ME, MYSELF, I... AND THEIRS

"Except you, darling. You stay."

 There's a 1938 Technicolor musical titled The Goldwyn Follies remembered for nothing other than being the final movie with a score by George Gershwin. 

Some enterprising intern at one of the news networks might want to dig it out for an entirely different reason. Studio exec Oliver Merlin (played by Adolphe Menjou) is complaining about the demands of his contract players when he says (in words to this effect) All I want to figure out is how to make a movie without actors!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we are here. 

No longer will I have the
opportunity to wear suits from the
Johnny Carson fashion line for
1970s period productions...

One of the bigger sticking points that SAG-AFTRA has with studios is the latter's desire to scan the faces of background actors (that's me!) for the price of one day's pay. Studios would then own the actors' images and use them in perpetuity. Oh, and forever, too. 

This is a return to the old Hollywood system where studios really did own their actors by breaking up aspiring actresses' relationships, or order gay actors to marry women they had under contract. 

My colleagues and I have been talking about the possibility of being replaced by CGI for years. It was a matter of time before the technology got so much better (and less expensive) that it would make sense to get rid of the real things in favor of literal nobodies. We just didn't think it would be in our lifetimes. 

... Or see my name on my
character's suit tag. Hey, I won't be
a character anymore.

The A-listers know that if the extras are forever scanned, they're next on the A.I. firing line -- not just imagery but voices as well.  

The Disney studio pulled a similar stunt with Robin Williams with Aladdin. His Genie voice was used in commercials to sell Aladdin merchandise, in violation of their agreement, as well as being redubbed by someone else. 

That was over 30 years ago. Now the studios are upfront about wanting to own what makes you you (or, in my case, me me), so I suppose we can give them credit for honesty.

"You want a TWO-PERCENT raise?!"

I don't see the actors caving in on this, any more than the writers being cowed by the anonymous studio executive who told an entertainment site, “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses." It's what another called "a cruel but necessary evil." Those 1950s Soviet caricatures of American capitalists aren't so funny anymore. (Memo to Bob Iger: it doesn't look good when saying that writers are greedy when you're sitting in your expansive ranch you bought with your $45.9-million salary.)

So now that the actors and writers are both on strike, maybe studios and producers will decide to open their wallets just a little more. It certainly won't affect their day-to-day living. And speaking as a lowly extra, it's nice to have the stars on our side now. Until they cut a side deal preventing their images from being used. 

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