American cinema has not come out of the brambles. Such are the feelings of the different personalities that 20 minutes was able to meet at the Deauville Festival. This edition, deprived of Hollywood stars because of the strike of actresses and actors, was placed under the sign of concern. This was particularly sensitive during a round table on what are the stakes of a conflict which has lasted since July 14 for actresses and actors, since May for screenwriters. And more since the Academy of the Oscars decided to postpone the ceremony of the Oscars of honor from November 18 to January 9, anticipating, according to American media, the extension of the strike.
“The claims develop in three stages, explains Sophie Barthes, director of The Pod Generation presented in competition. In the short term, the strikers want a salary increase. In the medium term, they are asking for greater transparency from the platforms which do not communicate their figures and which do not reward them, then, in the longer term, guarantees concerning the use of artificial intelligence to replace human beings. . “For the moment, their requests have remained a dead letter from the major studios who let the situation rot. “It’s mainly Netflix that blocks,” says the director.
The promotion in question
“We thought it would be settled quickly, says screenwriter Rebecca Miller, but nothing has progressed for weeks. Some independent productions, like my film She Came To Me screened in Deauville, obtained exemptions to make promotion. It’s a way of showing the major studios that people are essential to publicizing films and helping them succeed. All of this is highly regulated. Actress Emilia Clarke, who came to defend The Pod Generation, had the right to speak only about this film. No question for her to mention Game Of Thrones or other projects. Camille Cottin could talk freely about Tony with family released this Wednesday but could not talk about the Disney production in which she participated, Mystery in Venice by Kenneth Branagh.
A dramatic situation
Things are getting more and more complicated in the film profession. “You have to understand that the strike also has an economic impact on the technicians because everything is at a standstill,” explains Alexandre Aja. The French director cannot finish the last film he shot in the United States just as Rebecca Miller cannot consider launching the production of a new project. “It becomes dramatic, specifies Alexandre Aja. I know more and more professionals who, having no more work, risk finding themselves on the street because they no longer have any income. “Some stars like Dwayne Johnson, George Clooney and Meryl Streep have paid large sums to support strike funds, but the most modest strikers are starting to stick their tongues out.
The danger of artificial intelligence
Artificial Intelligence and the excesses it may entail are also at the center of the debates. “We used it with artificial intelligence as with the atomic bomb, insists Sophie Barthes. We developed it because we had the possibility, without worrying about what it could cause and without regulating anything. The actors fear that their image will be used without their permission. Screenwriters are afraid that their work will be taken over and remixed by a computer program to give “original” works, which would go faster and be less expensive than using human beings. “It will never work for independent films, but it can help speed up the production process for certain sagas,” insists Sophie Barthes. We imagine Indiana Jones 25 with an artificially dashing Harrison Ford…
And in France ?
“If we felt threatened by artificial intelligence, I think we would go on strike too, says comedian Jonathan Cohen. The rest of the system is different. Authors are better protected and they receive royalties on the distribution of their works, including from platforms. However, the American strike is not without impact on French releases. “Blockbusters are engines that draw viewers to theatres,” says producer and distributor Michèle Halberstadt. Their deprogramming will have an impact on attendance. Not to mention that the Olympic Games will further complicate the situation for cinemas, which have nevertheless become optimistic again with the success of Barbie and D’Oppenheimer.
It only remains to hope that the situation will unblock very quickly, but the predictions of those questioned do not see things improving before the end of the year. Many of the announced film releases should be postponed, like Dunes 2postponed from November 3 to March 15, 2024, because it is not possible to promote a blockbuster without its actors.