Filming of at least one video streaming service video has already been shut down in Cape Town, with more international productions scheduled to follow suit this week, after thousands of Hollywood actors went on strike at midnight on Thursday.
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The protest will effectively bring the giant movie and television business to a halt after actors joined writers in the first industry-wide walkout in over six decades.
After a protracted negotiation period with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which speaks for Hollywood’s biggest studios and streaming services like Netflix, expired, SAG-AFTRA asked its 160 000 members to go on strike.
The residuals that actors receive when their work is broadcast on streaming services are subject to structural changes and improvement requests from SAG-AFTRA. Additionally, SAG-AFTRA wants rules to be put in place regarding the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) when making movies and TV shows.
News24 reports that the South African Guild of Actors (SAGA) immediately declared their support for the strike after the news surfaced.
‘SAGA stands in solidarity with SAG- AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America (WGA),’ Jack Devnarain, SAGA chairperson, told News24 on Friday.
‘We are very aware of the issues they raised while negotiating with the streamers. We think these are critical issues of global importance because even in South Africa, we are confronted with the same issues.’
‘American actors are looking for better residual payments for their work on the streaming platforms, and very importantly, they are also looking for protection from AI, so that their work can’t be replicated or co-opted by software programmes. These are some of the big issues we are facing in South Africa as well.
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‘The big difference is that while, in the United States, those actors have the right to unionise and to engage in industrial action, in South Africa, freelancers are not protected by the Labour Relations Act – in fact, we are specifically excluded. It means we may not form a union, engage in union activities, or engage in industrial action like going on strike.
‘This is an important opportunity in terms of establishing an industry standard around the world.
‘Because the US is such an essential engine for creative industry growth and productivity, it means that the issues they are confronted with were always going to reach boiling point much faster than anywhere else in the world. Now we are there. The unions in the US have taken a bold and absolutely necessary stance to stop the abuse of performers and writers, stand for some kind of protection, and guarantee the residuals that need to be paid to performers.
‘Of course, in South Africa, not only are we denied royalty payments, but we also have the streaming platforms that have come into South Africa and are shamelessly exploiting South African talent while claiming that their business model does not allow for any residual payments.’
‘We absolutely are in this fight with our American counterparts.’
Devnarain said that more productiona are likely to be halted as a result of the protests, adding that there is ‘no chance that any member of the South African Guild of Actors or the Writers Guild of South Africa would exploit any such opportunity to their benefit’.
Devnarain claims that the debate over South African actor royalties ‘is still very much on the table and following the parliamentary process.’
‘What we are looking at is the procedural delays that happen when you are engaged in that parliamentary process. Right now, the bills are sitting with the National Council of Provinces. We expect that in July, the provinces themselves will be making their representations on the changes they have approved on the bills. We expect a final vote from the National Council of Provinces by September.’
‘With that timeline – in the course of that delay – we are very aware of a very strong lobbying effort that is being conducted by such organisations as the Commercial Producers Organisation of South Africa (CPA), the Independent Producers Organisation (IPO), Netflix and MultiChoice. These are some of the organisations lobbying very strongly against the bills,’ he added.
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