The Writers Guild of America, the union that bargains on behalf of Hollywood screenwriters, has it called strike After negotiations with major studios failed to reach a positive contract this week. The strike, a first for the WGA in 15 years, seeks to bring companies to the negotiating table on a range of issues, including higher wages and better working conditions. But some cases are completely unique to the annals of modern labor disputes and relate to technological changes currently disrupting the entertainment industry – such as the role of artificial intelligence. You may play in future screenwriting projects.
“Although our negotiating committee initiated this process with the goal of achieving a fair deal, studio responses have been wholly inadequate given the existential crisis the writers face,” WGA chirp late Monday evening. The strike will start tomorrow afternoon.
negotiations between WGA and Motion Picture and Television Producers Alliance— the commercial organization representing film and streaming studios in contract negotiations — had been ongoing for the past month, but the deadline for a new contract was midnight on Tuesday. in that Special statementAMPTP claimed that it had made a “comprehensive package offer” to the union and that it was willing to “improve this offer” but claimed that the “scale of other proposals” made by the union was untenable.
“AMPTP member companies remain united in their desire to strike a deal that is mutually beneficial to writers and the health and continuity of the industry,” said the organization, which represents the likes of Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon, Sony and others. entertainment giants.
It’s unclear how long this action can last, but until it ends, large parts of Hollywood will be on pause. Roughly 12,000 writers are likely to join the picket lines in the coming days, which means major disruptions to TV and streaming franchises as workers and management wind down. A variety of issues spur contentious negotiations, including artificial intelligence and what the WGA has called the creation of a “gig economy” due to pressures from the broadcasting industry. Here’s some of what’s going on.
The role of artificial intelligence in negotiations
One of the most interesting areas of contention in the current negotiations is the role that artificial intelligence should or should not play in a Hollywood writer’s rooms. In case you missed it, new forms of automation They are currently sweeping through the entertainment industry – leaving many creators worried about how these shifts might displace or change their roles. From deepfakes to AI-generated voices to script writingThe new tools seem poised to disrupt business in major ways. Some industry figures you have a suggestion that TV shows and movies could soon be largely scripted—a development that forced the WGA to issue a response.
To protect its members, the WGA has sought to put in place distinct sandboxes for the use of AI, making these content creation tools less of an active threat to writers’ livelihoods.
- The union’s suggestion is that AI should not be used as “source material” for contract-covered writing, nor can it be used to rewrite contract-covered work. At the same time, AI-generated text “should not be considered in determining written credits,” the WGA said — meaning, essentially, that AI cannot be considered for the author of a given script.
- Artificial intelligence should, too Not used to generate “Literary Material” – defined as basically any creative content, including screenplays, sketches, teleplays and other related materials.
In short: The WGA does not want AI products to be considered “writers”, nor does it want them to be used to create original material for developing TV shows and movies.
Does the WGA favor any use of AI in the creative process? As it turns out, yes.
The union surprised many people when revealed In March he did not necessarily favor a blanket ban on the use of artificial intelligence. Instead, the union has stated that the rules outlined above are designed to protect against companies that use artificial intelligence to “undermine the standards of writers’ work, including compensation, residuals, rights, and separate credits.” The WGA suggested that AI could potentially be used as a tool in a writer’s room – and that writers could use it as a reference point for more creative work. “In the same way that a studio might point to a Wikipedia article, or other research material, and ask the writer to refer to it, they can make the writer aware of AI-generated content,” WGA previously wrote. “But, like all research material, it has no role in the syndicated work, nor in the chain of ownership in intellectual property. It is important to note that the AI program does not create anything. It generates feedback from what it is fed.”
Obviously, this is a conversation that’s still evolving but the short version of the story is that the WGA doesn’t want it AI play major role in Hollywood Writer’s Room.
Other issues at play
AI may be the most unique issue WGA workers ignore, but the majority of their grievances are typical. Most of them have to do with better wages.
Simply put, the entertainment industry’s restructuring around broadcasting has created problems for the writing profession. Since the appearance of the writer’s television programming Always considered king of content. But the glut of shows and the rise of Netflix and other streaming platforms mean that writers – once the best in the world – aren’t seeing the same returns as they once did. Previous forms of income for writers—such as syndication—don’t apply in the broadcast world, and studios populate writers with smaller rooms and pay less entry. The WGA argues that streaming has made studios a lot of money, but most of that money hasn’t flowed to the people who run the stories that generate that money.
“The companies’ behavior has created a labor-based economy within the unionized workforce, and their steadfast stance in these negotiations has demonstrated a commitment to further devaluing the writing profession,” the union said Monday. From their refusal to guarantee any level of weekly employment in episodic television, to the creation of a “daily rate” in variety comedy, to their stalling on free labor for screenwriters and on artificial intelligence for all writers, they have closed the door on their workforce and opened the door on writing as a profession. Completely independent. Such a deal could never have been contemplated by this membership.”