The move comes after Lombardini oversaw long, contentious negotiations with the top guilds last year that included strikes by two of those groups, the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA. Those strikes have been blamed as part of what’s led to the entertainment industry’s contraction through this year, with an uncertain future ahead.

She had long been planning to retire in 2025, according to an AMPTP spokesperson.

“We are incredibly grateful to Carol for her many years of leadership at the AMPTP and wish her the very best in her retirement,” an AMPTP spokesperson said in a statement to media. “We are glad Carol isn’t going far as she will continue to serve as President while we continue to conduct a full search for her successor, and that she will then move to an advisory role as we continue our transition to the next generation leaders at the AMPTP.”

Lombardini has been with the AMPTP for more than 40 years, beginning with the group’s inception in 1982.

This news was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

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“WGA members have waited since July for WGBH, THIRTEEN and PBS SoCal to agree to meet — but the PBS employers didn’t come to the table with their proposals or respond to ours until the end of September, for a contract that was supposed to expire on October 9,” reads the petition, which was delivered Thursday morning to PBS management at the start of contract negotiations for the day.

Among the WGA members who signed the petition are Leo Allen, Joel Kim Booster, Robert Carlock, Anya Epstein, Tom Fontana, Scott Frank, Sal Gentile, Mary Harron, Soo Hugh, Marta Kauffman, Richard LaGravenese, David Mandel, Julie Martin, Glen Mazzara, Stanley Nelson Jr., Michael Rauch, Seth Reiss, Amber Ruffin, Tom Schulman, David Simon, Alec Sokolow, Barry Strugatz, Jim Taylor, Chris Terrio, Anna Thomas, Lilly Wachowski, Geoffrey C. Ward, Beau Willimon and Steve Young. 

The WGA represents 150 freelance writers who work at the three top PBS affiliates and is calling on the network to engage meaningfully on the writers’ key issues, which include “full union protections for animation writers; fair compensation for writer-producers; WGA coverage of made-for-new-media programs; and reasonable residual payments for reuse on streaming services.”

“For writers, PBS has always been a cherished friend and teacher,” WGA East president Lisa Takeuchi Cullen said in a statement. “Its programs taught us to love words and develop values like trust, kindness and empathy. So we expect PBS to use the remaining time before the contract deadline to live up to those values.”

“We believe the demands the WGA has presented will allow PBS to succeed in a time when public television is needed more than ever, while ensuring fair treatment for all its writers,” she continued. “Now is not the time for PBS to test the mettle and solidarity of WGA members. We demand a fair contract, now.”

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As part of the contract with Ethovox, which was founded by video game voice actor Cissy Jones, SAG-AFTRA members who lend their voices to the development of the model will receive both session fees and ongoing revenue sharing for the life of the foundational model.

In addition, no single actor will have their voice recognizably replicated by the model, as it requires volumes of voice samples to build a foundation.

The Ethovox model will not be user-facing, and the voices included in the model will not be identifiable in any of the speech generated. 

“Ethovox is the only voice AI company owned and managed by voice actors, and we are pleased to be partnering with SAG-AFTRA on building a foundational voice AI model that prioritizes the interests of voice actors,” Jones said in a statement. “AI should be a choice. For that reason, we have reached out to the voice actor community throughout this process. Ethovox will continue to do so as we demonstrate that artists can, and should, be compensated for contributing to ethical AI development while also maintaining consent and control over their voice data.”

The Ethovox deal joins those made by SAG-AFTRA with other AI companies, including Narrativ, which will allow members to license their digital voice replica for use in audio ads, and video game voice company Replica Studios.

While the deals have been met with some pushback from SAG-AFTRA members who see any use of AI as a threat to their livelihoods, national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland has stressed the importance of building a standard of ethical AI use to counter exploitation of actors’ performance and likenesses without their consent or compensation.

