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Tag: SAG

  • Video Game Actors Go On Strike For AI Protections

    Video Game Actors Go On Strike For AI Protections

    Video game actors are going on strike for the first time since 2017 after months of negotiations with Activision, Epic Games, and other big publishers and studios over higher pay, better safety measures, and protections from new generative AI technologies. They’ll be hitting the picket line a year after Hollywood actors and writers wrapped up their own historic strikes in an escalation that could have big consequences for the development and marketing of some of the industry’s biggest games.

    Kotaku’s Hopes For Spyro The Dragon’s (Reported) Comeback

    Members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) voted last fall to authorize a strike citing an unwillingness of big game companies to budge on guaranteeing performers rights over how their work is used in training AI or creating AI-generated copies. Roughly 2,600 voice actors and motion capture artists, including talents like Troy Baker from The Last of Us, Jennifer Hale from Mass Effect, and Matt Mercer from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, have been working without an Interactive Media Agreement since November 2022. The strike starts on July 26 at 12:01 a.m.

    “The video game industry generates billions of dollars in profit annually. The driving force behind that success is the creative people who design and create those games,” chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said in a statement. “That includes the SAG-AFTRA members who bring memorable and beloved game characters to life, and they deserve and demand the same fundamental protections as performers in film, television, streaming, and music: fair compensation and the right of informed consent for the A.I. use of their faces, voices, and bodies. Frankly, it’s stunning that these video game studios haven’t learned anything from the lessons of last year – that our members can and will stand up and demand fair and equitable treatment with respect to A.I., and the public supports us in that.”

    Read More: Video Game Voice Actors Are Ready To Strike Over AI. Here’s Why

    “We are disappointed the union has chosen to walk away when we are so close to a deal, and we remain prepared to resume negotiations, spokesperson Audrey Cooling for the companies involved in the Interactive Media Agreement said in an emailed statement. “We have already found common ground on 24 out of 25 proposals, including historic wage increases and additional safety provisions. Our offer is directly responsive to SAG-AFTRA’s concerns and extends meaningful AI protections that include requiring consent and fair compensation to all performers working under the IMA. These terms are among the strongest in the entertainment industry.”

    While games set to come out this fall like Dragon Age: The Veilguard, who’s recently revealed voice cast includes several guild members, likely already have their voice and motion-capture work completed, the strike means SAG-AFTRA members would be unavailable for projects that are years out, and wouldn’t be around to record for any potential last-minute re-writes for things that are closer to coming out. Games relied much less on actor performances in the past, but most popular franchises are now fully voice-acted, with the biggest-budget productions using motion capture to transfer actors’ real-life performances, frame by frame, into the game.

    The last time video game actors went on strike in 2016, it was primarily over pay rates and lasted a entire year. It’s unclear if the strike this time around will be over any sooner. Unlike with the issue of higher pay, people involved in the current negotiations say that the lack of AI protections poses an existential threat to actors and their creative output. Just this week, Wired reported that companies like Activision Blizzard and Riot Games were moving ahead with using generative AI tools to help create concept art and even potentially assets that would make it into finished games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

    “Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair, reasonable A.I. protections, but rather flagrant exploitation,” said negotiating committee chair Sarah Elmaleh said in a statement. “We refuse this paradigm—we will not leave any of our members behind, nor will we wait for sufficient protection any longer. We look forward to collaborating with teams on our Interim and Independent contracts, which provide A.I. transparency, consent and compensation to all performers, and to continuing to negotiate in good faith with this bargaining group when they are ready to join us in the world we all deserve.”

    SAG-AFTRA video game voice actors are set to hold a panel featuring Ashly Burch (Horizon Forbidden West), Noshir Dala (Red Dead Redemption II), and others at San Diego Comicon later this week on July 26.

    Update 7/25/2024 3:42 p.m. ET: Added a statement from the game companies.

