The SAG-AFTRA and Screen Writers Guild strike has dragged on since late May, and it is having a bit of an impact on the local film scene.
Over the last decade, not just Augusta, but the entire state of Georgia, has been a hotbed of activity for major filmmakers. For a while there, it was becoming kind of commonplace to see the likes of Clint Eastwood and Dennis Quaid strolling the streets of Augusta sometime other than Masters Week.
All of that has ground to a halt.
One local producer, who asked not to be named, says that while those in the planning departments are still at work, most of the local support crews, such as production assistants, extras, grips and light and sound crews who rely on separate gigs to make a living are sitting idle.
“I feel sorry for those folks. The support people are not the ones striking, but they depend on a movie to actually be in production to receive a paycheck,” the producer said.
As much as I try, I cannot find a real villain in this saga, and it seems to me that, rather, the film industry has been hit by the perfect and on-going storm.
First, the Covid pandemic did more damage than just what was seen on the surface.
While film sets were shut down, most moviegoing people were also confined at home and they had to find some entertainment to avoid cabin fever. Households like mine went from having only Netflix to having a whole list of streaming services, which gave independents and smaller studios an audience they never had before.
When the major pictures returned, the studios had to negotiate contracts with the streaming services for far less revenue, according to Fortune magazine.
At the same time, the big studios began getting more and more involved in social justice themes that made no one happy.
In my opinion, watching a movie is not supposed to be some profound experience. No kid goes to a movie and comes out thinking they can become a treasure hunter, go on a fright-filled adventure, get chased by gangsters and discover a long-lost pirate ship filled with jewels.
As a kid, I would have loved to go on a Goonie adventure, but I was realistic enough to know that would never happen.
Nonetheless, Hollywood began using its scripts to preach and that turned off people on both sides of the human values aisle.
More conservative people, who would normally think nothing of taking their little girls to see a fluff film like “Barbie,” are now staying at home for fear of some kind of indoctrination weaved into the script.
“Barbie” has still done quite well and broke some records, but it comes after a series of bombs.
Meanwhile, those on the other side feel Hollywood has not gone far enough in inserting a “woke” agenda. They want every box checked when a movie is cast.
A film like “To Wong Fu, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar” could likely not be made today because none of the lead actors, Patrick Swayze, John Leguizamo and Wesley Snipes, were gay or drag performers in real life.
Just having RuPaul show up in the film would not be enough for some in that crowd.
The loss of revenue has led to studios turning more and more to AI technology and that is what this current strike is really about. Actors and screenwriters believe their paychecks will be severely cut or they can be phased out completely.
After all, why hire a screenwriter when a computer can develop and spit out a script and why pay James Earl Jones a ton of money to voice Darth Vader when a voice simulation can provide the same menacing tones at a much cheaper price.
If the casting agent can’t find a one-legged, Black/Indo-Asian, blind lesbian for a part, then why not just generate one on a computer. Well, Kelly LeBrock was none of those things in “Weird Science,” but you get my drift.
The issue of studios misappropriating someone’s likeness was settled when actor Crispin Glover sued Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment for using prosthetics and makeup to make an unknown actor look just like him for “Back to the Future II.”
Glover won his lawsuit, but what would stop the studios from creating their own AI “stars?”
“It’s a complicated matter and a complicated system. It would be wonderful if everyone could get what they wanted, but there is no longer unlimited money,” the unnamed producer said.
For me, I just hope they can all come to terms soon. Clint Eastwood is 93 and I would like to see Dirty Harry chilling out on Broad Street one more time.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
