. The performers’ guild is also uniquely focused on putting limits on “self-taped” auditions, which have become ubiquitous since the beginning of the pandemic.
“AI scares me — absolutely it does, as it should scare everyone,” said Brian George, a veteran actor best known for roles on “Seinfeld” and “The Big Bang Theory.” “There’s a total potential for abuse.” “I feel like we have taken a very reasonable approach to addressing AI,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the guild’s executive director.
“If SAG doesn’t get strict restrictions on AI, the whole acting profession in film and series will be destroyed under their watch,” Bateman said in an interview. “For me personally, I would say no fucking AI in any of this. I think pulling AI into the entertainment business will be the worst thing that ever happened to the entertainment business.”
“Streaming has made that impossible,” he said. “You’re still doing same quality of work, but you’re not getting paid for the ‘rerun.’ There should be a way to monetize that. It’s out there in perpetuity. People are streaming it all the time.”“We know residuals were part of the old system,” he said. “That’s a precedent. You can’t just say, ‘This is a different technology.'”
SAG-AFTRA also wants significant increases in minimum rates to account for high levels of inflation since the last contract was negotiated in 2020. The DGA deal provides increases of 5%, 4% and 3.5%, which is higher than normal but not as high as the increases sought by the WGA. He said he also misses the opportunity to make an in-person impression on the show’s writers and producers.