LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — As actors, performers, and screenwriters around the country continue to hold strikes against major studios and streaming platforms, those affected in Las Vegas gathered Thursday to stand in solidarity.
"Don't be a dummy and pay the talent!" Las Vegas ventriloquist April Brucker said.
Dozens, including Brucker, told 8 News Now they want to bring attention to the ongoing fight in Hollywood and here in Nevada.
"Nobody is going to win out here," Mitchell Bobrow, National Board Member of SAG-AFTRA Nevada said. "We need a fair deal; they need a fair deal."
This month, members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, also known as SAG-AFTRA, joined the Writers Guild of America in their fight for better pay and working conditions.
This is the first time both unions have picketed at the same time since 1960.
"Our unions are really sister unions," Doug Unger, UNLV professor and member of the Writers Guild of America told 8 News Now. "And we're fighting the same battle against the studios."
Unger also touched on what he referred to as the importance to fight for higher residual pay, which many call especially low on streaming platforms.
"For the big production companies like Amazon, Netflix, and so on," local actor Parisa Amira said, sharing her stance. "To not pay us correctly and not come into negotiation, it's just greedy."
Amira told 8 News Now that's one of many reasons she was out Thursday, making her voice heard.
She and many others are pushing for what they said is a necessary change in entertainment both here at home and all around the country.
"We want everybody to eat, so we have to stand for one another," Amira said. "Or else we're just going to fall for anything."
Another thing those in the entertainment industry are fighting for is provisions on artificial intelligence. This means they want to be compensated anytime AI uses their work or likenesses.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, or AMPTP, which represents major Hollywood studios and streaming companies like Netflix, Apple, and Amazon released a statement when SAG-AFTRA joined the Writers Guild of America in striking.
"A strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for, as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring our TV shows and films to life," an AMPTP representative said. "The Union has regrettably chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the industry."
No comments:
Post a Comment