Hollywood strike of 2023: AI is at the heart of the conflict

**Author: Deng Peishan, **TRI light author; **Wang Huanchao, **Tencent Research Institute

Image source: Generated by Unbounded AI tool

The "Hollywood Strike", which the whole world is paying attention to, is still going on.

This strike action, which started on May 2, 2023, is the largest in Hollywood history. Nearly two months have passed, not only has there been no extinguishing trend, but it has intensified-from the initial participation of 11,000 screenwriters, it has gradually been involved in multiple cast and crew unions including directors and actors. Many popular programs and series were suspended and filmed, and the entire American film and television industry fell into chaos.

Thousands of Writers Guild members marched through Pan Pacific Park in Fairfax, Virginia, on June 21, the latest in the ongoing strike action.

A "pre-publicity" strike action

The reason for this strike, simply put, is that the WGA, the union to which screenwriters belong, failed to reach an agreement on a new round of contracts with AMPTP, which represents several major Hollywood studios. of America), which is the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Back in April, the 11,500 Writers Guild of America members voted overwhelmingly to go on strike if new contracts were not signed. As a result, after the old contract expired on May 1, there was no news of the new contract, and the strike began the next day. Because the main participants are Hollywood screenwriters and actors, this strike action is called the "Hollywood Strike".

The focus of the two parties' failure to reach an agreement is the salary increase agreement. The WGA requested a total salary increase of close to $600 million for the screenwriting staff, but the AMPTP rejected the request. The camp behind AMPTP includes large companies and film and television platforms such as Amazon, Disney, Universal Pictures, Paramount and Apple.

There have been many strikes in Hollywood history, and each strike has had a huge impact on the American film and television industry. The last screenwriter strike of the same scale occurred in 2007, lasted 100 days, and caused more than 3 billion US dollars in economic losses in California alone. Many programs including "Grey's Anatomy" and "Breaking Bad" Affected, canceled or delayed.

This strike is no exception. In addition to "Jimmy Fallon Tonight Show" and "Saturday Night Live" and other nightly talk shows, according to the statistics of "Washington Post", more than 20 film and television series or projects have been affected. , including the ongoing final season of "Stranger Things," sequels to "Avatar" and "Star Wars," "Game of Thrones" spinoff "Knights of the Seven Kingdoms," and more. [1] Without a writer, these episodes could not continue filming, and some nightly shows were temporarily reruns of old shows.

Due to the spillover effect of the strike, industries related to film and television have also been affected. Practitioners including prop production companies, equipment companies, transport drivers, and even catering staff on the shooting site may lose their jobs.

But the strike is not necessarily completely without positive effects. The 2007 screenwriter strike promoted the rise of reality TV shows that rely less on scripts, such as "Keeping Up with the Kardashians", which has become a global hit, is the product of this strike.

In addition to screenwriters, Hollywood actors and directors are also negotiating a new round of contracts with AMPTP. SAG-AFTRA, the union representing 160,000 film and TV actors, is negotiating with AMPTP over a contract that expires on June 30. Union members voted overwhelmingly (98 percent) to authorize union leaders to also strike like a screenwriter if a new contract cannot be agreed by June 30.

The actors' strike will lead to a broader shutdown in Hollywood, with contract negotiations already underway on June 7. The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has reached an agreement with AMPTP, including increasing salary (12.5% salary increase within 3 years) and welfare benefits, increasing streaming media content sharing, and preventing artificial intelligence abuse, etc.

It is worth mentioning that during the strike action in 2007, the DGA took the lead in negotiating the contract, and the screenwriters were forced to agree to similar conditions and ended the strike hastily.

But judging from the current trend, the plot will not repeat itself, and the screenwriters don't seem to intend to compromise this time.

Streaming media era, new labor conflict

Median weekly wages for writer-producers have fallen by 23 percent over the past decade, according to a previous WGA report. Meanwhile, nearly half (49%) of U.S. screenwriters are paid the minimum wage, a mere 16% increase from 10 years ago. [2]

It sounds incredible. After all, the past ten years have also been the decade in which streaming media platforms have developed rapidly and conquered cities. Netflix has created data miracles one after another, and has occupied half of Hollywood. A large number of episodes have been developed, filmed, and broadcast, creating huge profits. Correspondingly, production investment has also increased. But screenwriters earn considerably less, and have been shrinking.

This has to mention the impact of streaming media platforms on traditional production models, and the resulting decline in screenwriter income.