            

    Ethan Gach

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  • SAG-AFTRA Members Give Near-Unanimous Approval to New TV Animation Contract

    SAG-AFTRA Members Give Near-Unanimous Approval to New TV Animation Contract

    2023 was a labor-heavy year for the entertainment industry thanks to the Hollywood strikes. While actors, writers, and directors now have new deals, other parts of the industry are still working to ensure better conditions and AI safeguards.

    Were There Any Scenes Cut Connecting Ghostbusters: Afterlife to Frozen Empire?

    Late Friday night, it was revealed SAG-AFTRA members have fully ratified a new three-year contract for TV animation. It appears to have been a pretty high voter turnout, with 95.52% of those who voted in favor of the conditions. According to SAG, parts of this contract were boosted by the TV/Theatrical contract struck last year, such as AI protections. It’ll go into effect starting July 1 and run through June 30, 2026.

    Key AI points include performers having to give their consent when prompting a genAI system with a specific voice actor’s name. Producers will also have to notify and negotiate with SAG-AFTRA if a synthetic voice is used instead of a voice actor’s, and the previous contract’s “major facial feature” requirement has now been removed. If a performer’s voice has been digitally altered into a foreign language and that performance is used, the actor will be eligible for “all applicable residuals.”

    Outside of AI, minimum wage will increase by 7% (retroactively applied to July 1, 2023), followed by 4% in year two and 3.5% in year three. Changes to SVOD high-budget residuals (both domestic and foreign) have been fully implemented after they were previously secured in SAG-AFTRA’s TV/theatrical agreement last year, and both Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth have been recognized as contractual holidays. Finally, the union can request up to two meetings per year with the AMPTP and studios to discuss paying performers on time.

    “The foundation of this agreement was based on the feedback we got from members who work these contracts, and that remained the negotiating committee’s focus throughout bargaining. We are proud to have delivered an agreement that offers big wins in those areas,” said TV Animation negotiating co-chairs Bob Bergen and David Jolliffe. “This is the first SAG-AFTRA animation voiceover contract with protections against the misuse of artificial intelligence.”

    Added chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, “This contract represents a meaningful step forward in expanding our A.I. protections. The contract provides important new terms in the areas of foreign residuals, high-budget SVOD productions, late payments and much more. I am gratified we were able to achieve these significant gains without the need for a work stoppage.”

    The labor negotiations in entertainment aren’t done yet. SAG-AFTRA is still in talks with video game studios over an agreement for video game voice actors, and organzations like local IATSE groups and the Animation Guild are expected (or currently are) having talks with the AMPTP and studios in the near future.

    You can read the full four-page breakdown of SAG-AFTRA’s new contract here.

    [via The Hollywood Reporter]

    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

    Justin Carter

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  • I'm Addicted To Squid Game: The Challenge

    I'm Addicted To Squid Game: The Challenge

    When Hwang Dong-hyuk’s Squid Game debuted on Netflix in 2021, it took the world by storm, literally. The story follows 456 financially struggling competitors – especially gambling addict Seong Gi-hun – who use strategy and luck to compete in common South Korean children’s games for 456 billion won 45.6 (that’s $38.2 million USD). The twist? If you fail a game, you die, and only one person can win.

    Squid Game quickly became the platform’s most-watched series – nominated for 14 Primetime Emmys. And actors O-Yeong Su, Lee Jung-Jae, and HoYeon Jung received SAG and Golden Globe awards for their performances. Despite being a fully-subtitled show, it had such a cultural impact that Mr. Beast created his own live Squid Games (sans death)…and then, Netflix of course couldn’t resist releasing Squid Game: The Challenge.

    456 contestants come together to compete for $4.56 million reward in iconic challenges like Red Light-Green Light, carving a shape out of dalgona (honeycomb candy) without cracking it, marbles, and jumping over the Glass Bridge. It’s the largest cash prize in gameshow history, enough to make people do the unthinkable. And while I wasn’t sold at first, the controversy surrounding the show is enough to get me to tune in.

