More local stories, written and performed by New Zealand writers and actors, could be a positive spin-off from the strike currently paralysing TV and screen productions overseas, a leading New Zealand entertainment professional says. Photo: VANESSA CARVALHO
Actor Fasitua Amosa, vice president of New Zealand Equity, told Culture 101 that he hoped the strike presented opportunities for homegrown productions and crew.
“This is a really awesome time to think about making the local scene a bit more resilient and robust,” he says.
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Around 11,500 screenwriters and members of the Writers Guild of America went on strike in early May 2023. They were joined on strike on 14 July by around 160,000 members of SAG-AFTRA, the American actors' union. Both groups are concerned about the use of AI in film and TV production, intellectual property rights and the lack of residual payments from streaming services. They are continuing to negotiate with the APTP, which bargains on behalf of major studios and streamers, for pay increases, healthcare additions, residual payments and assurances of compensation in a future with AI.
Fasitua Amosa Photo: Supplied
Members of New Zealand Equity NZ (the professional body representing performers in Aotearoa) are standing in solidarity with their US counterparts, but they’re not striking themselves. New Zealand performers gave up the right to strike in return for a mediation process now enshrined in the Screen Industry Workers Act, Amosa says.
“The things they are arguing for are things we’re concerned about as well.
“It’s really important that we get in early and get some guardrails or some protections in place, so that [new technologies] don't put a whole lot of people out of work.”
Amosa says disruptive technologies, like streaming and AI, have changed the game for people working in the industry. He says actors fear that they will lose their rights to their image and voice in perpetuity, so the work they do can be easily stolen and copied.
“These fears have been around for a while now, with pirating movies and music, but this feels like it's going into the next level now, where your work can be taken so easily... when you look on social media and stuff, there’s so much that's being offered for free.
“Things have moved from the craft of storytelling and what that means for people and audiences, and they’re moving into just content, just filling space. So yeah, at the end of the day it’s about protecting people's work and valuing what we bring, especially the creative sector. Actors do more than just say words, and writers just do more than write words. It’s about protecting and valuing the craft.”
A lot of international work that was due to be made in New Zealand is “on pause” until the strike is resolved, but local productions can still go ahead.
New Zealand entertainment professionals could turn that to their advantage, Amosa says.
“We see this as a really good opportunity for New Zealand to look at itself and look at how we can make our industry here a bit more robust, to take out the peaks and troughs of international work.
“It’s all good being the place where lots of Netflix shows shoot, that’s fine, that’s good work for lots of people, not necessarily for actors, but for lots of others, especially in the technicians’ area, but certainly, an increase in local stories, written by local people, is something that we're majorly interested in.”