Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Monday, November 6th, 2023
AI continues to loom over SAG-AFTRA strike talks. And Hungary's production costs are low for a reason.
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Monday, November 6th, 2023.
TODAY'S BRIEF SAG-AFTRA & AMPTP NEGOTATION RECAP
SAG-AFTRA released a statement about 3:30 pm PT, updating its members of the negotiations with AMPTP:
Multiple sources have told me tonight that one of the primary roadblocks in the AI negotiations centers on the right of the studios to scan actors. And that is what I have been hearing from union sources for several weeks. On Saturday, I posted a long piece about the state of negotiations, noting that the issue of AI was threatening to derail negotiations:
I've heard from the union side that while the compensation issue is flexible (and both sides seem to be closer on that one), AI is seen as an existential threat. "If we get this wrong, we won't be able to come back next time and unwind it," one source told me tonight. "Everyone understands how important this is and there is a strong feeling that this is our red line."
A measure of how important that AI issue is to SAG-AFTRA negotiators is that someone on the union side of the talks decided to leak a very specific breakdown of the issues at stake to The Hollywood Reporter:
Multiple sources familiar with the state of the negotiations tell The Hollywood Reporter that SAG-AFTRA has pushed back on an AI clause that is included in the studios’ latest offer. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is seeking to secure AI scans for Schedule F performers — guild members who earn more than the minimum for series regulars ($32,000 per TV episode) and feature films ($60,000). The companies’ suggested clause would require studios and streamers to pay to scan the likeness of Schedule F performers. SAG-AFTRA is seeking to attach a compensation for the re-use of AI scans as AMPTP member companies would also need to secure consent from the performer. The language currently in the AMPTP’s offer would see the studios and streamers secure the right to use scans of deceased performers without the consent of their estate or SAG-AFTRA.
The irony of this situation is that while various groups inside the SAG-AFTRA side have struggled to present a united front on the compensation questions, everyone that I have spoken with in the union camp in recent days insist the union members are 100% united on the AI issue. "This is an issue that every actor can understand," one union source told me on Sunday. "Proposing to digitally scan actors who don't then don't have the right to consent to how it's used will destroy this industry. This isn't just a battle for now, with what the studios can do with the technology as it exists. We're being told not to worry, that any problems that pop up can be renegotiated in the three years. Imagine what technology will look like in three years. We'll be a husk of an industry, trying to renegotiate digital scans while the studios want to roll out mind melds or whatever they've invented by then."
Writer David Slack responded to the THR piece on Twitter, nicknaming the studio proposal the "Zombie Clause":
This "Zombie Clause" from the AMPTP is obviously reprehensible and grotesque. It also makes clear that NO member of SAG-AFTRA is safe from the studios’ greed.
But it’s important to note that the AI protections SAG-AFTRA is fighting for won’t just protect their members. If all these performers were scanned once and then never hired again, that would eliminate thousands of jobs across our industry.
If the AMPTP’s Zombie Clause stands, fewer performers means: Fewer Drivers to take them to set. Fewer Costumers to dress them. Fewer Hair & Makeup Artists to prep them. Fewer 2nd ADs to make sure it all happens. Fewer sets to design and build — if they have sets at all.
The AMPTP’s Zombie Clause also means less money for talent agents and managers — as performers making a good living right now are suddenly scanned once, given one check, and then sent home forever.
And who is going to pay the publicists, PR firms, event managers, and press junket journalists for TV and movie premieres — when they start releasing shows where all the “actors” were either not involved in the “filming” or are already dead?
This is a nightmare scenario. An episode of Black Mirror. It’s the cheap, dark future studios want. Right now, SAG-AFTRA is the only thing preventing it. And they’re fighting like hell. Everyone in Hollywood should have their backs.
p.s. The AMPTP’s #ZombieClause wouldn’t just kill jobs in the entertainment industry — it would kill jobs and business that support the entertainment industry. The strikes the studios forced have cost the CA economy $30 million per day. The CEOs want to make that permanent.
