Hundreds of Australian workers are likely to be stood down from film productions as as result of the strike by Hollywood actors and screenwriters.
Screen Producers Australia confirmed on Friday Australian cast and crew working on US-backed television series and films were expected to be stood down for the duration of the strike, which begins at 5.01pm AEST.
The union representing Australian screen workers signalled its support for the US strike but warned its members they would not be protected if they took similar industrial action.
Screen workers on foreign-backed documentaries, light entertainment and reality shows will not be affected.
Members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) voted to go on strike after negotiations with Hollywood studios broke down on Wednesday.
It is the first time in more than 60 years both sectors of the US film industry have walked off the set in unison.
In a statement on Friday the chief executive of Australia’s Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), Erin Madeley, said the union stood in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA members. Fair compensation from streaming services and concerns by actors over artificial intelligence replacing jobs were universal, she said.
“Streaming services are raking in billions of dollars in revenue and earnings as their audiences continue to grow, but these profits are not being shared fairly with actors,” she said in the statement.
“Although series budgets are increasing, that increase is not being reflected in the share of the money going to performers.”
Under current US arrangements, streaming services pay lower residuals to actors for repeats of films and television series than broadcast television. In Australia, the MEAA negotiated residual rights for actors in 2015, but payments can vary according to each production’s contracts, across both streaming and TV broadcast platforms.
Madeley said rules covering the global screen industry were also needed to regulate the future potential use of artificial intelligence to replace actors.
“We don’t want robots telling our stories in place of humans,” she said.
Australian screenwriters are in an even more disadvantageous position than their American counterparts.
Claire Pullen, the executive director of the Australian Writers’ Guild (AWG), said streaming services pay no residuals or royalties to Australian screenwriters.
“These agreements are essentially about having an ongoing relationship with your own work, but in Australia, once a streaming service pays for a work, that’s it,” Pullen said.
“Here in Australia, the streamers do not offer contracts unless you fully assign them all the rights.”
Pullen said although the AWG supported the action taken by the WGA, it was unlikely Australian screenwriters would strike in solidarity as the guild was not entering a period of renegotiation with the screen industry.
At least two feature films were set to halt production on Friday – the Warner Bros martial arts fantasy film Mortal Kombat 2 and the Universal Studios drama based on the Liane Moriarty novel Apples Never Fall, starring Sam Neill and Annette Bening.
Both have been shooting on the Gold Coast. Warner Bros and Universal Studios have been approached for comment.
Next month’s Melbourne international film festival may also be affected, with a spokesperson saying management was “working through the sensitivities and obligations of attending guests”.
The WGA strike, which began in early May, has already caused the cancellation of the remake of the 1927 Fritz Lang classic Metropolis. The Apple TV eight-part series was supposed to begin filming in Melbourne’s Docklands studios in October.
According to the Hollywood news site Deadline, the series was expected to create almost 4,000 jobs in Victoria.
Screen Producers Australia said in a statement on Friday Australian-scripted productions using Australian and imported SAG members would not be affected by the strike order if they were engaged under Australian industry contracts agreed to by SAG-AFTRA and the MEAA.