    Controversy Behind Squid Game: The Challenge

    Now that players have been eliminated from the games, we’re getting the bigger picture of what went on during production. Contestants reported eating under 1,000 calories per day, which makes sense considering the one meal we saw them eat was a leftover-sized container of rice and egg. Temperatures were so cold that one contestant suffered from hypothermia, while others were using lubricated condoms in lieu of chapstick.

    The iconic green tracksuit uniforms (which must be returned to producers after elimination) were not enough to keep the competitors warm, especially during Red Light-Green Light…where they filmed over
    nine hours, staying frozen in place for up to 45 minutes at a time. Time goes much quicker when you watch, which is why one contestant caught fire for not being able to hold a squat (now we know she is a modern-day warrior.)

    @curiouslymedia What it was ACTUALLY like being on Squid Game: The Challenge #squidgame #squidgamethechallenge #netflix #reallifesquidgame ♬ original sound – Curiously

    The editing of the show itself has caused its own issues. And thanks to social media, contestants are sharing their own version of
    Squid Game: The Challenge. While a series villain like Ashley may have appeared selfish for refusing to step forward during Glass Bridge for Trey, reports have indicated that Trey blindly jumped tiles on his own accord.

    It’s a dystopian show – inherently creepy in its message that people will quash any natural, nurturing instincts just to achieve financial freedom. You slowly watch these people go insane, building mistrust amongst themselves and against the producers, the all-knowing Big Brother voice, and eerily always-in-character guards. And now that we’re taking a peek into what it’s like inside the Games, you can understand how someone would lose their mind.

    I can confirm that this gameshow is the ultimate entertainment for viewers, and the controversy behind the conditions only fuel the fire. This show has everything: betrayal, likable characters, despicable characters, and moments that will make you hold your breath and scream at your television like it’s the Super Bowl.

    Who Will Win Squid Game: The Challenge?

    It’s the season finale of the games tonight, December 6, when we find out which of the three finalists – Player 287, Mai; Player 451, Phill; or Player 16, Sam – will win the coveted cash prize.

    It’s also been reported that the show has been renewed for a second season, so you know we’ll be tuning in.

    Jai Phillips

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  • Hail to the Chief: Fran Drescher Takes Her Post-Strike Victory Lap

    Hail to the Chief: Fran Drescher Takes Her Post-Strike Victory Lap

    “We all cried,” says Fran Drescher, recalling the moment that SAG-AFTRA reached a tentative agreement to end the actors strike on Wednesday night. “It was such a relief and a release. I felt like one of those tennis stars, like Djokovic when he won the US Open and fell to his knees and wept on the court.”

    For the last 30 years, Drescher was best known for her role as sweetly brash working woman Fran Fine in the classic 1990s sitcom The Nanny. That changed on July 13, when Drescher, in her role as SAG-AFTRA president, announced that the actors would be going on strike. In her familiar, adenoidal Queens accent, she hurled scathing invective at the entertainment studios and streamers represented by the AMPTP—“a greedy entity” that she deemed to be “on the wrong side of history.” 

    Suddenly, she had transformed herself into a Hollywood labor leader—someone who, alongside SAG national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, would hold out for 118 days to get the guild’s membership a deal that might help actors survive the chaos and industry contraction of the next few years. Over the course of the strike, she made waves by calling out Disney chief Bob Iger, and she provoked gossip by reading out Buddhist quotes and bringing a heart-shaped plush toy into negotiations.

    The strike officially ended in the wee hours of Thursday morning, though SAG-AFTRA’s members have not yet ratified the contract. Drescher says she is confident that her guild negotiated “an amazing deal” that includes a new mechanism for streaming compensation, increases actors minimum pay, and puts guardrails around the use of AI. Sounding a little hoarse after all the excitement, Drescher talks to Vanity Fair about taking on Hollywood’s CEOs, rallying A-list celebs, reading Buddhist words of wisdom in the negotiation room, and getting a deal done.

