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HOLLYWOOD ACTORS OVERWHELMINGLY ratified a new, hard-fought deal with studios that paves the way for a rebound of an entertainment industry that had seen film and television production come to a halt during a months-long strike.
The Screen Actors Guild, known as SAG-AFTRA, said 78 percent of members who voted approved the multiyear contract.
“This is a golden age for SAG-AFTRA, and our union has never been more powerful,” union president Fran Drescher said in a statement.
The deal includes more than $1 billion in new compensation and benefits as well as protections for actors from the use of artificial intelligence by studios, the union said.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents Netflix Inc., Walt Disney and other studios, hailed the union contract ratification.
“With this vote, the industry and the jobs it supports will be able to return in full force,” the AMPTP said in a statement.
Voting ended at 5:00 pm on the US West Coast (0100 Wednesday GMT), with a simple majority of members required to finally seal the agreement.
The union said 38 percent of its members cast votes.
The tentative deal between SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood studios to end the actors’ 118-day strike was agreed last month, and actors had gone back to work before the ratification vote.
The proposed contract contained higher pay, better bonuses for starring in hit shows or films, and the first-ever protections against the use of artificial intelligence to replace human actors.
It was ratified by the union’s leadership two days later, though not unanimously.
Union leaders have since held meetings and sent out emails and social media posts to members, strongly urging them to approve the deal.
“Today is the day,” said SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, before the release of the voting results.
“This is a big $1 billion deal with a lot of really important gains in areas like AI, minimums, streaming money,” he said. “It’s a deal that I’m really proud of.”
- Shortcomings? -
The vote outcome was not assured, and as details of the agreement emerged in recent weeks, warnings began to circulate online about its shortcomings, particularly over the issue of AI.
Performers feared they could soon be replaced by entirely synthetic “actors,” generated by AI using the body parts of many different humans, whose likenesses have been scraped from film archives.
The deal does not prevent studios from using generative AI, but it has a clause requiring them to inform the union each time the technology is used.
SAG-AFTRA would then have the right to bargain for compensation on behalf of the actors involved — though critics say it would be hard to identify who they are.
Actors also say that the massive number of viewers a show or film needs to attract to trigger bonuses for its performers is too high for all but the very top echelon of hit shows.
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A Greek tragedy.
Watch dictatorship win over democracy and weep.
So much for all this “cradle of democracy” and “why don’t we do the same in Ireland” nonsense, reality kicks in hopefully
I for one hope the Greeks get their referendum and the result that will hopefully lead to the collapse of the euro and all the shit that goes with it.
The harsh reality for millions of Greeks is that romantic notions about democracy won’t put food on the table next month. They have a stark choice. Accept the bail out.. Death by a thousand cuts… Or reject the bailout… Instant death. Their pompous politicians ought to be ashamed for bring their Nation to it’s knees.
The € will croak and the quicker and less painful the better,Insane concept from the off.
Why was it insane?
We are witnessing the explicit emergence of authoritarian capitalism. No longer can we have any illusion that democracy has any part to play in the plans of those who wish to continue with unending wealth accumulation.
Meanwhile on the streets of Oakland we see this http://twitpic.com/7aazyi
The game has yet to be played out. If this kinda of authoritarianism is not resisted as China becomes the greatest superpower idea of genuine democracy will be snuffed out for sure. thats the choice now authoritarian capitalism where societys rule are organised from above by and few for a few. Or democracy from below where we govern ourselves as equals. The idea that there is no left and no right is the greatest stunt the right has pulled, but make no doubt of the iron fist that lies at the heart of the “free markets”
Emergence of authoritarian capitalism !!!! it’s been that way since man came out of the caves
We are not an automatic democracy. We elect representatives and they think for us for five years. Vote good quality people in every five years then largely STFU. However if we vote in venal twits like about 50% of our politicians are we’ll have to keep demanding a vote every 6 months no matter what. It is not part of (or even good practice in any circumstances) to give everyone a broad vote on every economics bill.
Now some you can make an argument for but one that writes down vast chunks of their debt is the only way to go.
“Instant death” is bit dramatic don’t you think. Headline should read ‘Greek finance minister’s grab for power’.
Come on Papandreou!
A figure of speech only. I don’t envisage bodies all over Athens streets.. This is getting dangerous now. Financial warfare is being unleashed on Europes citizens. Dramatic enough??:)
A bit of back peddling finally! About time
Napoleon in high heels and Hitler in drag. Don’t worry. All is not lost. This is the final act in the farce that is “the markets”.
This is the future – Ordinary Greeks are taking matters into their own hands:
“In early October, a peculiar news item barely made its way into the back pages of Greek national press: in the northern city of Veria, a small group of people had started reconnecting the electricity supply of households disconnected from the national grid due to bill non-payment. This kind of solidarity action seemed rather abnormal.
Then again, it is difficult to define what constitutes normality in the country nowadays – the upper echelon of political power is in an unprecedented turmoil, and Tuesday’s referendum announcement by prime minister George Papandreou, followed by him reportedly preparing to step down, has thrown his political allies and foes into a tailspin. Parliamentary opposition parties are calling for a “national unity” government, snap elections, or a succession of the two; the entire mainstream political spectrum in the country seems to have entered a delirious state of panic. In a stunningly surreal scene, eurozone leaders and global markets are nervously waiting for people in Greece to cast a vote.
And yet, at this precise moment, Greek people are realising they are left with what they had at the outset – that is, absolutely nothing to hope for from the mainstream political scene.”
See more here http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/03/greeks-austerity-grassroots?CMP=twt_gu
What’s brendan Gleason doing there
Lol neo.
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