2023-07-19 20:30:00
Posted on Jul 19, 2023 at 10:29 p.m.Updated on Jul 19, 2023 at 10:30 p.m.
The actors join the fight of the screenwriters once morest the studios. The powerful SAG-AFTRA union, which represents more than 150,000 people, gave the strike signal on 13 July. Since that date, filming has been interrupted for lack of actors. Actors picket outside studio offices in Hollywood despite the heat.
On social networks, they evoke working conditions that have deteriorated since the rise of streaming. And in particular the reduction in residual rights, these sums of money that actors and screenwriters receive when the film or series on which they have worked is reused on another medium.
three cents
“Generally, residual rights aren’t what they used to be,” Marqui Jackson, a showrunner, told Deadline. “You can no longer count on them at all to live between two projects. It’s just a little pocket money, because the sums are sometimes as low as two dollars.
This is even the case of actors who have worked in successful series. Sarah Sokolovic, who starred in Big Little Lies and Homeland, says that “the money I get for residual rights dropped by half between 2015 and 2018. And the amazing thing is that I was in two shows that have won Emmys.”
“At one time, I was traveling abroad, and I asked my mother to receive the mail for me. […] She opens a check and she says to me: ‘Sarah, it’s three cents.’ I told her yes, and she told me that it cost more than that to send the check. Other actors have shared photos on Twitter showing transfers that cost pennies.
shorter seasons
The decline in residual rights is not the only problem for actors. Streamed series also tend to have shorter seasons, with fewer episodes. This means that actors and scriptwriters are employed for only a few weeks, instead of being employed for several months. The series are multiplying, but they have fewer seasons than in the past.
And the salaries themselves are too low to live on, especially in a city as expensive as Los Angeles. “I had a conversation yesterday on the picket line with an actor who is a regular on a Netflix series and makes $5,000 an episode. That’s 50,000 a year. If we deduct 25% for entertainment expenses [agent, manager], that’s $37,500 a year not including taxes. That’s half a living wage for Los Angeles. The series requires them to live in Los Angeles,” said Carina Adly MacKenzie, a screenwriter, on Twitter.
Actors are also worried regarding advances in artificial intelligence, which might allow studios to replace them with virtual images. “On AI, the studios offered to scan the bodies of extras, pay them for a day, and companies might use their image for all eternity on any project, without consent and without compensation, chokes Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, who was negotiating on behalf of the actors.
Studio Difficulties
Studios, meanwhile, are complaining because the streaming boom has eroded their margins. “It’s the worst time in the world” to strike, Disney boss Bob Iger told CNBC. The demands of the unions representing screenwriters and actors are “unrealistic”, according to him. Unions and actors are indignant regarding the remuneration of the big bosses in the sector, which reach several tens of millions of dollars a year.
Disney is one of the first studios to invest in streaming, seen as the future of the industry. But these investments are expensive and generally yield less than television and cinema. Disney’s streaming division announced in November that it had lost $4 billion in one year. This news precipitated the downfall of former CEO Bob Chapek. In the last quarter, these losses amounted to $650 million.
Sport and reality TV
In the long term, the strike might have a catastrophic effect on the studios. “If the strike continues this fall, that’s when we’ll start to see a real impact,” Paul Verna, analyst at Insider Intelligence. For now, there are still movies and TV series that are in production. And TV channels are going to show more sports and reality TV. »
The absence of actors for the promotion of films and series already shot might also be felt. “Without promotion, it’s difficult to bring viewers back to theaters,” adds the latter. The studios had planned to promote new films, including the highly anticipated Barbie and Oppenheimer. The Emmys ceremony, at the end of September, might also be canceled.
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