    Vanity Fair: I imagine it has been a pretty exhausting 24 hours.

    Fran Drescher: It’s everything. I’m relieved, I’m exhausted, and I’m triumphant. The stress has been lifted off me. I don’t know how much more any of us in the negotiating committee could have taken. And the fact that we got a historic deal just makes it that much more delicious

    What feels like the biggest win?

    Definitely putting barricades around AI. That was very important because we’re at a historic moment with all of this technology, and if we didn’t get it in a contract that protected our members right here right now, it was going to get so far ahead of us that it would be just outside of our grasp. Now we got our full proposal, and we’re going to meet with the AMPTP members twice a year to keep our finger on the pulse of how it is advancing.

    What didn’t you get that frustrates you?

    For the first time, after fighting for 20 years, we got performance capture. Which is a great thing, but they didn’t want to talk about facial or motion capture. That has to get in there, and it will next time. We needed desperately to get revenue for streaming platforms and we got that. Was it what I had imagined way back when? No, it’s something else…a bonus that goes into a fund, and then we can figure out how it gets distributed. We also spent a lot of time talking about self-tapes for auditions and interviews, which monopolized the casting industry during Covid. There were no real regulations—everybody just told actors that they had to do them if they wanted the privilege of trying out for the job, so that had to be regulated. Now, did we get everything we wanted with that? No. Did we get some really good things? Yes. Are we already making a list of what’s gonna come next? Of course!

    Joy Press

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  • The Actors Strike Is Over, Ending Hollywood’s Long Limbo

    The Actors Strike Is Over, Ending Hollywood’s Long Limbo

    After 118 days on the picket lines, the guild that represents actors says it has reached a tentative agreement for a new contract, signaling the end of the paralysis that has plagued Hollywood for months. On Wednesday, SAG-AFTRA announced that it had unanimously voted to approve a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and would officially end the strike at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, November 9. 

    Actors returning to work means that production can resume, revving up the content machines that have been dormant for nearly six months. The actors began striking on July 14th, joining the Writers Guild of America, which was already more than two months into its own strike. SAG-AFTRA could not come to an agreement with AMPTP at the time over key issues such as increased compensation, streaming residuals, and AI, leading to rhetoric that grew increasingly polarized during the spring and summer.

    “There’s a level of expectation that they have that is just not realistic,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said of the writers and actors just one day after the studios’ talks with SAG-AFTRA broke down. “They are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.” SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher had a different view, saying on the first day of the strike, “We are being victimized by a very greedy entity.” She argued that the studios and streamers represented by the AMPTP pled poverty in negotiations while “giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history, at this very moment.”

    The actors strike elevated Drescher into a new type of public role, that of a labor leader. Though she got flack for flying to Italy for a Dolce & Gabbana promotional event just days before the SAG-AFTRA contract was set to expire, the actor previously best known for playing The Nanny approached her new position with such passion that even Saturday Night Live couldn’t pass up spoofing her in a recent sketch. Meanwhile, Iger, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, and some of their fellow CEOs found themselves cast in the villain role over the summer, as picketers brandished signs admonishing the studio bosses.

    The dual strikes wreaked devastation across the entertainment industry—shutting down productions, bumping awards shows, forcing studios to postpone blockbusters rather than releasing projects without actors to promote them, and putting thousands of crew members out of work. It was the first time both unions had been on strike since 1960, and the shock waves rippled out beyond Hollywood. The production shutdown has cost the California economy an estimated $5 billion.

    When the writers strike ended September 24, many in the industry assumed the actors would soon follow. SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP restarted talks on October 2—with top executives like Iger and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos in the room—only to quickly hit a wall. On October 11, the AMPTP issued a statement that “conversations are no longer moving us in a productive direction.” Sarandos himself told a crowd of Hollywood professionals at the Bloomberg Screentime conference that one of SAG-AFTRA’s proposals—that the streamers pay a set rate per subscriber as a sort of bonus for actors—was “a bridge too far.” SAG-AFTRA leaders disputed the AMPTP’s characterization of the payment as a “levy” on streamers.

