Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
A SAG-AFTRA picket line in Los Angeles, July 2023, one of many that took place during the strike.
By Max Rhoads ’25
Opinion Editor
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists strike recently came to an end after 118 days, with actors celebrating the prospect of returning to work. The union came to a historic deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, with the largest increase in minimum wage in 40 years, according to The Washington Post. However, because the deal is so new, it remains to be seen if it will be honored and if actual change will occur in the industry.
SAG-AFTRA is mostly comprised of lesser-known actors and actors who do background work, and the deal promises to increase pay for these actors as well. Figuring out an approach to artificial intelligence in projects proved to be the most difficult, as the longer the strike lasted, the more determined studio executives were to find ways to replace their workers — including through AI. Even if their workers were actively striking, executives believed they could take the material they had of existing actors and use it in future work with AI technology.
The deal marks the end of the first simultaneous strike of the two unions since 1960. This time, though, there was much more at stake — the main one being the issue of AI and reproducing actors’ likenesses and voices without their consent. An actor’s work is very important to them and reflects how they will be remembered for generations to come. Reproducing their likeness is tantamount to identity theft.
The acting business has always been a cutthroat one, and in this current age, it is even more so. While well-known lead actors are often well-compensated, the reality for most actors is that they have to work other jobs on top of the acting roles they book. Within the streaming model, which is designed to produce content as quickly as possible, they are often overworked and underpaid. Residuals are less for streaming as well, and 80% of SAG-AFTRA members make less than $27,000 a year, with studio executives making as much as $100 million a year, The Washington Post reported. This is how it works under capitalism: The rich get richer while the poor get poorer.
In the years post-COVID-19, we have already seen studios and streaming services take cost-cutting measures at the expense of writers and actors. Paying writers and actors less was one example, and raising subscription prices was another. Ultimately, we live in a capitalist culture that prioritizes the interests of corporations over those of living, breathing people. Even though Hollywood is no longer on strike, many major productions have been delayed, and there are fewer new releases this year. This will lead studios to lose money, which could make them desperate enough to take further cost-cutting measures at the expense of the workers. The fact that they were so willing to replace the work of actors with artificial intelligence shows where their interests really lie: profit.
Both strikes are over, but it is clear that the industry will not be the same again. The strikes and the COVID-19 pandemic have changed the industry forever. Relations between actors and studios are still contentious, and streaming services have become so ubiquitous that they compete with each other while workers are caught in the fray. Although studios have almost always put profit above their workers, the streaming era has maximized this tendency. Time will tell how the entertainment industry will recover from the strikes and what it will look like going forward. Hopefully, it will be one that listens to and respects the people that make it possible.