Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a subject of controversy and has moved to the forefront of labor disputes in Hollywood. And it was only a matter of time before more traditional disputes over pay models, benefits, and job security were supplanted by AI technology, which has become increasingly involved in contractual disputes. This led to the strike of actors and screenwriters unions in the US in early May 2023.
The strike was announced by the American actors’ union Sag-Aftra (which was formed in 2012 after the merger of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) after negotiations with the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers), which represents studio bosses, broke down. Sag-Aftra has about 160,000 members: actors from movies and TV shows, as well as video game performers, radio hosts, models, and YouTube influencers.
One of the main functions of the union is to negotiate with the studios: the last major agreement was signed in July 2020, although it was suspended almost immediately due to Covid. This agreement was due to expire on June 30, so negotiations began. One of the main issues seems to be residual payments, a type of payment that performers receive for repeat screenings of movies or TV shows, as well as the question of who owns an actor’s “likeness” if it is reproduced by artificial intelligence (AI). Sag-Aftra negotiators are demanding royalties based in part on the viewing levels of streaming services, but the studios, which include Netflix, Amazon, and Disney, are unwilling to share this information.
Why has AI become a hot topic?
With the emergence of technology that allows you to create without creators, star actors fear that they will lose control over their lucrative “copies”. Unknown actors fear that they will be replaced altogether. Writers are afraid that they will have to share their royalties and success with machines or lose their credibility.
The latest versions of technology have already penetrated almost all areas of film production: to rejuvenate actors such as Harrison Ford in the latest Indiana Jones movie or Mark Hamill in Mandalorian, or to create abstract animated images of Samuel L. Jackson and a swirl of multiple aliens in the introduction to Secret Invasion on Disney+, as well as to provide recommendations on Netflix.
During the strike, all parties recognize that the use of technology even more widely is inevitable. That is why everyone is now seeking to establish legal and creative control over AI issues.
The legal position of actors
The discussion of the AI issue between the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents employers, has moved from theoretical to a fierce struggle that became public when the actors’ strike began on July 13, 2023.
In the description of the demands, which was widely circulated by outraged actors on social media, SAG-AFTRA published the following characterization of the studios’ position on AI, which AMPTP called a deliberate distortion:
“We want to be able to scan an image of a background performer, pay them for half a day’s work, and then use that person’s likeness forever for any purpose without their consent,” the union said.
“We also want to be able to make changes to the dialogues of the lead actors and even create new scenes without informed consent. And we want to be able to use someone’s images, likenesses, and performances to train new generative artificial intelligence systems without consent or compensation.”
In its statement in response, the AMPTP noted that its proposals include “an AI proposal that protects the digital likeness of performers, including requiring performers to consent to the creation and use of digital copies or rights to digital alterations of a performance.”
SAG-AFTRA used similar language in describing its requirements and emphasizing the need to protect “human-created works,” including changes to an actor’s “voice, appearance, or performance.”
Legal position of screenwriters
In contract negotiations with screenwriters that broke down in early May 2023, the Writers Guild of America said it would allow the use of AI, but only if AI was a tool that screenwriters would use in their own work. Screenwriters would potentially be willing to create stories with AI software, but they don’t want it to affect the credibility of screenwriters, which is important to their prestige and pay.
The guild wants to prevent raw, AI-generated storylines or dialog from being considered “literary material,” a term in their contracts for screenplays and other story forms that a screenwriter creates. This means they won’t be competing with computers for authorship – or for an Oscar for an original screenplay. Screenwriters also don’t want these storylines or dialogues to be considered “source material”-their contractual language for novels, video games, or other works that screenwriters can turn into screenplays.
The AMPTP’s position paper states that writers “want to be able to use this technology as part of their creative process without changing the way authorship is determined, which is a difficult task because AI material cannot be copyrighted.”
The studios also emphasized that previous copyright contracts established that any “corporate or impersonal provider” of literary material is not a screenwriter. “Only a ‘human being’ can be considered a screenwriter,” the AMPTP said. “Material created by AI cannot be credited as copyrighted material.”
Modern screenwriting contracts and the distribution of copyright remuneration are a real mess, and the guild often has to intervene to sort it out. Detailed legal wording is pulled out to determine whose name comes before the word “written,” whose name comes before the word “story,” or whose name follows the word “from characters created.” The involvement of AI threatens to turn each of these terms into an even more confusing thicket.
What did everyone agree on?
After a 148-day strike, Hollywood screenwriters have won significant safeguards against the use of AI in one of the first major labor battles against generative AI in the workplace. During the nearly five-month strike, no issue has been more resonant than the use of AI in screenwriting.
Almost all members of the Writers Guild of America (99%) voted in October 2023 to ratify a tentative agreement that requires studios and production companies to notify writers that any material they provide was partially or fully generated by AI. But most importantly, AI cannot be the author of a script. AI cannot write or rewrite “literary material,” and texts created by AI cannot be source material.
“The material created by AI cannot be used to undermine the reputation or individual rights of the screenwriter,” the proposed agreement says.
The tentative agreement between the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates on behalf of the studios, does not prohibit all uses of AI. Both parties recognized that AI can be a useful tool in many aspects of film production, including scriptwriting. The agreement stipulates that screenwriters will be able to use AI if the company agrees. However, the company cannot require a screenwriter to use AI software.
The issue of concluding a corresponding agreement with the Actors’ Guild remains open.
“Now it’s time for the AMPTP to get the rest of the city back to work by striking a fair deal with our brothers and sisters at SAG-AFTRA, who have stood by screenwriters throughout our negotiations,” said Screenwriters Guild President Lisa Takeuchi Cullen. “Until the studios reach a deal that meets the needs of actors, WGA members will stand on the picket lines, side by side with SAG-AFTRA, in solidarity.”
The impact of strikes on the film industry
Hollywood has come to a virtual standstill due to the strikes, which have already affected the production of movies, television programs, and podcasts. During the strike by actors and screenwriters, some projects were stopped and frozen. The filming of the remake of Fritz Lang’s classic 1927 sci-fi film Metropolis for Apple TV+ was canceled. The strike halted the production of a number of series, including Stranger Things, Abbott Elementary, Cobra Kai, and others. Disney has also officially postponed the release of the next installments of Avatar, Star Wars, and most Marvel movies. The strike also affected the Emmy Awards, which were officially postponed to January 2024.
Obviously, the preliminary arrangements that will now be set out in the agreement between the two guilds and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are only the beginning of the labor disputes and litigation that will inevitably follow around the world. But this is the price of change dictated by modern technology, which has become so firmly entrenched in everyone’s everyday life.
If you have any questions about the peculiarities of using AI in your work or the issue of infringement of your voice/images/intellectual property by third parties using AI, we will be happy to help you understand and find ways out of legal conflicts.
actors / artificial intelligence / copyright / hollywood / intellectual property / screenwriters / strike