In the traditional model of film and TV production, screenwriters are hired to write scripts, then receive an advance payment and receive a final payment when the show is rerun. A play will probably employ 7-12 screenwriters, who gather in the writer's room (screenwriter's room) and spend about 20 weeks writing a complete script.

But in the era of streaming media, the writer's room has become a mini room (mini screenwriter's room). Producers often ask screenwriters to complete an outline, or script for a pilot episode, first. Subsequent script production may have nothing to do with the screenwriter—either the entire project will be stopped due to the lack of reception of the pilot episode, or the production company will hire a lower-cost junior writer to complete the rest of the script according to the outline. From the perspective of the production side, this model costs less, but for screenwriters, it means lower salary income and insecure work.

Even with the chance to write a full season, writers are getting paid less than they used to. The reason is that due to the broadcast nature of streaming platforms, episodes tend to be short and have fewer episodes. Generally speaking, the number of episodes of traditional American dramas is about 20 episodes, but streaming media dramas generally have 6-8 episodes. At the same time, the production pace of scripts is also faster. In the traditional mode, the work of screenwriters often lasts 6-9 months, while streaming media shortens the production time to a few weeks. On the one hand, this means great work pressure, on the other hand, it means that the basic benefits of screenwriters cannot be guaranteed. Because the actual working hours are reduced, and the producers only provide benefits when the writers work for them.

**As screenwriter Ellie Edelson puts it, the screenwriting industry is changing from a stable middle-class life to a very precarious one, almost a gig economy. **

According to WGA statistics, the lowest weekly salary for screenwriters is only $4,546. While this may not sound like a small number, remember that screenwriters do not receive fixed salaries, and they only work for a limited period of the year. Chris Keyser, co-chair of the WGA negotiating committee, said: "We have not chosen to get to where we are today, but because the big studios have clamped down on writers' wages and working conditions, pushing us to the edge of existence." [3]

The WGA is also pushing for other improvements, such as pushing for higher residual compensation and calling for an industry standard for the number of writers per show. In an effort to prevent producers from hiring non-union writers to write scripts to disrupt the strike, the WGA said writers who worked for producers during this time would be ineligible to join the union.

It is worth mentioning that many screenwriters are also threatening that if the new agreement cannot be reached for a long time, they will spoil the already written plot.

AI generated content to be the focus of this strike

In addition to the impact of streaming media platforms, AI, especially AIGC (artificial intelligence generated content) has also become the core of this conflict.

ChatGPT, which has received more and more attention since the beginning of 2023, has affected Hollywood and even the entire film and television industry. Marvel's latest film and television drama "Secret Invasion" has already used AI in the production process to generate the opening subtitles, which has been controversial.

For screenwriters, the already meager benefits can no longer withstand the impact of AI job replacement. At the same time, existing scripts account for a large part of the AI training database. This is equivalent to AI stealing the fruits of the screenwriter's labor, but does not need to pay any compensation. Therefore, the various requirements for AI have become the core of the multi-subjects in this strike.

During the negotiation process, the screenwriter union WGA requested that AI not be allowed to obtain signatures, and that it could not require screenwriters to modify the content written by AI, because this would also significantly reduce working hours. At the same time, without permission, the producer cannot use the scripts of union members for AI training. Negotiations between the directors' union and the actors' union also focused on this point. The former demanded confirmation that AI cannot replace members of the directors' union to perform their duties, while the latter stated that it is prohibited to use actors' portraits for artificial intelligence training without permission.

Hollywood's attitude towards AI has always been vague. Some actors allow AI to clone their voices after they die, such as James Earl Jones, the voice actor for Darth Vader in the Star Wars series. But in the wider film and television industry, the impact of technology needs to be viewed from a broader perspective in order to avoid infringing on the interests of different groups.

It is difficult to predict when the strike will end. The WGA's strike in 1988 lasted 153 days. The strike in 2007 lasted from November to February of the following year before the two sides reached an agreement. It is worth mentioning that these two strikes were also due to the emergence of new technologies, the first was video tapes, the second was DVDs, and this time it was AI.

**As Brian Arthur concludes in The Nature of Technology, the economy responds to the emergence of new bodies of technology that alter activity patterns, industry composition, and institutional arrangements, that is, the economy responds to Change its own structure due to new technological bodies. **New technologies disrupt the old pattern, and will naturally bring new problems and new conflicts, which will be an eternal topic. Whatever the outcome, the outcome of this negotiation will, like the previous two, change the industry forever.

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