“What will safeguard voice actors’ livelihoods in the AI age is more contractual protection, not less,” Crabtree-Ireland said. “That’s why SAG-AFTRA will continue to recognize AI companies, like Ethovox, that agree with our union’s AI guidelines. Not everyone will want to work with an AI company, and that’s understandable. But for those who intend to utilize the opportunities AI offers, it’s important that agreements require companies to secure informed consent and provide fair compensation. Without informed consent and fair compensation, this new era will become a ‘Wild West’ of AI misuse and exploitation.”

Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA is scheduling a new round of negotiations with video game companies signed to the Interactive Media Agreement, looking to reach a deal after going on strike this past July over what the union says are inadequate proposed AI protections.

The post SAG-AFTRA Reaches Deal on AI Protections With Digital Replica Company Ethovox appeared first on TheWrap.

The group, which includes 16 VFX artists and leads, unanimously signed cards supporting unionizing with IATSE, winning official recognition of their union, IATSE announced Monday. The workers focus on VFX work within “SNL’s” pre-recorded digital shorts, including last week’s “My Best Friend’s House” music
video featuring Ariana Grande, which require staffers to work under extremely tight deadlines.

The “SNL” VFX team isn’t the only one on the hallowed NBC show that IATSE has recently unionized. In October 2022, IATSE successfully organized the show’s editors, who reached a deal on their first labor contract after threatening to go on the first show-specific strike in “SNL” history in March 2023. Like the editors’ process, NBCUniversal management agreed to recognize the VFX workers’ union after the group presented their signed authorization cards, which reflected the unanimous decision to unionize.

“Our work, like that of everyone else above and below the line, is critical to the show’s success,” VFX artist Richard Lampasone said in a statement, adding that the “intense” environment “constantly tests the limits of our skills, our versatility, and, after long days staring at a screen, our ability to form coherent sentences.” “We look forward to celebrating Season 50 by joining in ‘SNL’s’ decades-long tradition of supporting union labor, and to helping negotiate a contract that reflects the substantial value we add and makes ours a more accessible and sustainable career for years to come.”

Over the past several years, IATSE has implemented a campaign to unionize visual effects workers, who are among the few major classifications of below-the-line workers that have not been organized into Hollywood labor. The union was successful recently in bringing the in-house artists at Walt Disney Pictures, Marvel Studios and James Cameron’s Lightstorm, producers of the “Avatar” films, into the fold, and earlier this year, VFX artists at Apple announced their intent to unionize.

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Newsom will be speaking at Raleigh Studios Hollywood, 5300 Melrose Ave. E, LA, CA 90038. The event begins at 1:45 p.m. Pacific.

Details about the proposal have not been made public, but the move comes amid a challenging time for the entertainment industry in its home state. Earlier this month, FilmLA reported that production in Greater Los Angeles dropped 5% during the third quarter of 2024, to a total of 5,048 shoot days.

That makes for the weakest quarter of the year so far with a 36.4% decrease from its five-year average — and below strike levels. Reality TV as a sector was hit particularly hard, with a 56% drop in the quarter.

The numbers reinforce the dire situation many entertainment workers in Los Angeles are experiencing, as TheWrap spotlighted in our Holding on in Hollywood series. 

As these people explained in their own words, industry trends suggest the unemployment malaise is likely to deepen amid studio cost-cutting and increasing risk aversion. There has also been a jump in shows moving to other cities and states, even shows set specifically in Los Angeles, such as “Reasonable Doubt,” which moved production from LA to Atlanta for Season 2.

One bright spot is feature film production, which actually grew 26.6% last quarter to a total of 476 shoot days.

The post Gavin Newsom to Announce Proposal to Boost California Film Industry appeared first on TheWrap.

In the meantime, the guild’s strike against all Interactive Media Agreement signatory companies remains in effect.

“After three days of scheduled negotiations, SAG-AFTRA announced that Interactive Media Agreement negotiations with employers would continue, with new dates to be announced as soon as they are confirmed,” the guild said in a statement Saturday morning.

The two sides resumed talks on Oct. 23, almost exactly three months after the strike began. Among the participating video game companies are Activision Productions Inc., Blindlight LLC, Disney Character Voices Inc., Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., Llama Productions LLC, Take 2 Productions Inc., and WB Games Inc. on Oct. 23.

