Creative rebellion

American screenwriters are striking against low salaries and artificial intelligence

In the USA, the largest strike of scriptwriters in the decades continues. The production of hits like “one of us” and “very strange deeds” is paused. When will the strike end and what does ChatGPT have to do with it?

“Pay your scriptwriters, or we spell you“ Heritage ””, “I asked Chatgpt to come up with an inscription for this poster, and it turned out shit.” The posters of striking screenwriters are one more creative than the other , as if their authors remind, thanks to whose fantasies all the last hits were created. The writers themselves believe that streaming accept them exclusively for maintenance personnel. “They want us to believe that our work is secondary. So that we do as we are ordered by people who do not drive creativity, but anxiety for their wallets, ” said Charlie Kaufman, author of the scripts“ Adaptation ”,“ The Eternal Radiance of Pure Reason ”and the drama“ New York, New York ”. The Russian screenwriter Mikhail Idov (“The Last Minister”), who also works on American projects, comments on the situation as follows: “As the journalism of the 2000s, when the industry collapse began, the scenario business has turned into work either for very young, ready for years to sleep on sofas for friends, or for the very rich, who do not care.”

In the strike of the guild of the scriptwriters, which began on May 3, 11 thousand people take part. Such hits of streaming as “very strange deeds”, “Andor”, “separation”, “rings of power”, “good omen”, “billions” were already on the pause. At a pause, work on Blade from Marvel with Mahershal Ali in the title role, the release of the picture was scheduled for 2024. On Friday, May 12, it became known that the production of the second season of the main show HBO Max “One of us” was suspended : the scenarios of episodes were not yet ready, and Showranner Craig Mazin joined the strike.

On the side of the scriptwriters and their industry colleagues: the star “Better call the salt” Bob Odenkork, Susan Sarandon, An Ortiz; Mark Hamill, Snup Dog, Drew Barrimor, Pedro Pascal, Elizabeth Olsen, Scarlett Johansson and other actors who helped the streams earn billions, supported the strike. The Brothers of Nolanian supported the strike: screenwriter Jonathan (Wild West World) and director Christopher, whose new film "Oppenheimer" is released in July.

It would seem that the pressure on the streaming is unprecedented: this strike has become the largest since 2007, and then the three -month strike of the scriptwriters led to the loss of companies totaling $ 2 billion. 37 thousand employees of the creative industry were forced to quit, California missed $ 2.5 billion. The weekly audience of television channels at the end of January 2008 decreased by 21%; Some channels lost to half the audience.

The story seems to be repeated.

Analysts warn that the strike can drag on for a long time and influence the autumn releases of the series and the Emmy Award ceremony,

scheduled for September 18. Tony Awards, the largest awarding ceremony of the musicals of Broadway, was already at the threat of cancellation or transfer, which was watched by about 4 million people last year and on which the new items are also advertised. Even the transfer of the ceremony from June 11 to a later term threatens many muscles with closing.

Meanwhile, the third week of strikes is approaching, and the parties never found a compromise. The scriptwriter guild decided to strike as much as necessary. Members of the alliance of the producers of the cinema and television, which represents the side of the streaming, speak out in the same spirit: they are ready to hold out for at least three months (this is how much the strike of 2007 lasted). The guild of directors can join the strike: on June 30, the term of the current agreement between the trade union and producers expires, and the terms of the new agreement have not yet been developed.

What the scriptwriters want

The list of requirements of the scriptwriter guild was published on May 1. The most important of them is the payment of royalties from the income of streaming. Until now, the scriptwriters received only a fixed fee for their services: that is, the same money, regardless of whether the show has become a hit or not. At the same time, from each repeated show of the series on cable television, the scriptwriters are laid by royalties. The situation is described by the screenwriter Kira Jones: “My first check with deductions for the television of the show, for which I wrote [script], amounted to 12 thousand dollars. And I just got the first check with deductions for my show on the platform ... four dollars. ” In many ways, the income to the scriptwriters from cable TV provided the 2020 agreement: then the minimum wage of the screenwriter for the show and his royalties was recorded. However, the main income today receives streams, and here

Just the scriptwriters - that is, the main “perpetrators” of success - almost nothing gets from superpathies.

And even the available money is reduced: for example, the average income of the scriptwriter for streaming has fallen to $ 20 thousand a year.

Another important requirement is to fix the minimum size of the “scenario room” (that is, the scriptwriters team): at least six people, until the show is launched in production, and at least three people, while the show is shot. Now often two scriptwriters work on the project who receive minimal payment, after which they are removed from the project for good.

About why it is important to fix this, says writer George Martin, who also supported the strike. In the 80s, he was called to the series "Twilight Zone" for freelance, and then hired as a standard screenwriter. Already in the second season, the show Martin became the editor of the script. He not only learned to write scripts, but also learned about all the stages of sale. He sat on casting sessions, worked with the directors, was on the script readers and attended the shooting themselves, then attended post-production and studied a lot with installation directors. “I would not learn what I learned in any film school of the world, working at the production of the show,” Martin writes. As a result, ten years later he himself became a showrander. The current scriptwriters do not have such an opportunity, the writer believes: the maximum that they can offer streams after starting the show in production is work as low -paid interns.

“If the authors of 2023 are not allowed to receive any production experience, where, according to the studios, will the 2033 showranners come?” - Martin asks the question.

Finally, the scriptwriters are alarming due to ChatgPT and GPT 4-the latest text neural networks from Open AI. Scriptwriters require prohibiting content written or edited by neural networks. In addition, the trade union wants to introduce a ban on the use of ready -made scenarios for training artificial intelligence (AI). The requirement seems extravagant: so far, neural networks are used for random projects like documentary or endless discussion of the glory of Zizhek and Werner Herzog. But the situation may change: in March, Open AI published an analytical report according to which neural networks can effectively reerach and edit texts, which will greatly reduce the work of the authors and can threaten the existence of professions of copywriters and screenwriters. Streams, however, did not take this request seriously. And this is, against the background of the fact that on Thursday, the European Parliament introduced its regulation: the neural networks are forbidden to use people to recognize people, and the companies must indicate when the user communicates with the chat boot, and when-with the real operator.

The problems are hareled, but they don’t want to go back on the backstage, so the strike can drag on an indefinite period. Meanwhile, in Russia, he is preparing to launch the Sidorovs sitcom. According to the authors of the project, the script for the show is written using a neural network.