    Talks resumed in a more intensive way on October 24 against a backdrop of an increasingly panicked Hollywood. “This year is over,” one film and television producer told Vanity Fair earlier this month. A top talent agent was already concerned about 2024: “The way to save the year is by getting the strike resolved before year’s end, because that’ll protect next year to some extent.” Some of the most famous members of SAG-AFTRA—among them George Clooney, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, and Tyler Perry—reportedly held Zoom meetings with guild leaders to discuss a path to resuming the talks. A group of boldface names even offered to remove the $1 million cap on dues to help pay those lower on the call sheet, a proposal that Drescher later explained would violate federal labor regulations.

    After talks resumed, hundreds of SAG-AFTRA members including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Paul Walter Hauser, Timothy Olyphant, and Maya Hawke signed an open letter addressed to the negotiating committee, telling them, “we would rather stay on strike than take a bad deal.”

    The talks appeared to pick up steam toward the end of October, and negotiators spent the better part of the pre-Halloween weekend working behind closed doors. On Sunday evening, SAG-AFTRA tweeted that they had “discussed all open proposals, including AI, with the AMPTP,” and asked members to “flood picket lines” to make their voices heard. But talks continued to stretch on as the two sides remained at odds over key issues, particularly around how to protect actors against the use of AI. On Tuesday evening, SAG-AFTRA said that it had sent 10 hours deliberating that day and thanked its members for “your patience and support while we finish our work.”

    Joy Press, Natalie Jarvey

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  • Actors’ Union Mulls’ Last, Best And Final Offer’ As Strike Now In 114th Day

    Actors’ Union Mulls’ Last, Best And Final Offer’ As Strike Now In 114th Day

    The negotiating committee for the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) is reportedly meeting today, for a conversation that could have far-reaching implications for the next year of entertainment. According to the actors’ union, which has been on strike since July 14, they’re considering a proposal from Hollywood’s major streamers and studios that the group says is its “last, best, and final offer.” If the actors accept it, the strike might end soon—and if they reject it, negotiations might end for the rest of the year.

    The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) presented the deal to the actors on Saturday, in a negotiating session that was attended virtually by “the heads of the major studios,” CNN reports. Details of the offer have not been disclosed, but outlets like Deadline suggest that many of the sticking points remain around the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) especially when it comes to the likenesses and the replacement of human extras with digital ones.

    The actors’ union is reviewing the studios’ offer and is “considering our response within the context of the critical issues addressed in our proposals,” they said in a message sent to members Saturday afternoon. The SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee is expected to meet today to discuss the terms, the Hollywood Reporter writes, with a decision to come after that.

    The “last, best, and final” phrasing is a common one in negotiations, intended to express that the side that employs it will not offer any future concessions. But as of last week, thousands upon thousands of SAG-AFTRA members have signed an open letter saying “We would rather stay on strike than take a bad deal,” which suggests that the actors are unwilling to concede.

    Unnamed “top executives” who spoke with THR say that negotiations would likely end “for the time being — or likely until the new year” if the actors turn down this offer. But if that happens, the studios stand to lose, too: plans for the 2024 TV and film schedule could combust.

    But even if SAG-AFTRA leadership agrees to the deal, the strike won’t be over quite yet. First, its 160,000+ members must vote to ratify the new three-year contract. Given the tone of that open letter, it seems possible that many of the striking actors might balk if they don’t get what they seek.

    “We have not gone without work, without pay, and walked picket lines for months just to give up on everything we’ve been fighting for,” the letter reads. “We cannot and will not accept a contract that fails to address the vital and existential problems that we all need fixed.”

