Hollywood scriptwriters are at odds. Justly. For the film industry, they are like the microchips made in Taiwan on which half the world depends, since without them the factories are forced to stop their engines, such is the dependence they have on them in the production chains. Ditto happens with the writers in the dream factory.
Film actors -and some directors- are the ones who take fame and money. Some of them we find even in the soup. Their birthdays are commemorated in the press and no one escapes a detail of their private life, which is not necessarily exemplary, but we are more than willing to forgive their sins. They are asked to give their opinion on the most diverse topics and they often answer without having the slightest idea what it is about. The leaders invite them to their saraos, it would be said that because of the glamor they bring, and they even walk around his house like Pedro for international economic or political summits. They are idolized, followed, sometimes persecuted, trending topic, always, promoters of fashions, diets, beliefs, cosmetics, commercial brands, as well as ambassadors of their countries. But deep down they are nothing more than interpreters of a script written by anonymous scriptwriters who are paid little and feel mistreated and misunderstood.
In 2007, a stubborn and prolonged scriptwriters’ strike took place in Hollywood that caused economic damage to the industry amounting to more than 2,000 million euros. But the conflict was arguably closed in false, since any improvements achieved by the writers would soon be buried under the weight of the ravages of the financial crash the following year, followed by the rise of the platforms that are on their way to turning the seventh art into a sausage factory, and not exactly of good quality, although, yes, with laudable exceptions.
Hollywood has no fewer than 11,500 screenwriters, who went on strike in early May, along with another 10,000 people who work in the industry nationwide. They demand better labor and economic conditions. The usual, go. But with an addition: the all too real threat that artificial intelligence represents, which at any moment could leave them out on the street, with no settlement or future or anything.
As for the big studios and frenetic platforms, no matter how much they claim to understand the demands of their writers, the temptation to move from them to passionately embrace AI, which would surely increase profits, and greatly, at the same time, must be great. that would save them from having to deal with the increasingly excessive demands of the seasoned writers.
We are barely aware of the importance in our lives, in our way of expressing ourselves and behaving, the occurrences and genius of the scriptwriters. But we admire and imitate the actors, without taking into account the essential work of the invisible authors behind them.
In the golden age of Hollywood, studios hired big-name writers like Scott Fitzgerald or Faulkner, because of the prestige that their names appeared in the credits, although their contributions were often ignored. In those days, the director was in charge, always with the blessing of the all-powerful magnates who owned the studios.
The writers are not only asking for more work, better working conditions or salaries more in tune with the current economy, but they are demanding that barriers be placed on the use of AI. And who says scriptwriters says journalists, writers, translators, cartoonists, artists, musicians, composers… The time has come to defend oneself against such a threat.
