Bringing Out the Noise: Breaking a Bound on A-Listers’ Benefits at the New York Public Radio News Producing (NPR News)
Ailsa, we are under a different contract, so I should remind you that NPR News staffers are also members of the same union. We were not on strike. We’ve been working for the whole time. Now you guys get to work as well. I’d like to know what the breakthrough that led to this deal was.
WGA negotiators were so confident the writers would approve the deal, they ended their strike on September 27, and allowed writers to resume working before they ratified their contract. Many of them continued to support the actors on the picket lines.
“In a contract valued at over one billion dollars,” it continued, “we have achieved a deal… that includes “above-pattern” minimum compensation increases, unprecedented provisions for consent and compensation that will protect members from the threat of AI, and for the first time establishes a streaming participation bonus.” There will be more information in the coming days.
It‘s not clear yet if that proposal made it into the final deal. In the last weeks of the strike, several A-listers, including George Clooney and Ben Affleck, tried to end it. They suggested high paid actors give $150 million to the performers to pay for their benefits — an idea Drescher and the union lawyers quickly shot down. She said only employers can pay for workers benefits and that it was apples and oranges. She said the gesture was appreciated.
According to reports, the final sticking point for performers was protections against artificial intelligence being used by the studios and streamers; they want control over their likeness on screen so they don’t get replicated without their permission or compensation. Studios have asked background actors to have their bodies scanned so they can be copied and pasted into crowd scenes without having to hire more actors.
AMPTP, Fox Studios and the WGA: What’s Happening When the Writers Acceded to a Movie?
“We made a last and final offer, which met virtually all of the union’s goals and includes the highest wage increase in 40 years and believe it provides for a positive outcome for all involved,” he said during the company’s third quarter earnings call. “We want to have both sides feel valued and rewarded, so we look forward to both of them getting back to telling good stories.”
Many of the demands were similar to those made by members of the Writers Guild of America, which began its strike in May. The writers finally had a deal with the studios and streamers almost five months later. Writers were able to get higher residuals, for example, when shows were successful, if they were transparent about their viewership data. And the AMPTP agreed to language protecting writers from the use of AI in the writing process, giving them credit for their work and allowing writers to determine if their writing can be used to train AI.
Since 1984, I’ve been a working class actress and I’ve made a living doing this. I’m not married and I’m a single mom. I was able to make a living until the last couple of years, when the streamers kind of came into the picture.
“We’re super grateful, especially to the WGA members who came out with us even after they got their deal,” said actor Margarita Franco, on the picket line outside Fox Studios on Wednesday. It’s been a difficult thing to do. A lot of people are struggling with their finances. I have been an acting teacher since 1984 and have made a living doing this. I’m a single mom. I was able to make a living until the last couple of years, when the streamers kind of came into the picture. And then I had to get like two to three side hustles. People are tired of not making enough money to survive and that’s the reason for this labor movement.
The studio executives initially appeared unwilling to compromise in the negotiations. Meanwhile, actors and writers complained about not being able to make livable wages and said they wanted to share in some of the profits. After Disney CEO Bob Iger went on TV saying the writers were “not being realistic” in their demands, SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher called him an “ignoramus.”
Ted Sarandos said the studios and streamers wanted to end the strike quickly. He said they broke away from the negotiations because of a proposal by the union that was too far. The union had asked streamers to redistribute the wealth by paying performers 57 cents per subscription every year.
Now that writers are back in business, late night and daytime talk shows are back on the air, as is Saturday Night Live. Some showrunners have gotten back their overall deals, and many hope there will be new scripted TV shows next season. Once SAG-AFTRA members approve this new contract, production in TV and movies could resume, meaning all those other people in front of and behind the scenes will be working once again.
Another strike captain, Chelsea Schwartz, said she’s looking forward to back to work, but she said “How do you go from being so angry at these people to being, like ‘ We’re the best of buds now, working together on set. We forgive you, but you do not forget.
So far, studio heads have not responded to NPR’s request for interviews. In a statement, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers called the tentative agreement “a new paradigm” and said it “looks forward to the industry resuming the work of telling great stories.”
Fran Drescher is a person. From when the AMPTP decided to either walk out or take time, we were making strides, but then we got the counter proposal from them. The time was usually productive. They fully grasped the idea that this is a new dawn, that this is a historic time and that we need to have a seminal negotiation.
Chang: Let me talk about that new dawn, as you refer. Do you think the protections for artificial intelligence in this contract are broad enough to keep up with this quickly-evolving technology? Do you think it’s going to be necessary for Fran to have to negotiate the issue of the artificial intelligence again in three years when the contract ends?
Drescher said they had to come together on the same side to protect both of them from piracy and federal regulation. So, you know, there is a lot there that we have to really start working together on. The contract protects my members. And in three years, it may be a whole different situation with new problems that need to be unpacked and discussed and argued and negotiated. And I think it’s going to be this way for a very long time. And that’s OK.
The bonus for streaming participation. You had to work really hard to get the AMPTP to agree to the bonus, which means that actors will get paid more if a show is a hit. There is a lot of shows that are not hits on streaming platforms. Less than 5% of original programs on the video service last year would likely lead to performance bonuses, according to a new report. What do you think about that?
Chang: Correct. You’re saying that if a particular show gets 20% of the platform’s subscribers to be an audience that’s considered a hit, and then a fund gets some of the bonus, if you will.