    Eve Batey

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  • Town Hall: Hasan Minhaj, a SAG Stalemate, and Apple’s Scorsese Bet

    Town Hall: Hasan Minhaj, a SAG Stalemate, and Apple’s Scorsese Bet

    Welcome back to Town Hall! Matt and Craig answer a slew of listener questions about why Hasan Minhaj lost the Daily Show job, stories from inside the strike negotiation rooms, whether Hollywood would ramp up during the holidays if SAG-AFTRA reaches a deal in the next few weeks, consolidation in the entertainment industry, and Taylor Swift’s Argylle rumor. Later, they give a prediction for Five Nights at Freddy’s.

    For a 20 percent discount on Matt’s Hollywood insider newsletter, What I’m Hearing …, click here.

    Email us your thoughts! thetown@spotify.com

    Host: Matt Belloni
    Producer: Craig Horlbeck and Jessie Lopez
    Theme Song: Devon Renaldo

    Subscribe: Spotify

    Matthew Belloni

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  • Hollywood Strikes Magnify Media Tumult: “It Is Existential That We Get This Resolved”

    Hollywood Strikes Magnify Media Tumult: “It Is Existential That We Get This Resolved”

    America’s biggest media conglomerates already had plenty to contend with heading into their next earnings roadshow: the tough ad market, the tricky metrics of streaming, the slow and painful death of traditional television. Now, as the handsomely compensated faces of these companies spin their latest quarterly financial results to Wall Street, an even more menacing bête noire looms large: the complete and indefinite shutdown of the scripted entertainment business.

    “We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Ted Sarandos acknowledged of the ongoing writers and actors strikes during last week’s Netflix earnings, the first up at bat. “There are a handful of complicated issues. We’re super committed to getting to an agreement as soon as possible.”

    Netflix, of course, has a good story to tell. After the great subscriber stumble of 2022, the company now appears to be back on track. It brought in 5.9 million new subscribers from April through June, while cracking down on password sharing and introducing a cheaper ad-supported tier, once an unthinkable prospect for the 16-year-old streamer. Netflix also has a famously prodigious content stockpile that includes oodles of strike-exempt reality and documentary fare. Plus, it doesn’t have to worry about television ratings and box office figures and the like.

    The same can’t be said of the other programming behemoths set to report earnings over the next couple of weeks—Comcast on July 27, Warner Bros. Discovery on August 3, Paramount Global on August 7, and Disney on August 9. “In some cases, the challenges are greater than I had anticipated,” Bob Iger told CNBC during a July 13 interview from Allen & Co.’s annual mogul retreat in Sun Valley, Idaho. The longtime Disney boss, who recently re-upped through 2026, talked about “making sure that our cost structure reflects the economic realities of the business,” and “dealing with businesses that are no-growth businesses and what to do about them, and particularly the linear business.” (That would include ABC, FX, Nat Geo.) ”We have to be open-minded and objective about the future of those businesses.” Iger’s next comment was the one that made news: “They may not be core to Disney.”

    Whether it was an off-script slip of the tongue or a flare fired in the direction of potential TV-network shoppers, Iger’s remark seemed to capture the ominous cloud hanging over earnings season. A subsequent CNBC headline declared, ”The media industry is in turmoil, and that’s not changing anytime soon.”

    Hollywood’s blackout is only magnifying such anxieties. (As one trusted Hollywood source texted me this week: “The tensions continue to rise like the heat on both coasts.”) Depending on the duration of the dual strikes—Labor Day falls on the more optimistic end of the timeline, and it’s of course possible they could last into the end of the year—the real impact isn’t likely to be felt until the third or fourth quarter. The longer the strikes go on, the bigger the implications (such as the potential to encourage cord-cutting and subscriber churn, for one), and the worse things get for all parties involved, from the studio bosses to the talent to the consumer.

    “If this goes past summer,” an industry heavyweight tells me, “it’s gonna start having a real impact on the content flow and what 2024 looks like in terms of being able to put content out on all platforms.” Another big shot says, “It’s time for the grown-ups to get in the room, close the door, and bring this to closure.”