When the strike was declared in July, performers had been working on video games without a contract since November 2022. SAG-AFTRA said that while most issues were settled, negotiations broke down over protecting voice and motion capture performers from exploitation by so-called artificial intelligence.

The day the strike went into effect, Negotiating Committee chair Sarah Elmaleh and Interactive Agreement lead negotiator Ray Rodriguez explained that among other things, video game industry counteroffers were designed with loopholes big enough to effectively neutralize any agreed-upon protections.

Among them, motion capture performances would only be protected if a video game character actually resembled the actor — which would exclude the majority of video game mo-cap. And voice actors would only be protected if their characters’ voices sounded recognizably like their own.

In addition to closing those loopholes, SAG-AFTRA wants consent and compensation guaranteed for performers for any use of their work in any AI models for video games.

Naturally video game companies dispute this, saying at the time the strike was declared that they were “disappointed the union has chosen to walk away when we are so close to a deal, and we remain prepared to resume negotiations.”

Meanwhile, earlier this week SAG-AFTRA announced that more than 120 games created by 49 different companies had signed on the tiered-budget or interim agreements the union has offered since the strike began.

The post SAG-AFTRA Video Game Contract Talks Extended, New Dates TBA appeared first on TheWrap.

Netflix is the first studio on the list, as hundreds of guild workers marched to the streamer’s headquarters to deliver a petition signed by nearly 2,000 of its animation employees.

“The petition reminds these bosses that while animation workers kept content alive during the COVID lockdown, and animation is outperforming live action on screens and in merchandise sales, animation workers are facing unprecedented levels of unemployment, losing their healthcare, homes, and livelihoods,” TAG said in a statement.

The Animation Guild began talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in August, with its last update on Sep. 20. Like other guilds, artificial intelligence is the top priority for TAG, as it seeks protections for its members.

“My biggest fear right now is AI. We need to have guardrails to protect all of us and make sure animation has heart and people behind it – not algorithms,” visual development artist Nash Dunnigan said in a statement.

The guild is also seeking staffing minimums to counter the ongoing outsourcing of animation jobs outside of the U.S., wage and health plan contribution increases, updated compensation structures for streaming shows and movies, and multiple improvements in craft-specific working conditions.

“Delivering this petition is flexing our power as a union. Workers, who have given a lot to this industry, are partners with the studios, but have not been treated as such,” said negotiation committee member and production coordinator Elianne Melendez, who personally delivered the petition on Thursday. “This is showing the AMPTP that we won’t be the so-called nice union any longer.”

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Emphasizing its goal of collective bargaining, the development came after workers at A+E Factual Studios organized with the WGAE, continuing a trend of unionization among nonfiction production studios. According to a statement sent to press, “an overwhelming majority” of RadicalMedia’s 65-member bargaining unit signed union cards.

“Management at RadicalMedia must respect their workers and recognize their union without delay or interference,” Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, president of the Writers Guild of America East, said in a statement. “Nonfiction television and film workers deserve contracts worthy of their hard work and the enormous value they bring to their sector of the entertainment industry.”

“Our decision to form a union should not be seen as an expression of dissatisfaction, but a testament to our shared vision for a brighter future both at RadicalMedia and across the genre of nonfiction film and television,” the RadicalMedia Union explained in a letter obtained by TheWrap. “Together, we understand that organizing is the most effective tool we have for transforming this complex industry.”

Altogether, the union hopes to achieve four goals by unionizing: gaining collective bargaining power, increasing job security, establishing more transparent communication and fair treatment of workers and creating more avenues for professional growth. Specifically, the letter calls out the “permanent freelance” position that has become the norm in the nonfiction industry, which makes stability “a top concern.” There’s hope Wednesday’s WGAE unionization will protect against “unexpected layoffs, dark weeks and furloughs.”

