so he went over to try to steal it.

Some fellow physicist said to Newman that once the equation is finally figured out, some person will HAVE to make the bomb and HAVE to push the button to see if the bomb really works and to what degree. (Forget the war part of it.) It's human nature. They will just have to. Once the knowledge to do it is in existence, they can't just leave it on paper untested. They have to know if they created a new technology and what it does.

Likewise, with cloning, once scientists were able to clone a sheep, almost all countries around the world ethically created laws against cloning a human. We hadn't gotten there yet, but we knew the cloning scientists would eventually TRY if they can. Again, it's just human nature to explore and go there. Right now, we have people cloning their dead pets, as creepy as it is, because they CAN.

AI is finally here. The AI scientists who live, eat and breathe this technology will just HAVE to see how far they can take it. They aren't going to leave it at a lame level.

Oh, I'm sure it will get better. I just don't think it'll be that popular by the time it does. It just feels "fad-ish" to me. Certianly it can be used for certrain things of course, I just don't think faking actors etc. will be a preferred use.

 

[NotUrsula]

Don't worry-I was wondering the same thing. I was also wondering if the actors on Broadway may be members of this union. I doubt it since there's no "Screen" involved, but you never know.

The union actors who perform live at the parks are members of Actor's Equity, which is the acting union for live theatre.

Of course, there are plenty of actors who are members of both unions, particularly the more successful ones. Equity is encouraging their members to demonstrate solidarity with the SAG-AFTRA strikers, but mostly that just means helping out on the picket lines and making supportive statements; there is no indication that stage actors also mean to strike at this time.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Gonna be a year when I pare down streaming since there won't be much worth watching after Oct/Nov (when some of my services are up for annual review)...

 

[Imzadi]

Gonna be a year when I pare down streaming since there won't be much worth watching after Oct/Nov (when some of my services are up for annual review)...

Do they give your great renewal discounts? It may be cheaper to just do some monthly renewals for a while when your annual is up, especially for the services you think you may not want long-term.

 

[nick p]

“What are we doing? Moving furniture around the Titanic?” I love Fran Drescher!!!

 

[Babs Johnson]

Don't worry-I was wondering the same thing. I was also wondering if the actors on Broadway may be members of this union. I doubt it since there's no "Screen" involved, but you never know.

No. The actors on Broadway in Disney musicals belong to a different union, Actors Equity.

But many actors who appear on Broadway are also SAG and/or AFTRA members too for their film and television work.

 

[Babs Johnson]

I didn’t know until many years later that Fran Drescher portrayed a Disco Tramp in Saturday Night Fever.