this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2023
144 points (95.0% liked)

News

37121 readers
1639 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source. Clickbait titles may be removed.


Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials, videos, blogs, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.


7. No duplicate posts.


If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners or news aggregators.


All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Their offer, confirmed by Clooney's spokesperson on Thursday, would provide the union an extra $150 million over three years and could help fund improved health benefits.

Clooney also said top stars would only collect residuals once lower-paid actors received theirs.

"A lot of the top earners want to be part of the solution," Clooney told Hollywood publication Deadline, which first reported the news. "We think it's fair for us to pay more into the union."

A SAG-AFTRA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

top 38 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] ZeroCool@feddit.ch 151 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

"A lot of the top earners want to be part of the solution," Clooney told Hollywood publication Deadline

Look, this is a super swell offer but George Clooney shouldn't be bailing major studios out of their obligations. They can afford to settle the strike all on their own they just choose not to. Frankly, I think George should stop trying to score points for his generosity and grab a picket sign and make himself useful. He isn't the problem but he's not the fucking solution either.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 29 points 2 years ago (3 children)

The "top stars" are also hurting. They are more likely to be invested in films, or expecting big paydays to pay their big mortgages. So George and company may be willing to kick in some pocket change to clear the logjam.

[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 16 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Big actors are also producers/executive producers of everything they work on (unless is something like marvel I guess) and pretty sure the real money come from that. They have a conflict of interest on the strike.

[–] MargotRobbie@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Just because you personally benefit from the existing system doesn't mean that you should accept it as OK the way it is, or that it is not capable of being changed to something better, and rejecting the existing system is always a choice. (I thought we went over this in the movie already!)

So, having a production company (I just want more of me on the credits OK?) doesn't mean that I shouldn't to march and picket and fight for what's right.

[–] norbert@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

It'd be a beautiful thing if the top Hollywood stars showed some real solidarity and started/used their own production companies to give SAG-AFTRA a fair deal and make some creative, original films. It'd probably scare big studios knowing there was money being made that they weren't getting their cut of.

[–] bitsplease@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 years ago

Yeah, while most big actors have put on an outward show of solidarity with the strikes, let's not pretend they're not basically in the same position as the studio execs

[–] hdnsmbt@feddit.de 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If he can offer 150 million, how bad is he really hurting?

[–] tar_xf@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

George isn't personally offering 150M

[–] hdnsmbt@feddit.de 0 points 2 years ago

Oh, I see. Thanks for clarifying!

[–] SeaJ@lemm.ee 20 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

That was kind of what I thought. While it's nice he is doing this, he should have done it after the strike. This only serves to let the studios off the hook.

[–] Evilcoleslaw@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

Plus when IATSE is next up to negotiate they're going to get hosed because "not even SAG-AFTRA could get that".

[–] MargotRobbie@lemmy.world 37 points 2 years ago

Just like with tipping or YouTube ads, individual acts of generosity cannot resolve systemic issues but only serve to reinforce the existing system. The only good way to settle the strike is to win.

So please, help keep the strike going, buy a shirt or a mug, every bit helps.

https://www.sagaftra.org/official-sag-aftra-strike-swag-available

[–] Koof_on_the_Roof@lemmy.world 32 points 2 years ago (2 children)

It’s easy to be cynical and 150M towards health benefits seems like a good and altruistic offer but shouldn’t the studio be paying health benefits. Is this just a golden strike buster so top Hollywood actors can get back to earning millions while the rest return to crappy conditions.

[–] girlfreddy@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Imo Clooney et al. are hoping to get all the actors back to work because strike pay isn't cutting it. Bribing AFTRA isn't a bad thing at this point as there's already stories of actors loosing housing, etc.

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 years ago

$150M added to the strike fund would go a long way to fixing that issue.

[–] iforgotmyinstance@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

The studio should be, but that would have to be in the bargaining agreement.

I don't know of any company that pays for regular health benefits for gig work. I've had contract work at a long term site (government contracts) pay for healthcare but never heard it for entertainment.

[–] argo_yamato@lemm.ee 26 points 2 years ago

That would be great for funding health benefits but what about studios using actor's likenesses via AI and not paying them at all. That is the point that sticks out to me.

[–] Talaraine@kbin.social 16 points 2 years ago (2 children)

While I low key think they're just trying to help and who's gonna be mad at that...

They aren't helping.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago

I mean it is...

Clooney is saying people that make as much as he does should pay more into the union then someone whose had a handful of TV commercials over the last decade.

Having union dues be an uncapped percentage of earnings is basically the same as a progressive tax bracket where the more you earn, the higher percent is paid to taxes.

Flat union dues aren't bad for most vocations. But actors have insane income disparities, all of show biz does.

[–] krellor@kbin.social 4 points 2 years ago

I would agree. From the outside it makes it look like fragmentation within the union.

[–] gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 2 years ago (4 children)

mushrooms and other fungi.

Ah, yes, I understand

[–] money_loo@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)
[–] expatriado@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] money_loo@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yeah autocorrect thought boo should be boop so here we are.

[–] LemmySoloHer@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

Now I'm picturing a ghost that boops people on the nose and wails out a spooky "boooooop!" when they do it.

[–] qwertyqwertyqwerty@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

mushrooms and other fungi.

This is the kind of AI-shenanigans I look forward to.

[–] money_loo@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

AI?

Looks like a human mistake to me. Simple copy and paste error.

[–] newthrowaway20@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

Yep makes perfect sense.

[–] girlfreddy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Copy/pasting and every news site has shit to edit out.

My bad for missing that.

[–] gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

All good, it was funny is all, not actually detracting from the read!

[–] girlfreddy@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 years ago

Tbh I saw the first comment and couldn't figure out what it was about.

2 hrs later I got it ... 🤣

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

Are they going to give that $150 million every year? Under a contract with SAG-AFTRA? Otherwise, I hope the response is, "nice offer, but no thanks."

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 8 points 2 years ago

Actors shouldn't be paying, studios should. If they can pay the top actors big bucks, they should be able to shift some of that money to the rest.

[–] itsgroundhogdayagain@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yes, get the studios used to stars chipping in. That's a great idea.

[–] girlfreddy@sh.itjust.works -2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

The money is going to AFTRA, not the studios.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 6 points 2 years ago

Which means the studios can pay less and expect the stars to pick up the slack.

[–] moody@lemmings.world 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

He's offering his money instead of the studios' money. They would absolutely love if the union took that deal.

[–] girlfreddy@sh.itjust.works -3 points 2 years ago

The lesser of 2 evils.