And I think that is a great way for SAG-AFTRA to frame the issue. Especially when confronted with arguments that focus on the impact the continued strike has had on the industry's workers. "Think things are bad now? Wait until a majority of your clients are replaced by digital likenesses. Wait until many of the sets are replaced by digital rendering factories. Ask yourself how many crew people they need for a server room or how much catering a bank of computers need."
Half of the battle in any strike is framing and this gives actors an argument that anyone can understand.
All of this is complicated by the fact that while AMPTP companies are fairly united on their approach to compensation, multiple sources have been telling me for days that the issue of AI has split the AMPTP side, with some companies more open to negotiation, while others see this as a red line issue that isn't willing to compromise on without a fight.
The trades (Variety in particular) have focused on the participation of what it calls the "Big Four" media CEOs: Disney's Bob Iger, Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav, Donna Langley of NBCUniversal and Ted Sarandos of Netflix. But Mike Hopkins and Jennifer Salke from Amazon and various Apple TV execs were quietly integral to the studio side of negotiations during talks with the WGA and those tech companies apparently held up negotiations over concerns about the AI wording in the final deal language.
It's reportedly been a similar situation during SAG-AFTRA talks, and I have been told that the AI issues have split the AMPTP side into several camps: Netflix, Amazon, and Apple are the strongest voices for the current AI language. In fact, several sources on the studio side told me that one company in particular had to be persuaded to agree to the latest proposal, which they felt didn't provide them with enough flexibility.
Warner Bros. Discovery, Sony, and some smaller voices are in a so-called "middle ground." They reportedly approve of the latest AMPTP proposal, but are willing to move a bit to get the deal done. Although both companies are bullish on the idea of not having to get permission from deceased actors to use digital scans.
The other AMPTP members: NBCUniversal, Paramount, and a few others appear to be more flexible, which makes sense given that while they have extensive catalogs they could digitally mine, they have less of a financial incentive to do so right now
So apparently we are now awaiting a response from the studios and I don't know that even the studios know how that is going to play out. I was told there was a late Monday evening Zoom call between at least some of CEOs, and I suspect what they decide will determine whether negotiations continue or the strike extends out into the New Year.
THAT CORE QUESTION ABOUT PRODUCING IN HUNGARY THAT VARIETY SHOULD BE ASKING
All of the Penske trade publications as well as other major entertainment sites such as Vulture make much of their money from hosting various events, ranging from exclusive interviews to gamed-up faux-awards programs such as "the most influential X's of the year." There is nothing inherently wrong with the idea. But when you're making money off an event, or doing interviews to feed your exclusive VIP subscription base, you have a tendency to frame things in a favorable way in order not to disrupt our revenue stream.
As part of their "Variety Events" programming, Hungarian commissioner of film Csaba Kael and Variety‘s EVP of global content Steven Gaydos sat down to discuss Hungary’s film industry and the country’s impact in Hollywood.
And wow, does Hungary sound like a great place to produce a film or TV show:
“Poor Things,” starring Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo, has already generated a substantial amount of Oscars buzz, becoming a major contender for next year’s awards season. What less people might know about the film is that it was shot in Budapest, Hungary — a location that appealed to the “Poor Things” filmmakers for its “abundant studio space,” “highly skilled crew base,” “favorable costs” and “attractive 30% cash rebate,” according to Christopher Vourlias of Variety.
"Favorable costs?" Hmm...I wonder why. Let's look at that earlier Christopher Vourlias piece and see if we can glean any reasons:
To accomplish that would require studio space — lots of it — as well as craftspeople with the technical skills to bring Lanthimos’ extraordinary yet exacting vision to life. The production team scouted studios around London — including Pinewood and Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden — and traveled to Wales, Northern Ireland and Czech Republic before arriving in Hungary, where they found abundant studio space and a highly skilled crew base, along with favorable costs and an attractive 30% cash rebate. According to producer Ed Guiney of Dublin-based Element Pictures, “All roads pointed to Budapest.”
