Hollywood strike: Why writers, actors protesting in the US. EXPLAINER

livemint.com:

entertainment industry popularly is hit by multiple strikes as actors and writers have raised issues of fair compensation and protection from the encroachment of artificial intelligence. Amid the strike, Netflix has listed a position for a machine learning product manager that will compensate somewhere between $300,000 and $900,000 a year. On 2 May 2023, more than 11,000 TV and film writers went on strike in the US.

This is not the first major strike that has put Hollywood on the brink of a whole production shutdown but this could be the first one in which artificial intelligence plays a big role. Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike since May. And, actors who are members of SAG-AFTRA, who work under the union's film and TV contracts AMPTP.

The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP) represents all major studios and streaming platforms. While WGA is on strike since May, the SAG-AFTRA, a 160,000-member performer union joined the strike in June. As the stalemate between the unions and the AMPTP continues, the Hollywood strike has also remained active, leaving Hollywood in limbo for the foreseeable future.

The WGA and SAG-AFTRA have both said they are open to talking, but that the studios refuse to engage on their core issues. The unions are seeking higher minimum pay, more writers per show and less exclusivity on single projects, among other demands — all conditions it says have been diminished in the content boom of the streaming era. But the AMPTP said in a statement that it presented an offer with “generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals" and was prepared to improve its offer but the union has been "unwilling to drop items that are