    In the short term, without any expensive movies or shows in the making, Wall Street can appreciate the free cash flow. (Netflix told investors last week that it had bumped its own projection from $3.5 billion up to at least $5 billion for 2023, thanks to the production savings.) The caveat, of course, is that the bill on those short-term gains will eventually come due.

    “We know traditional media companies are in dire need for incremental cash flows thanks to the pressure from the pivot to streaming, acceleration of cord-cutting, and secular challenges facing TV advertising,” reads a research note that MoffettNathanson issued Friday. “The strikes shutting down productions may benefit 2023 cashflow…but, as we saw post-COVID, any short-term gain is unlikely to last once production ramps back up.”

    Joe Pompeo

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  • Hollywood Actors Threaten To Disfigure Their Gorgeous Faces If Contract Not Reached

    Hollywood Actors Threaten To Disfigure Their Gorgeous Faces If Contract Not Reached

    LOS ANGELES—Putting down their picket signs and picking up knives, striking SAG-AFTRA members announced Friday that they would disfigure their gorgeous faces if a contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers was not reached by midnight tonight. “Good luck finding your next heartthrob when every last one of us has carved horrific scars into their beautiful symmetrical features!” said Ryan Gosling, one among thousands of Hollywood’s most attractive actors who had agreed to permanently alter their good looks if the studios did not meet them at the bargaining table in good faith. “You think I won’t do it? I’ll fucking do it. Margot Robbie is standing on a diving board above a vat of acid as we speak, and Michael B. Jordan has already sworn he’ll never do another squat. You think anyone’s going to watch season two of The Last Of Us if Pedro Pascal cuts his nose off?” At press time, the trade union’s character actors were reportedly threatening to become gorgeous through cosmetic surgery if a fair contract was not reached.

    This Week’s Most Viral News: July 14, 2023

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  • 2023 SAG Awards winners: Brendan Fraser, Ke Huy Quan earn more hardware – National | Globalnews.ca

    2023 SAG Awards winners: Brendan Fraser, Ke Huy Quan earn more hardware – National | Globalnews.ca

    The unlikely awards season juggernaut Everything Everywhere All at Once marched on at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, and even gathered steam with wins not just for best ensemble, Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan but also for Jamie Lee Curtis.

    The SAG Awards, often an Oscar preview, threw some curve balls into the Oscars race in a ceremony streamed live on Netflix’s YouTube page from Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

    But the clearest result of the SAG Awards was the overwhelming success of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s madcap multiverse tale, which has now used its hotdog fingers to snag top honours from the acting, directing and producing guilds. Only one film (Apollo 13) had won all three and not gone on to win best picture at the Oscars.

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    After so much of the cast of Everything Everywhere All at Once had already been on the stage to accept awards, the night’s final moment belonged to 94-year-old James Hong, a supporting player in the film and a trailblazer for Asian American representation in Hollywood. He brought up the ignoble yellowface history of the 1937 film The Good Earth.

    “The leading role was played with these guys with their eyes taped up like this and they talked like this because the producers said the Asians were not good enough and they were not box office,” said Hong. “But look at us now!”

    Hong added that the cast of Everything Everywhere All at Once wasn’t all Chinese, though he granted Jamie Lee Curtis had a good Chinese name. Curtis’ win was one of the most surprising of the night, coming over the longtime favourite, Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), who had seemed to be on a clear path to becoming the first actor to win an Oscar for a performance in a Marvel movie.

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    A visibly moved Curtis said she was wearing the wedding ring her father, Tony Curtis, gave her mother, Janet Leigh.

    “I know you look at me and think ‘Nepo baby,’” said Curtis, who won in her first SAG nomination. “But the truth of the matter is that I’m 64 years old and this is just amazing.”

    The actors guild, though, lent some clarity to the lead categories. Though some have seen best actress as a toss-up between Yeoh and BAFTA winner Cate Blanchett (Tár), Yeoh again took home the award for best female lead performance.