Hmm...more of that phrase "favorable costs." So does that mean that electricity is especially cheap or an existing infrastructure means less new studio space needs to be built?
No, what Variety isn't mentioning in its reporting on the "favorable costs" of Hungary is that they are favorable because there are essentially no real entertainment industry unions. Oh, there are some state-run entertainment organizations, but they exist to primarily charge a fee to productions wishing to shoot inside the company as well as facilitate production fee rebates to companies from outside Hungary.
Local actors are primarily bit players, working on sometimes day-to-day contracts that are frequently delivered late and often with terms different than what the performer originally negotiated. As I reported back in June:
When Raffi R. (he asked not to be publicly identified) worked on the crew of a major streaming television project earlier this year, he was excited by the prospect of multiple weeks of guaranteed work on a major Hollywood production. But the experience turned out to be a bittersweet one for the Hungarian tradesman, who worked several weeks without a contract and when he did receive it, discovered the production company that hired him refused to pay for overtime he should have received before he was given his paperwork. "I am happy to put in the time, this is work I love. And the experience of working on a big show will hopefully mean I will get more work in the future," he told me during a Zoom call on Tuesday. "But it makes me angry to know that I didn't get the money I earned simply because they can keep it from me."
And working conditions are no better for Hungarian below-the-line workers.
As a Hungarian production company notes, the conditions of employment of Hungarian crew members are especially production-friendly:
One working week consists of 6 days and a working day normally has a fixed daily fee for 12 hours, in which there is a 1-hour lunch break. Although payment for overtime rises gradually, the rate rises only every two hours. Between two working days, at least 11 hours of rest must be granted for the crew members, and in the cases of this not being fulfilled, the missed resting period has to be compensated as overtime of the given day.
It is important to highlight, that crew members do not have an official trade union in Hungary, leading to multiple advantages. For example, this means that the majority of the crew is self-employed, therefore many extra costs are dispensed such as healthcare, welfare and pension contributions. Also, their employment can be managed with significantly less administration and unique needs can be more easily negotiated such as a more flexible schedule or a more favourable wage.
This helps explain why shooting in Hungary has such "favorable costs." But it doesn't explain why Variety doesn't mention *why* this is the case.
TWEET OF THE DAY
ICYMI
Here are two pieces I posted on AllYourScreens in the last day that I would have normally highlighted a bit more. But it's been a hectic news day and this newsletter is already the length of a novella.
* Saturday night I broke a story that no one else has reported: that the now-infamous open letter of support for the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee was put together in response to an email campaign that was hoping to push negotiators into settling with the studios.
* And today I had some thought about why MSNBC's ratings are slumping. It's because even people who believe Democracy is in danger want to also hear about other issues.
WHAT'S NEW TODAY AND TOMORROW:
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH:
* Gumbo Coalition (HBO)
* Harry Wild Season Two Finale (Acorn TV)
* Holiday Baking Championship Season Premiere (Food)
* Masters Of Illusion Season Premiere (The CW)
* Squaring The Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis) (Netflix)
* The Family Chantel: The Final Chapter Season Premiere (TLC)
* World's Funniest Animals Season Premiere (The CW)
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH, 2023:
* Beat Bobby Flay: Holiday Throwdown (Food)
* De La Calle (Paramount+)
* Dolly Parton–From Rhinestones To Rock & Roll (ABC)
* Rainbow Rishta Series Premiere (Prime Video)
* Stand Up & Shout: Songs From A Philly High School (HBO)
* Tatort: Vienna Season Two Premiere (MHz Choice)
* The Curse Of Oak Island Season Premiere (History)
* Wipeout Season Premiere (TBS)
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU MONDAY!
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.