November 12, 2023
Fran Drescher, Actor's Guild President
Mike Stone- Hollywood Actor's Strike is Over
The Hollywood actors strike is over, which means the world is safe once again for super hero movies.
The strike which lasted almost four months shut down production across the industry. It's resolution comes on the heels of the writers strike, which lasted 148 days. SAG-AFTRA guild members still have to vote this Tuesday on the proposed 3-year offer to end the strike, but they're all sheep. Whatever their guild leaders tell them to do, they'll do.
The proposed deal gives guild members the largest increase in minimum wage salaries in forty years, new residuals for streaming programs, and contract increases across the board. Aren't you thrilled? The world is going to crap. Israel is indiscriminately bombing the civilian population of Palestine, but actors are getting a raise.
Some people are happy about the strike's end. Some aren't.
Guild president Fran Drescher called the proposed offer "historic." Said Drescher, "It is such a triumph, such an extraordinary contract with so much in it that makes it meaningful for the lives of all of our members."
Justine Bateman (you might remember her from Family Ties) said the proposed deal failed to address actors' concerns of being replaced by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Bateman, who serve's as the guild's AI advisor, said actors should vote in favor of the offer only "if they don't want to work anymore."
Bateman says the proposed offer allows studio executives to use actors' images in any way they want without compensation. "Soon they'll have customized films for you based on your particular viewing history. And they won't bother to copyright them because it'll be like Kleenex."
With the news of the strike's end, late night television hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Myers, John Oliver, Jimmy Fallon, and Stephen Colbert all returned to their shows. How is that a win for anybody?
Maybe I'm conspiracy paranoid, but seeing this story dominate the local LA news cycle and completely overshadow last week's news of four Los Angeles County Sheriff's employees all committing suicide within a 24-hour period strikes me as highly coincidental.
There's actually a lot of shady business going in Los Angeles since Sheriff Robert Luna supposedly won an election over Alex Villanueva in 2022. Villanueva refused to enforce mask and vaccine mandates. He told the public not to call his office if their neighbors were entertaining family guests for Thanksgiving or Christmas. He was very vocal about the entire phony pandemic. Then he "loses" a shady election?
Under Luna, crime has risen considerably. Shoplifting is rampant. Mobs of "youths" randomly ransack stores with no fear of arrest. But, hey, the actors just received an "historic" pay raise.
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Mike Stone is the author of Teen Boy's Success Book: the Ultimate Self-Help Book for Boys; Everything You Need to Know to Become a Man: https://amzn.to/3o0BQdO And A New America, a dark comedy set on Election Day in 2016: http://amzn.to/2qsgbsf