“Our commitment to creating a union that nurtures transparency, respect and fairness is unwavering. We look forward to working together to create a more vibrant and inclusive workplace,” the letter concludes.

In September, A+E Factual Studios unionized with the WGAE. The guild’s current list of nonfiction production companies now includes RadicalMedia, A+E Factual Studios, BSTV Entertainment, Jigsaw, Lion, NBC News Service (formerly Peacock), McGee Media, Sharp, Story Syndicate and Vox Entertainment.

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Among the companies that are signatories are Disney, Activision, Electronic Arts, and Warner Bros. Games, the latter of whose offices will be picketed by the actors’ guild this Wednesday.

Both sides did not comment further on the resumed talks, which will occur under a media blackout as is customary for labor negotiations.

SAG-AFTRA announced the strike back in July, saying that while it had come to terms with the IMA companies on nearly all issues after more than a year of on-and-off talks, they were at an impasse on protections for artificial intelligence replication of voice actors and motion capture performers’ voices, movements and likeness. Performers had been working on video games without a contract since November 2022.

Last month, SAG-AFTRA turned up the heat on one of the IMA companies, Formosa Group, on claims that the voiceover production company had sought non-union work for a video game currently in development. In response, SAG-AFTRA filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board and expanded its strike to League of Legends, the popular Riot video game for which Formosa produces voice work.

SAG-AFTRA is looking for terms that ensure that video game performers are guaranteed consent and compensation for any use of their work in any AI models for video games. The guild claims that the IMA companies only offered such protections for motion capture performers working on characters with a likeness that resembles their own, which would only cover a small percentage of mocap work.

“What we’re saying to the video game companies is, ‘Step up, do the same thing that all these other industries and companies have done, and respect human creative performance, whether that’s voice or physical performance,” SAG-AFTRA general counsel Jeff Bennett said at TheGrill, TheWrap’s annual business conference.

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The new deal will allow OpenAI to integrate Hearst’s newspaper and magazine content into it’s artificial intelligence products. It’ll provide ChatGPT’s users content from more than 40 newspapers and 20 magazine brands owned by Hearst.

WGAE executive director Sam Wheeler said he had “many concerns about Hearst’s partnership with OpenAI” in a statement and information request Thursday.

“I understand our goal is to increase our magazine’s reach and profits, but this partnership will cost us when it comes to editorial standards, environmental concerns, and audience trust,” Wheeler wrote in a statement. “As journalists, we are constantly striving to adjust and innovate in order to bring the best of ourselves to our work. But before we jump into bed with another failing tech startup, I implore you to ask yourself: Is a robot’s money worth more than the state of our profession?”

Some of the the questions raised were:

• “Will the profits generated by this partnership be shared at all with the workers whose work OpenAI needs in order to attempt to remain relevant? As you state in your email, OpenAI requires our creative inputs in order to grow. Since it is so dependent on our work, it would make sense for us to be compensated accordingly.”
• “What guarantees can you make that we are not simply training the very machines that will be used to make our jobs obsolete? What is in it for us to train a computer to be a journalist when we are already better journalists than said computer?”
• “How will our high quality editorial standards be safeguarded? OpenAI is known to water down context, make grammatical errors, and convey misinformation. What recourse will Hearst Magazines have if quality issues such as these arise? There is a great concern here that our association with OpenAI will endanger the trust and quality our audiences depend on.”
• “There are serious safety concerns with OpenAI’s data management and its lack of safety protocols. What safety protections are we prepared to make in the event of a total OpenAI technological collapse, which experts state could be within the year?”

Imprints like the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Runner’s World and Women’s Health will all be included in the new deal but the company’s business outside newspapers and magazines aren’t part of the deal. It was also stressed that appropriate citations and direct links will be available for acesse to the original sources.

“Our partnership with OpenAI will help us evolve the future of magazine content,” Hearst Magazines president Debi Chirichella said when the partnership was announced. “This collaboration ensures that our high-quality writing and expertise, cultural and historical context and attribution and credibility are promoted as OpenAI’s products evolve.”

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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