Unions claim win as Hollywood studios agree generative AI isn't an author The Writers Guild of America has ended its 148-day strike after reaching an agreement with Hollywood's TV and film studios to increase pay and regulate the use of generative AI in ways that mean writers are paid regular rates even if they work on machine-generated material. Members voted to accept the Memorandum of Agreement [ …
> Hollywood can use generative AI to create scripts or stories, but human writers asked to work on them will be paid as if they worked on any other gig.
So the scripts will be generated by AI, but then a writer will be asked to tweak it.
Doesn't that mean that the amount of time they will be paid for - even at the new, higher, rates - will be much less than if they had spent time writing the script themselves?
9 weeks minimum pay. So I guess the question is did it usually take longer than that to create the script previously? If yes, than they're losing out. If not, then nope.
I certainly hope they're not losing out. Good writing really does deseve to be rewarded. I know there's a lot of dross out there too, but if there's a market for it, then it deserves to be rewarded...
The pen is (slightly) mightier than the algorithm may or may not be correct, however there is surely no possible doubt or argument that words create, command and control and destroy worlds.
Hence, one imagines and can fully understand, desperate compromised systems vain and always destined to fail spectacularly attempts to curtail some of them, and deny their presentation to both baying and inquisitive masses.
Sisyphus's task was similarly impossible to ever complete and claim oneself satisfied with and victorious.
And it appears to be a very difficult simple lesson for dodgy systems administrations to learn and refrain from digging themselves ever deeper into darker and danker holes from which all avenues of escape are gone/removed/withdrawn.
If you want a little bit of challenge in what you're watching then maybe a bfi or mubi subscription would get you the variety you're looking for. If you're paying for Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney then you're part of the problem you're moaning about.
They should get paid fairly for the effort doing the job asked of them. If Universal want Fast XI to be "like the last one but with more explosions", that's what they'll get, and they should pay to get it.
After all, I work with VBA, the second or third most dogshit language around, but I still get paid. Why? Because my employer wants it done, and I'm the dipshit doing it. It's not easier work because it's unoriginal or objectively bad!
That all seems pretty reasonable. Impressive though generative AI undoubtedly is, it's not going to produce a polished script. Yet. If you're asking writers to work on the script it's only fair that they are paid in line with their regular rate.
Now everyone can get back to work producing content, while the AI bods get on with improving their models. They don't have much time - 2026 isn't that far off, and they have a lot to do!
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