    “This is not just for me,” said Yeoh, the first Asian actress to win the SAG Award for female lead. “It’s for every little girl that looks like me.”

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    Quan, the former child star, also won for best supporting male actor. The Everything Everywhere All at Once co-star had left acting for years after auditions dried up. He’s also the first Asian to win best male supporting actor at the SAG Awards.

    “When I stepped away from acting, it was because there were so few opportunities,” said Quan. “Now, tonight we are celebrating James Hong, Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Hong Chau, Harry Shum Jr. The landscape looks so different now.”

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    Some online commentators suggested there was irony in Mark Wahlberg, who presented best ensemble, handing out the night’s final award to a film with a predominantly Asian and Asian American cast. In 1988, a 16-year-old Wahlberg attacked two Vietnamese men while trying to steal beer near his home in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Wahlberg, who said race wasn’t a factor in the assault, served 45 days of a two-year sentence. Wahlberg also announced the film Women Talking as “Women Are Talking.”

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    Best actor has been one of the hardest races to call. Austin Butler (Elvis), Brendan Fraser (The Whale) and Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin) have all been seen as possible winners. But it was Fraser who went home with the SAG Award for his comeback performance as an obese shut-in in The Whale.

    “Believe me, if you just stay in there and put one foot in front of the other, you’ll get where you need to go,” said Fraser, who anxiously eyed the actor-shaped trophy and left the stage saying he was going to go look for some pants for him.

    The SAG Awards are considered one of the most reliable Oscar bellwethers. Actors make up the biggest percentage of the film academy, so their choices have the largest sway. Last year, CODA triumphed at SAG before winning best picture at the Oscars, while Ariana DeBose, Will Smith, Jessica Chastain and Troy Kotsur all won at a SAG Award before taking home an Academy Award.

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    After the SAG Awards, presented by the film and television acting guild SAG-AFTRA, lost their broadcast home at TNT/TBS, Netflix signed on to stream Sunday’s ceremony. Next year’s show will be on Netflix, proper.

    Sunday’s livestream meant a slightly scaled-down vibe. Without a broadcast time limit, winners weren’t played off. A regal and unbothered Sam Elliott, winner for male actor in a TV movie or limited series for 1883, spoke well past his allotted time. The show sped through early winners, including awards for Jean Smart (Hacks), Jeremy Allen White (The Bear) and Jason Bateman (Ozark).


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    Movie making in Edmonton




    Another streaming effect: No bleeping.

    Quinta Brunson and Janelle James of Abbott Elementary kicked off the ceremony with a few opening jokes, including one that suggested Viola Davis, a recent Grammy winner, is beyond EGOT status and has transcended into “ShEGOTallofthem.”

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    Brunson later returned to the stage with the cast of Abbott Elementary to accept the SAG award for best ensemble in a comedy series. Brunson, the sitcom’s creator and one of its producers, said of her castmates, “These people bring me back down to Earth.”

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    The White Lotus also took a victory lap, winning best ensemble in a drama series and another win for Jennifer Coolidge, coming off her wins at the Emmys and the Golden Globes. A teary-eyed Coolidge traced her love of acting to a first-grade trip to see a Charlie Chaplin film. She then thanked her date, a longtime friend, the actor Tim Bagley.

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    “You’re a wonderful date tonight,” said Coolidge. “I can’t wait until we get home.”

    The ceremony’s first award went to a winner from last year: Jessica Chastain. A year after winning for her lead performance in the film The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Chastain won best female actor in a TV movie or limited series for Showtime’s country music power couple series George & Tammy. Chastain jetted in from previews on the upcoming Broadway revival of A Doll’s House.

    One award was announced ahead of the show from the red carpet: Top Gun: Maverick won for best stunt ensemble. Though some have cheered that blockbusters like Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water are best picture nominees at this year’s Oscars, the indie smash Everything Everywhere All at Once increasingly looks like the biggest blockbuster at this year’s Academy Awards.

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